Saturday, June 4, 2011

Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition 2011

Phew, just called it a day in office and no swimming for me today as it's TGIF.  Anyways my real reason of jotting down my thoughts today is this awesome Scripps National Spelling bee finale, 2011, that I saw last night ( If you have no clue about Scripps check it out here ) and boy I loved itttttt! I have been following Scripps ever since my school days. Many a times I'd secretly imitated being a  participant, asking questions like " May I have the Origin please? or "Are their any alternate pronunciation?". The whole idea of knowing a word to the core might be alien to us Indians, but seems its not so alien to US kids of Indian origin, they are rocking the US soil with their dominance. ( Why can't the Government of India raise the bar of primary education in India). The participants spelled words as difficult as "Prospicience, Pococurante, Appoggiatura, Laodicean, I haven't heard any of them let alone spell it. And these all are the winning words spelled by Indian kids over the year in the Scripps. Out of the 13 finalist last night, 6 of them where Indian. Sukanya Roy eventually went ahead to win the competition. The world is going ga-ga over Indian intellect, we have 9 Scripps winners in past 13 years and this was the fourth consecutive win for Indian Kid. The stat shows it all. How I wish I could seize a little time from my schedule to learn the nuances of words. I think one has to start early if they want to develop a niche. It also depends on how good your primary education is. The spelling bee is a competition I can place over the French Open. We also have a Spelling Bee small level competition in Metros but the level is too pathetic to compete with it's US counterpart. This competition made me remember my school days. I had a swell time watching it after so many years.

P.S : The picture is of Sukanya Roy, her winning word was “cymotrichous.” which means wavy hair. How about that for some hair raising ending. I was almost breathless with happiness and jumped up with joys at 2.30 am all alone amongst the sleeping In-laws & a snoring husband.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Back In Pool !!

I am running a fever now because  my youthful sigh exuberance has let me down. One hour swimming & swallowing the pool water had me lying flat on my back. Only I know how I have managed to come to the office today (I am aching all over) . Though I am not a so called swimmer, I haven't reached that stage yet, I can just about traverse a distance with my head dipped in water and flip-flopping my legs & hands, that stage of intermittently breathing while swimming hasn't been reached yet. It will take some practice to get there, as the Coach said. God but it's such an amazing feeling to simply let your limbs go weak in the water. I am feeling so much lighter nowadays, I already feel I have lost all that extra weight (wishful thinking , I know). This Gurgaons, Gymkhana club turns all noisy and boisterous during summers and it's so easy to loose yourself in the surrounding watching the kids with their mommies or pot-bellied daddies. And some of these kids are such nice swimmers that they are putting my effort to shame.  Not just them, there are some real cool dudes and dudettes exuding their charm to catch a fish or two. Just a look is enough to set in this dark complex feeling about the number of bulges I owe. Apparently I am not letting that patronize me. I've promised myself a nice floral swim-suit if I learn at least 1 stroke to perfection this summer and till than I am stuck with the only one I own and abhor. Needless to whine about it here, as I am all intent about not investing a penny. Now that's a motivating thought a skimpy costume, I am not thinking about how i'll look though, that's a spoiler. Swimming for me is still a feel good thing for me and I am immensely loving it!