To start off, me and sports are like two parallel lines. How much ever distance each of us travel, we can never meet.

Who do I blame? Not me of course. I blame my Dad and Chennai. My Dad didnt think girls need to be good at sports. Chennai was against girls doing anything related to sports. My Dad made me go to Carnatic music classes and violin classes, as part of extra curricular activity, but never to learn swimming or any of the other activities. To be fair, I did have my share of play time till Std 10. Every evening our big gang spent a good three hours after school, playing all kinds of games, from Co-co, to cricket, to Batminton, to Ring, to ThrowBall. Of these games I think I am or should I say was, as it has been ages since I have played, good at Batminton and Ring. Then I was either too busy studying or was at the age where playing was considered very un-girly. I think I was just too lazy to get off my back and move around, and this excuse worked perfect for me. So may be I am to blame too.

So fast forwarding a little to my Grad School summers, me and my roomie ventured into playing Batminton everyday during the nice warm Summer days, err, inside the University Stadium. Just for the heck of it I took Tennis lessons and tried to learn swimming, all activities limited to Summers. Yeah I know this is probably the millionth time I am aracha maavaiye arachufying , but who cares, this is my blog. :--D

So anyway over the course of time, I became this girl who had absolutely no stamina, huffing and puffing at the slightest activity, crying in pain at the slightest injury, terrified of getting hurt. And then I got married. Now DH is totally different. Having played Cricket non-stop in Summer in one of the hottest towns in Tamil Nadu, and continuing to play Cricket and Football in college, so much so he was the Sports Captain in college, I could not just ignore his pleas to indulge in sports activities during weekends.

I absolutely suck at games, of any kind. And I suck at sports activities. But just like I make DH sit through games like Scrabble or Pictionary, sit through movies like Jodhaa Akbar, or listen to songs from Jab We Met ( I have to use it in my blog too, its everywhere!), I also make an effort to do what he likes. After all isnt that what marriage is all about. While I just cannot sit through a game of Cricket, (I promised to do this for him before we were married, I owe him this, sometime, I need to gather my patience,) I agreed to go Skiing with him last year.

Me and Skiing have a history. One cold winter night, many years ago, when I was what one would call fresh-off-the-boat-grad-student I think I was not in my right mind, or I was excited about this novel sport called skiing, I went with a bunch of friends to Ski. Not to kindle some horrid memories, lets just say I remember falling down a lot, I didnt learn a single thing about skiing, I remember friends making fun of me and laughing at me. I am very sensitive. I closed the chapter of my relationship with Skiing that night. No more skiing for me.

So one can imagine just how much I loved DH, ahem, and cared for him and his desires, (DH, hope you are reading this) to venture into Skiing again. One consolation during our ski trips last year was, DH turned out to be bad as I was.

So anyway, some people learn fast, some people, like myself, learn slowly. Mind you, its only when it comes to sports I am slow. :--D I am slow mainly because of my fear, atleast I would like to think so. I havent played any daring games where you fall and hurt yourself a lot, since I was 15. Plus now you are much bigger, and not as fit as when you were a kid, you dont want to break any bones or twist any ankles. In spite of my fear, last year in the two trips we made, I kind of learned to balance by leaning forward, and brake without falling down. It did take a number of falls before I achieved that.

This year, last weekend I just couldnt get out of skiing any longer, a good friend was visiting from the Bay to visit Lake Tahoe and go skiing. Another friend who is an expert skii-er according to my standards tagged along too.

While I was in no mood to wear those heavy boots and fall down every other minute, I didnt want to be this woman who waits and watches her husband and friends and possibly kids ski while she guards their belongings. If I believe in gender equality, I believe I should get there and have my share of falls too.

All the time that we were getting ready for skiing, wearing those horrible heavy boots, tightening them, picking up the skis and poles, I kept muttering under my breath," This is why I hate skiing " The guys only laughed.

The expert friend went on to ski in the intermediate slopes, while we took the beginner lesson yet another time, with the friend taking lessons for the first time. Only this time, we were the cream of the class :--D I surprised myself by being better than what I thought I was. I was unashamedly laughing left and right at the people who fell, time for revenge heh. I fell only once during the whole two hour class, that too because I used my poles in an incorrect fashion, it came in the way of my skiing, making me fall. This time I was practicing my turns and making my 'S'es.

After class we gobbled up food and went back to the slopes. Thus began a series of waiting in line for the lift, going on the lift, heart thumping when it was time to get off, without falling, and then a few seconds of thrill, and fear as we came down the slope. I didnt ski in an erratic fashion, I always made sure I had control, I think I was a little scared of my own speed while coming down.

On the whole I fell three times. I am proud of one of the falls, I fell so hard, my sun glasses flew out of my eyes and landed a good three feet away from me. My Skis came off and I literally bounced on my behind. I was pretty shaken up. But I didnt give up. I went few more times on the same slope, zoomed down happily. The guy who was taking lessons for the first time, picked up really fast, which made me go green with envy. But it was ok, since I was not so bad either, errm, after three more lessons than him. Soon it was time to leave. My legs were crying for some relief to get out the prison called skiboots.

My triceps and calves have been screaming for mercy over the past two days. The pain slowly crept up on me, didnt feel a thing on Sunday, but by Sunday night, I was doing my thing with DH so he can put the dishwasher and pack his own lunch, while I 'rested', watching TV. Where went equality you ask? I believe, women are physically weaker than men :--P Monday saw me limping to work.

But, I enjoyed skiing enough, and had confidence that I can learn skiing some more and get better, that me and DH actually decided to come back soon. We have decided that we are good enough to go on the other steeper slopes (and fall down?!). I may take a couple of more years to get there, but get there I will.
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