In many free advice blogs on the internet – one common one
along with travel is – learn a new skill. So what if you are 40! Well I am not
yet 40 but I still have it in me to learn a new skill. And as I always say at
40 – its your brains doing the skilling!
Jispa wanted a wave board this vacation. She said she was
reasonably good at it and she wanted to enjoy the wave board. Sure. Her friends
have it too and Jispa learnt to balance with it at her friends place.
Interesting! Skate boards are largely a guy thing but these wave boards seem
largely unaffected by gender. When I was in dubai, dad had got us one pair of roller
skates. I think these were meant for my sister but one between all three of us
was enough. I skated in them. My dad supported me when I started skating. I
remember skating the most when we moved back from Dubai and for one vacation we
went to Abu Dhabhi, were dad took up another job for a year. There, a promenade
was made at the sea side called the Corniche, which was great for skating. I
would skate a lot. I practically learnt to skate there. One incident I especially remember; I slipped
and I was about to fall on my bum and one foreigner who was running right behind
me caught me in an attempt to protect himself. He too was taken by surprise. I
do remember that those days I really enjoyed myself. What was it about having
wheels on legs that made me feel really nice, I don’t know, but it was amazing.
Jispa too never asks us for too many things. She is largely
a satisfied girl. So when she asked for a wave board I was more than happy to
oblige. I told her we would get one before her vacations start and sure enough,
we bought one just in time for her vacations. She tried it at the store. The sales
guys corrected her a bit as she had problems starting off. He said ‘put your front
foot forward first and then you can take off without support’. Jispa needed
support in terms of a rail or a hand to start off.
We got it home and Jispa has been fooling around with it at
home. Lying around the house – I too tried to ride it. The wave board is an
interesting piece of invention. Unlike a skate board you have only two wheels.
One in front and one behind. It very cleverly uses the twisting of the board to
somehow convert that motion into forward motion and propels you ahead. It’s a nice
one. So I climbed onto it at home with support. Then I did something that I am
proud of – i just suddenly decided in my head that I have to start without
help. You simply put the front foot forward and step onto the wave board. Of
course – this is a two wheel thing – it can only be stable if you are moving.
So you just step onto it pushing it forward and get your second leg on – there-
-ho gaya. I knew something even Jispa didn’t.
Yesterday I took Jispa to the garden to try her waveboarding
skills. It was pretty cool. I told her how she needs to simply trust herself
and walk onto the board. That’s it. Its like a cycle. You need to be in motion
to be stable. And she managed pretty soon pretty well. She was skating all over
the palce. The paver blocks are a pain in the compound and the tar has too much
gravel that’s not been swept. Luckily I remembered one part of the garden,
which was supposed to be a water body with a water fall. Obviously these things are not
what gets maintained in India. The pond was dry as a bone and this stupid pond
was all cemented making it a perfect thing for waveboards. Smooth and with slopes
on the sides, making it fun to approach and learn as well.
Then shen she was a bit tired – I tried my hand (or leg) at
it. I am really scared of the dam thing. Not so much at failing or falling, but
I am shit scared of my knee. So I cant put my right knee forward. I put my left
knee in front and then I take off – confidently. Confidence in the mind is the
key to take off. The problem is the twisting motion. I just cant get that right.
That is bloody difficult. I kept trying and kept trying. Jispa tried helping. I
fell off every single time. rather – I had to step off. Only once I fell hard
on my butt, but I picked up and started again. Am I proud – at 39 years – doing
this fearlessly – I was proud. At the end – I did manage to get the hang of it
for a few meters. The twisting motion is still proving difficult. I have to get
that one. I managed in the end to twist myself to a few more meters, but is
still difficult when the initial momentum wears off.
So now I hope in this vacation – I learn to play with this
waveboard. The greatest joy will be just stepping up on the waveboard in front
of others – especially in a shop – where they are only expecting young ones to
know this. I haven’t seen anyone my age knowing how to ride this stuff. That
will set a few guys wondering on how the hell has he managed to pull off this stunt.
Hah! Lets see.
There are a few things on the sports thing I still have to
learn:
1 – wave boarding
2 – learning the tumble turn in swimming
3 – tennis – basic level and serve
It’s like a simple bucket list – but I am satisfied from it
for now. Lets see how long I take to figure these.
