Scuba Diving #1

So this summer I decided to get out of my house and tackle the sun and heat and humidity of Abu Dhabi in a kickass way. I enrolled for a scuba diving lesson at a nearby PADI centre and it has been quite some experience. I had to go through some reading material and give some theory tests before entering the swimming pool with my scuba equipment for a couple of confined diving lessons. You are taught some really cool skills like underwater movement, breathing, some emergency skills too. The instructor I have is a South African and he is a very fun loving always laughing kinda guy. 

After two sessions in the pool, we went to the open sea at a site called the Delta Buoy. The boat trip was about half an hour long and the weather was sultry to say the least. I was on empty stomach and felt a bit dizzy. Still I decided to dive at that site and see what happens inside the ocean. I did not want to miss my first dive for whatsoever reason. So I got my gear on and jumped in. The water was warm but visibility was very poor about 4-5 metres at best. The ocean floor was about 9-10 metres deep and once we reached the bottom there was corals and jellyfish galore. We played with a few sea urchins and swam a bit as part of our first dive. I started feeling uneasy again and at the same moment, a friend of mine even got stung by the jellyfish. We surfaced immediately and put some vinegar onto the cut. The pain receded in some time and he was okay. But I was not. The heat and the water got to me and I felt really nauseated and puked a couple of times. The instructor told me it happens with many first timers and I should not be worried about it. He gave me some meds and told me to sleep in the shade in the boat. As a result I could not go for the second dive which was in much calmer, cleaner waters. I will give it another go next week. The good thing is that it happened with me the first day and now I will be prepared for the worst both mentally and physically. 

The excitement is still there and I am itching to get the certification done and do some fun dives all over the world. 

Epiphany

It has been a long time I have not written anything philosophical. I found this piece on the internet and thought of sharing with you. 

Whenever you feel bad about something that someone has done to you, rather than blaming that person and thinking of them as being a bad person, remember that people are here just to show you a mirror,reflecting the part within you that wants to feel a certain way. You may think: why would l want to feel worthless or have someone nag at me?? Well, if you take a deep breath and think about it, you will realize that you have a habit of putting yourself down and nagging at yourself, even if you don't say it aloud, you are sending out energy and vibrations that say "I'm unworthy of love, appreciation and respect...I need to be nagged on do things...I'm not good enough".

Everyone else is just responding to these vibrations and helping you become aware of your own relationship with yourself, so that you can see this and start to change your feelings about yourself. Everyone is here to help us to recognize our own deeper beliefs about ourselves, so think of it as a favor that they do for you so that you can see what needs to be fixed within you and become more whole and complete within yourself. Once your relationship with yourself improves, it will transform all other relationships in your life. 

by Zimmy Khan

What is Wrong with the Indian Cricket Team?

A little more than 4 months ago, I was ecstatic at what my favourite cricket team had achieved. We had won the world cup and were the number one side in test cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India was (still is) the strongest and the richest board in the world. Our batsmen were the best, bowling better than most and even the captain was considered the coolest and smartest. In short everything was shining and success and glory was everywhere you looked. Be it ODIs, test cricket or even the T20 in which we had the most attractive domestic tournaments in the world (the IPL).
So what has changed since then? Why do I need to write a blog post about things that are wrong with this team? In the last 3 weeks this team has been humbled by an English team who have been rising steadily and improving remarkably for some time now. The way the English won the last Ashes spoke a lot about the quality of their test team. It is understandable that India are missing a few crucial performers due to injury and fatigue but that can not be taken as an excuse for a poor showing. So what is wrong with this team?
First and foremost, this Indian team is not improving in skill and quality. In my opinion every player in this team has given their best performances in the past and yes I am counting the youngsters as well. Unless they work on their technique and skill I don't see them giving a better performance in the future. Even SRT, Dravid and Laxman need to give world class performances everytime they step in or else their ageing bodies will take a toll on the team. Secondly, the team is tired at this point of time because of lack of bench strength. So many players play all the three formats throughout the year and it causes mental and physical fatigue. Change of coaching staff may also have an impact and what Duncan Fletcher will do to change that remains to be seen. Mind also goes to the fact that after so much success, have the players forgotten what it was to work hard in times of hardship? I hope not but I fear they have.

Dropped catches in the third session of the day speaks of low confidence and concentration, which you don't really associate with the Wall. Lethargic body language and hands in the pocket were so common in the field. This post should not be considered as a criticism in bad times, because we all have done that a lot. We Indians love to hack the team when they don't do well, but this is something totally different. This performance is so bad I can say for sure, I have never seen such shoddiness in my lifetime. Comments and replies are most welcome.