The world comprises two kinds of people - the gifted ones who excel in academics, sports, literature and fine arts, and those who have to struggle to acquire some skill. I fall in the latter category.
In 1978, I took admission in the veterinary college of Punjab Agricultural University. I thought of doing something special and in this effort made up my mind to learn instrumental music. I went to the university music teacher and told him about my desire to learn guitar. He enquired if I was interested in Spanish or Hawaiian guitar. Frankly speaking, I did not know the difference but wanted to feel like a rock star. Soon, I realised that in order to learn music one must have its basic understanding which I lacked, so I dropped the idea.
I didn't have an athletic body. In all PAU campus races, the winners were Yurinder Singh Hayer, now a senior police officer in Punjab, and Sanjay Jaiswal. While participating in a race, I would always look back to see if anybody was behind me. In college, I was member of almost all major sports teams but mostly as an extra and got a chance to play only in the absence of a main player. In the swimming pool, after a lot of practice, when I could not complete one length, the coach told me that I was a natural sinker. In yoga too, I could hardly do any of the difficult asanas and was comfortable only with Shavasan (a lie-down posture).
My wish for playing golf with the elite of Ludhiana did not last long as soon after I bought a golf set, our university administration removed all the greens from the campus. During my stint in horse-riding, I was allotted a horse named Nawab. It had a cool temperament and avoided hard work like gallop and jumps. At that time, Jalandhar Doordarshan was making a documentary on Mirza-Sahiban based on a script by Surjit Patar. I was selected to play Mirza but due to my horse's temperament, all gallop scenes were done by my duplicate. By falling from horseback I dislocated my shoulder and this closed my riding chapter. I furthered my love for the theatre with friends Jaswinder Bhalla and Balmukand Sharma but never went beyond inter-university competitions. My debacle with debate, declamation and photography competitions met with a similar fate.
{{/usCountry}}My wish for playing golf with the elite of Ludhiana did not last long as soon after I bought a golf set, our university administration removed all the greens from the campus. During my stint in horse-riding, I was allotted a horse named Nawab. It had a cool temperament and avoided hard work like gallop and jumps. At that time, Jalandhar Doordarshan was making a documentary on Mirza-Sahiban based on a script by Surjit Patar. I was selected to play Mirza but due to my horse's temperament, all gallop scenes were done by my duplicate. By falling from horseback I dislocated my shoulder and this closed my riding chapter. I furthered my love for the theatre with friends Jaswinder Bhalla and Balmukand Sharma but never went beyond inter-university competitions. My debacle with debate, declamation and photography competitions met with a similar fate.
{{/usCountry}}My latest adventure is to write middles for newspapers, but frequent regret mails from the editors force me to think of exploring new fields. But one thing is sure -- participation in these events was fun and a great learning experience.