Last evening, I went to the Madras Boat Club to look at how people are training for the forthcoming Merchants & Bankers Regatta. I got sucked into a vortex of nostalgic thoughts.
After all, for four years, I have been living and breathing this sport. When I was with Sify, I helped captain the team to three championship titles. The team ultimately went on undefeated for six straight years, a record in the 140 years of Boat Club history. After Sify, the companies I joined didn’t show any interest in rowing and hence was out of the rowing circuit. Now that I’ve started my own, it’s a lot easier to make decisions! 🙂
I’ve been close to a lot of officials, especially the captains of the boat. And even more closer to the laskars, the caretakers of the boats. They all insisted that I should come and participate in the championship this year. I called up my colleague, an oarsman himself, and it took us two seconds to come to the decision to participate. The rowing spirit grabs you and there’s no escaping it.
And so, here we are. Back in one of most prestigious corporate regattas in the country.
Me and my green horn team will start our training from Monday onwards. The championship races will be held mid September. So, this gives us about two months of practice time. A little short. The other teams already have a months head start.
I know we will get thrashed this year. Our team strength will be one fifth of the other teams. But the joy is in giving the teams a run for their money.
Personally for me, the next two months is going to be awesome from an exercise perspective. From Monday till Friday, it’ll be rowing practice. On Saturday, it will be Ultimate Frisbee. On Sunday, it’ll be the marathon practice. Life is good.
Here are some of the photos from the Boat Club. More photos here.
