I was up at 5 this morning doing yoga. Dinesh joined me later (it’s almost impossible to wake him up at that time).

JB Sir has brought us back some souvenirs from the Ganesha Festival.  He has given us both a small bronze Ganesha and we have placed our idols in our rooms.  We also got a tapestry with Ganesha to look over us which we placed in our meditation room. It makes us feel confident and blessed. JB sir’s offered Rs. 2500 on our behalf at Lord Ganesha’s temple in Laghbhag and prayed for our success to throw at 95 MPH in our tryouts. He’s also prayed for us at every religious place he’s been to. Isn’t that really nice and touching?

 

JB sir was expected at 8 pm and finally came at 8.30. We were so eager to see him back we couldn’t stop looking at the clock every 5 minutes. He got with him a Lord Ganesha’s idol and portraits of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha and Goddess Parvati. We were elated to see them. We also got to see the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Mumbai through videos and pictures. Felt like we were there living the moment.

JB sir was also thrilled to see his garden in top condition. New flowers have sprung up everywhere. He was so thrilled he broke into a dance with mangoes in his hands. It was so funny we were in splits.

I also must tell you guys that American movies are by far the best.  The special effects are unexplainable, and there is so much action.  Movies don’t really have song and dance numbers like Bollywood, and they look so life-like it is hard to believe how they make these movies - but we love them.  My favorite movie so far is THE SCORPION KING with an actor who is known as “THE ROCK” for his only name.

JB sir’s returning tomorrow from his Indian holiday. We forced ourselves to clean the house more immaculately before he’s here. Cleaned up every nook and corner and tidied our rooms. It’s our turn to impress and welcome him with everything in order. Watched Sanjay Dutt’s Khauf before we hit the bed. Was a good watch.

Even though we do enjoy watching a Hindi movie sometimes - Dinesh is sure right about American movies being “GAZAB”!  My Favorite is BAD BOYS with a pillar of action film stars - Will Smith (Dinesh and I got our pcitures taken with Will Smith’s concrete memento at teh Holywood Theathres where they make big stars press their feet and hands to teh wet cement). It has so much action i watched it with many reverses.

We were left to eat the biggest salmon ever today. Ok so that’s an exaggeration. But seriously, the salmon we cooked was like humongous, and we were struggling to finish it. Ash sir has stocked our refrigerator for a whole week. We went to buy some almonds and cashews, which cost us $43. Rinku gave 100 bucks to the cashier and walked off without the change. Thank God the cashier called us back to return the 57 dollars. I better keep an eye on his transactions; else we’d go broke soon. You know am kidding

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It’s our day off and we spent our time in domestic chores and talking to parents and friends over phone. I spent some time in the garden and tending to the plants and JB sir’s beloved lawn. I’ve promised to nurture them while he’s away. It’s a stress reliever really, and I love it. I also cooked lunch today and brought Dinesh down to tears. My chicken turned out way too spicy than I intended it to be. Would probably do well to keep my hands off pepper while cooking.

Ash sir left early this morning. We had a really good time while he was around. He spoke to us in Hindi and made us feel at home. We were touched by the affection he showed towards us. He has this adventurous streak to him that was obvious when he told us that he’s indulged in skydiving. And guess what, he’s vowed to do it again if we get signed up for the Major League tournament. That was a motivation of a different kind. We’d definitely want to see him skydive and be the ones to give him the exhilaration all over again. He also said he’d visit our family if we make it through the final selections. That was really nice to know. He’s gone to San Francisco, and left us feeling really lonely. He gave us some money to take care of our expenses till JB sir’s back.

Another day of really backbreaking conditioning with coach Jackson. He’s a tough taskmaster. We had to run backwards for quite some time and then change directions and run forward. It isn’t as easy as it seems believe me! When you run backwards it’s difficult to garner momentum to run forward again. Alright, enough about it now.. Once back home Rinku went walking with JB sir, but I preferred staying home and fixing some dinner. Tried my hand at pork ribs, and to my pleasant surprise it turned out really well.

Seems like we are on a roll. Our performances the last few days have been really good. Every coach has been impressed by our show and we’ve been showered with praises. We were again used as an inspiring example to a player who comes to Jackson sir for conditioning. We have a try out at Arizona coming up very soon. We discussed it in detail with Ash sir. Coach Ray paid a visit. It’s such a pleasure watching him so fit and active at his age. He claims to be a combination of 007 and Superman. Not completely untrue, since he’s 81 and still going strong.

Tuesday’s conditioning day (if you don’t already know), and we were at the grounds by 8 am sharp. There was a guy called Coo who was practicing with us (well hardly). He was really drowsy and was fighting to keep his eyes open. Coach Jackson wouldn’t have any of it though. Coo pulled a face and practiced grudgingly. It was quite amusing to watch all this. He obviously didn’t have a great start to the day.

We get to chat and interact with other players from the University. It’s quite entertaining to listen to each of their stories and personal experiences. These guys had the confidence to even flirt with some girls trying to play golf. They are also a clever bunch these fellows. They tried to trick Coach Jackson into a conversation about these girls to get off from practice. However, our coach was even smarter. He couldn’t be diverted for too long and we were all back to business in no time. The relationship between the coach and the players is really informal and friendly. It helps players to open up and interact better.

We have this exercise where we got to balance on a ball. Both Rinku and I have mastered it. Coach Jackson seemed really impressed with the speed with which we’ve learnt, and spoke about us in glorious terms to other players. Another very proud moment for us. Once back home, we spoke to JB sir over the phone. We’ve been watering his lawn and taking good care of it as we promised.

Back to velocity practice at the grounds after a week. Even Ash sir came to watch us. It was quite motivating, and we did perform really well. Everyone seemed pretty impressed and heaped praises on us. When things go well you feel like you can conquer anything (do you relate to this kind of feeling?) Anyway, the USC students returned from their holidays today and joined us at practice with Coach Jackson. They are such fun loving and hard working guys; we enjoy their company tremendously.

There are two of them in particular that we love hanging out with. One’s called Bago and the other as Box! (I wonder how they got those names) Bago is one crazy guy; quite well built and completely entertaining, he’s quite a player too. It’s really fun to watch his antics during practice. Even watching Box practice had us in splits. Utterly hilarious. It’s really relaxing to practice with these guys. Btw, get this, Coach Jackson had some great words for us about how fast we’ve learnt the tricks of the game, and asked Bago and Box to learn from us. That was one hell of a compliment