The first feeling on quitting my last job a couple of months back was "Whew! Free at last !" This was immediately followed by a feeling which I had last experienced when I left the Indian army - "What next?"
First up was visiting the gym in my society to reactivate the dormant muscles. Next a visit to the British Council Library and get books and DVD stocked for the week. Followed it up by servicing my son's (Saurabh) cycle which had been ignored since he got his hands on his bike.
Next day I had a short cycle ride at 0630hrs in the morning : Ruturang - DP road - Mahatma Society _ Cummins - Dahanukar and back to base. A total of 6km. Felt great and I was hooked. The last time I had enjoyed cycling was going with Saurabh to NDA from Bhusari Colony and that was a few years back. Cycling in Mumbai to office was more of a necessity considering the miserable traffic there( Though my colleagues considered me a wacko!). Soon we had a group of cycling enthusiasts in my society. The first outing on a Sunday morning was to Krishna restaurant on Law College road, coffee and snacks and back to pavilion. After convincing others that they had the stamina to go further we went to Vaishali the next Sunday with a change in snacks! Meanwhile the daily short trips to Mahatma Society - Dahanukar and back continued. The other enthusiasts went a step further and bought Schwinn cycles en masse. This created a problem that I kept lagging behind on my Hercules cycle while the rest whizzed past - definitely denting my ego! :) So began my next project of getting a suitable cycle. More about it next time.
As cycling kept me busy in the mornings I started Golf at BEG in the afternoons. After dusting the cobwebs off the golf set I started reducing my handicap from the very firm and fixed 36 or beyond to the maximum acceptable 18, which after the first couple of weeks seemed perfect for a 5 year plan. Every shot of mine followed the laws of golf, i.e. every disaster was followed by a perfectly executed shot which erased all previous disasters and made me feel like a pro, and this would be followed by another unimaginable shot which made me forget the good stroke. This sequence was continued without fail. Another peculiar event that recurred without fail was that every other shot would find the ball perfectly positioned behind a tree. I have nothing against trees, infact I advocate planting lots of them, on vacant plots, roadside, parks etc but definitely not on the golf course. Whoever had planted those trees on the SLGC( Seven Lakes Golf Course) had a sadistic bent of mind against amateurs like me. Even miserly saplings conspired and seem to grow as wide as a banyan tree to block my shots. I have achieved what even Tiger Woods would find it impossible - Hitting a full blooded 7 iron shot which bounces off 3 saplings to lie contentedly 6 feet away. If you think that trees were the only problem then let me introduce you to the seven lakes. These were devils incarnate having swallowed enough of my golf balls to make me think of the economics of playing golf. And if I manage a perfect swing with enough force behind it to cross the oversized ponds, they would deflect it off course into the nearest grove. They had a remarkable resemblance to a magnet where either your golf ball is attracted to its watery grave or repelled to the thicket nearby. But I haven't given up for there is still four and a half years to go.
This lifestyle of mine was the envy of all the office goers in my society and I aim to extend it as long as possible. This attitude of mine has my family worried and they are praying and looking for a job for me! Makes me feel like the cartoon strip character Moose Miller. The perfect life for a retired fauji!
First up was visiting the gym in my society to reactivate the dormant muscles. Next a visit to the British Council Library and get books and DVD stocked for the week. Followed it up by servicing my son's (Saurabh) cycle which had been ignored since he got his hands on his bike.
Next day I had a short cycle ride at 0630hrs in the morning : Ruturang - DP road - Mahatma Society _ Cummins - Dahanukar and back to base. A total of 6km. Felt great and I was hooked. The last time I had enjoyed cycling was going with Saurabh to NDA from Bhusari Colony and that was a few years back. Cycling in Mumbai to office was more of a necessity considering the miserable traffic there( Though my colleagues considered me a wacko!). Soon we had a group of cycling enthusiasts in my society. The first outing on a Sunday morning was to Krishna restaurant on Law College road, coffee and snacks and back to pavilion. After convincing others that they had the stamina to go further we went to Vaishali the next Sunday with a change in snacks! Meanwhile the daily short trips to Mahatma Society - Dahanukar and back continued. The other enthusiasts went a step further and bought Schwinn cycles en masse. This created a problem that I kept lagging behind on my Hercules cycle while the rest whizzed past - definitely denting my ego! :) So began my next project of getting a suitable cycle. More about it next time.
As cycling kept me busy in the mornings I started Golf at BEG in the afternoons. After dusting the cobwebs off the golf set I started reducing my handicap from the very firm and fixed 36 or beyond to the maximum acceptable 18, which after the first couple of weeks seemed perfect for a 5 year plan. Every shot of mine followed the laws of golf, i.e. every disaster was followed by a perfectly executed shot which erased all previous disasters and made me feel like a pro, and this would be followed by another unimaginable shot which made me forget the good stroke. This sequence was continued without fail. Another peculiar event that recurred without fail was that every other shot would find the ball perfectly positioned behind a tree. I have nothing against trees, infact I advocate planting lots of them, on vacant plots, roadside, parks etc but definitely not on the golf course. Whoever had planted those trees on the SLGC( Seven Lakes Golf Course) had a sadistic bent of mind against amateurs like me. Even miserly saplings conspired and seem to grow as wide as a banyan tree to block my shots. I have achieved what even Tiger Woods would find it impossible - Hitting a full blooded 7 iron shot which bounces off 3 saplings to lie contentedly 6 feet away. If you think that trees were the only problem then let me introduce you to the seven lakes. These were devils incarnate having swallowed enough of my golf balls to make me think of the economics of playing golf. And if I manage a perfect swing with enough force behind it to cross the oversized ponds, they would deflect it off course into the nearest grove. They had a remarkable resemblance to a magnet where either your golf ball is attracted to its watery grave or repelled to the thicket nearby. But I haven't given up for there is still four and a half years to go.
This lifestyle of mine was the envy of all the office goers in my society and I aim to extend it as long as possible. This attitude of mine has my family worried and they are praying and looking for a job for me! Makes me feel like the cartoon strip character Moose Miller. The perfect life for a retired fauji!
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