All the greatest sages of the world have repeatedly said the key to navigating life’s challenges is to focus on the present moment. However, in our striving, goal oriented culture, we’re trained to constantly look ahead.
Dec 29, 2024 10:46 IST First published on: Dec 29, 2024 at 07:00 IST
Everywhere I turn these days, I find my middle-aged brethren obsessing over either padel ball or pickleball. For the uninitiated, both sports took off during the pandemic, but while pickleball looks a lot like tennis, padel, like squash, has walls. Courts have sprung up across Delhi, most booked up by the working crowd after hours and by students during the day. Both games are easier than tennis and squash, and follow the doubles player format.
I discovered padel by chance, on a sultry July evening, when a neighbour convinced me to cover for a fourth who had fallen sick. The floodlit court had fancy speakers with an option for Bluetooth music; the proceeding two hours turned out to be a great combination of sport and entertainment. There were plenty of laughs while we negotiated the rules and found to our relief that this is a game where the focus is on placement, rather than power. Newbies like us were challenged but not intimidated. The beauty of pickle and padel is you don’t need to be a skilled athlete to begin, just somebody willing to try something new. Lifestyles change, it’s not so surprising that sport changes too.
The quest for excellence is commendable, an important rite of passage for youth, but there’s something enormously liberating about doing something just for the fun of it. One of the perks of growing older is that one is less concerned about seeming ridiculous; flailing arms and unsuccessful attempts to whack the ball cease to matter. There’s a special kind of camaraderie that develops when everyone’s new and terrible at something; self consciousness vanishes, in its place comes, surprisingly, a welcome social harmony (besides the adrenalin that accompanies any workout). Socialising in India has always revolved around eating and drinking. There are very few ways to bond and meet new people, or cultivate new interests since we have never been a sporting culture. Instead of being perpetual spectators watching sports on screens, plenty of people are discovering via padel and pickle, it’s so much better to be a part of the action.
It’s the season when many of us feel pressured to set goals to be fitter and happier, in the future. The dreamy thought process goes, if only I can drum up the determination like so-and-so for such-and-such (unattainable) target, my life will be that much better. The guaranteed outcome of most resolutions is disillusionment. Perhaps, that pursuit of imagined perfection is misguided and a better way of finding fulfillment is by building routines that provide small bursts of joy on a daily basis. The rhythmic, repetitive and hypnotic motion of hitting a ball around amateurishly does not qualify as a transformative experience but briefly, it’s a chance to switch off and forget the world. Being wholly absorbed in myriad activities (lack of skills notwithstanding) is the closest any of us will get to experiencing happiness.
All the greatest sages of the world have repeatedly said the key to navigating life’s challenges is to focus on the present moment. However, in our striving, goal oriented culture, we’re trained to constantly look ahead. In his book, Into Thin Air, mountaineer Jon Krakauer, detailed the abject misery and suffering involved in climbing Everest. “It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier,” noted Krakauer, the excitement of the climb focussed solely on the attempt itself. No Everest-er, apparently, has the headspace to appreciate the breathtaking beauty all around, the daunting summit is all encompassing. The determined strivers and heroes have their place and deserve the accolades. But some of us like to take tentative steps and wonder at the scenery along the way. In a similar vein, padel and pickle provide the right amount of dopamine surge, keeping room for quasi-philosophical musings. Time well spent, indeed.
The writer is director, Hutkay Films
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