APRIL 5, 2020
KARO-NA! No Corona
Among multiple challenges we are facing on all fronts, we have lost the art of ordinary conversation. Every talk or conversation, however unconnected it may be, gets steered towards coronavirus things. My daily notes are no different. I am amazed as to how the human brain gets overwhelmed with one event in life, in spite of the fact that life has to go on. One of my friends (few friends read my articles!) challenged me to write about some non corona subject. This really made me think as to how difficult it is to deviate your mind from this pandemic or related conversation.
Let me make an attempt!
Tennis has been an integral part of my life since the age of five and I have had amazing learnings and experiences because of this sport. I have some interesting memories in connection with people, places, food, clothes, best and worst moments - the list is endless; which are purely tennis related. This is an inexplicable feeling, only people connected with some sport can understand it. Let me share my experience of the last tournament I played (before Corona) in Japan. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) hosts junior tournaments around the world, where players below the age of eighteen can participate. I participated in the Junior ITF tournament which was played in Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan during the week of November 27, 2019. This was a clay court tournament. Since we do not ordinarily train on clay in India, we decided that we will train for 3-4 days at the venue to get acclimatized with the surface and weather. At that time Delhi’s temperature was around thirty degree celsius and Yamanashi was swinging between minus one degree and plus ten degree celsius. I was traveling with my entire family, where my brother and I were playing and my Mom and Dad were our physios and mental coaches, besides funders.
On the early morning of November 23, which was a Saturday, we took an ANA flight to Narita which landed at 12:45 pm. It was raining cats and dogs. In Japan, english is not the preferred language of communication and as I know little Japanese, I was the guide for the entourage. My father hired a car to drive down to Yamanashi which was around 280km away from Narita. Although, he was initially hesitant, as we needed to cross maddening traffic of Tokyo and the GPS was functioning in Japanese language. Incidentally, it was a non-working day (Saturday) and driving through Tokyo was not that bad. Interesting thing to note was their electronic toll plazas. This tournament was to be played at a place called Club Verde in Hokuto City. We had our rooms booked at this club, which was on a hilltop with eighteen clay courts. We reached around 8:30 pm in the evening, which was late for dinner in Japan. However, the staff there was very kind and we could manage to get some soup.
Next morning, we noted that there was a heavy overnight rain and the courts were flooded. There was no way we could have practiced on those courts. My brother and I panicked. We reached the breakfast room at 7:00 am as the last serving hour was up to 8:00 am. Sitting on the breakfast table, we could see snow-clad Mount Fuji. It was a visual delight in spite of heavy clouds. After breakfast, we went to the admin room and met the tournament manager Ms Yuko Higuchi, a forty year old stocky, english speaking woman. She explained that there was a prediction of rain the entire week and matches would be played on three carpeted indoor courts. I had never played on a carpet in my entire life. For the next three days, we had booked practice courts in a nearby tennis club. The days were freezing with chilly winds. During nights the temperature used to get sub zero. It was a completely unfamiliar territory. We used to pick up our food and groceries from the nearby supermarket every evening. Yuko confirmed that tap water is good for drinking, however my mother insisted on buying bottled water. We picked up three twenty litre canisters from the supermarket which according to my Dad was very expensive. When we were unloading these canisters from our car in the parking, a Japanese woman started staring at us. We hesitatingly enquired the purpose and she politely asked us what we were going to do with sixty litres of Shochu (Shochu is a transparent/translucent Japanese distilled alcoholic beverage, which is consumed during winters). On realising our stupidity we all were embarrassed. Our slumped faces did not deter her from sharing this idiotic incident with the rest of the participants and tournament organisers. For the next few days, we were their source of entertainment. To get rid of shame and sixty litres of Shochu, my father generously gave all three canisters to the organising team.
I played my singles against a local Japanese girl Rinka Oyama on November 28 and partnered with another local Japanese girl Anshu Okamura. My brother played against the top seed Taiyo Uenoyama on November 27. We both were packed up in the first round.
Today, I can claim that Rinka and Anshu are my friends and Yuko is my guardian in Japan. This is the experience I am referring to and it is completely invaluable. I have many similar memories around the world, which I cherish every minute.
We drove back to Tokyo on Friday, November 29 and stayed at The Prince Park Tower Hotel overlooking the illuminated, magnificent Tokyo Tower. Next day, we shopped around a famous shopping centre called Ginza and had amazing sushi. We had our flight on Saturday evening back to India. On Saturday morning we drove back from Tokyo to Narita and handed over our hired car to this car company Hertz.
To believe the excitement, you need to experience it!