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Picking up guitar lessons besides helping dad in the kitchen
Top athletes talk to HT about their experience of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. This is Deepak Chahar, the India right-arm pace bowler who, instead of plying his trade for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, is currently enjoying an extended recovery break at home in Agra.
I take everything positively. This is a time when we can either learn some new skills or sharpen the old ones. I look at it that way. If you think too much about this lockdown and feel that you can’t do a lot, you will never be able to do anything. I would never get an opportunity to be with my family because of all the travelling over the last couple of years. I have managed to get that family time now.
I was at home about two months ago as well but on complete bed rest (with a lower back injury). I would be in pain even while lying on the bed. At least now I am able to do something—move, workout and get better in shape.
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We get weekly or fortnightly schedule from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on how and how much to workout. We are in touch with the physiotherapist and trainers. I am doing whatever I can. I work out with the gym equipment—which I managed to get before the lockdown—for an hour or hour and a half every day. I do all the exercises that I usually would—boxing, core, everything else. So there is not much of a loss there. As cricketers, we don’t need machines (to train). We largely do free weights, single leg or single arm. I have a variety of dumbbells and free weights up to 100kg. I also run up and down the staircase of my apartment for 25-30 minutes daily, but I am careful about not touching the railing.
I always wanted to learn the guitar, and I finally have the time now. Learning it online, I have picked up a few chords. So far, I can play some songs on single string—like tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam and the main theme of the movie Karz.
Apart from the guitar lessons, I help my dad in the kitchen. I know some cooking from before. I made vegetable pulao the other day; it tasted good! I also spend some time playing PUBG.
(As told to Khurram Habib)
