I feel alive when I do precision sports. Years ago, I did rifle shooting. In early 2024, I picked up compound archery at college, and I looooved it!
During initial days, I’ve bruised my elbow with string slap until it turned purple. As my form improved, it became so much better. I wished my archery classes were 8 hours every day (instead of 4 hours per week). I’m on a break from archery for reasons related to work. Once the storm settles down, I hope to practice more frequently. My mom and I laugh about how I think LA28 (or worst-case, Brisbane'32) is doable :P (PS: Olympic Archery is recurve, not compound)
I learnt Bharathnatyam for about 8 years.
My mom put me in a dance class because I came home with a disappointed face as a school teacher didn’t allow me to join the children’s day dance team. She said, “I don’t have enough experience”. This was in my second grade! So, the next day, on a rainy Oct evening, we walked around the neighborhood in search of dance classes. I formally started on a Vijayadashami. Was my mom teaching me to never take no for an answer? :) Funnily enough, a few years later, a school teacher spotted me performing somewhere. She then invited me to perform thrice (twice for a solo piece) at the school. I moved to a different place for college, where kept in touch with this art form by performing at cultural fests. Now, I feel the need to learn, unlearn, and relearn under the guidance of a guru.
I’m learning Japanese on Duolingo
Travelling Japan and seeing the Diamond Fuji is in my bucket list - I once had a long layover at Tokyo Haneda. Had I been comfortable with reading and speaking the language to some extent, I wouldn’t have hesitated to get that visa. Of course, people speak English in Japan. But, I really want to travel like a local and I think I definitely want more than just 9 hours to explore.
I’m making progress with the basics and learning some kanji. I think I could manage some hiragana and katakana. I sometimes watch Japanese news and documentaries and catch some words here and there!