The Crystal Ball

Every once in a while, life goes through major transformations.  The first time was when my Dad died.  It brought experiences that changed me completely.  Second, I went away from “home” for the first time when I transferred to UC Berkeley after two years at a community college.  Cal is such a terrific place with very liberal values.  It is also very big.  Man, that was a culture shock for me! 

A third major transformation was when I started working full-time.  I now had the money to do things I hadn’t done in my life.  Well, it didn’t quite turn out that way, I had many expenses too.  Working at a large consulting firm, I found the people, the projects, and the general environment to be such an amazing experience that it taught me ways of thinking and being that were a huge change.

A fourth transformation was when I was laid off!  It was the first time I had experienced that and it shook me!  How the heck was I going to pay for my family and myself?  My brother was living with me and he wasn’t working.  Our family was going through a rough period as it was.  The layoff was not good.  I didn’t know what to do and I overcompensated.  That experience made me very savings conscious.  I have made it through major family expense periods because since then I became so very judicious on saving!

The last few years have been full of ups and downs.  More ups but definite downs as well.  The move to Boston from California was something I dreadfully needed.  I didn’t even know how big of a deal it was going to be.  I have found that a change of environment and people can really be very liberating!  It does really change your outlook in significant ways.  You remember what being happy was all about (even though there were some down times tied to the old people in your life).

I am now going through a career transition, a process that, if successful, will be the biggest transformation of my life.  It Plan A comes to fruition, I will be working in a sector that I have a real passion for.  I will also be earning more than I have been, probably not immediately but a few years down the road.  The potential is immense.

This process has already been started, as I have discussed in previous posts.  I will know by summer where I stand.  I will know if I will be back in the US and in which part of the country (Boston or Bay Area) or if I will be staying in India and in which part of the country (most likely Mumbai!). 

That is Plan A.  Plan B is a bit more up in the air mostly because the effort to make it happen is not in my hands.  I want to work for a specific organization and they don’t have the funding to do it.  They are now going through the process of raising funds.  If they can do it, I will be working for them!  Well, that is, if I get the role I want.  I know the guys well so the possibility exists but there are others interested in doing what I want to do, so I don’t quite know how it will turn out yet.  If I don’t get the right role, I will probably not work for them.

Then there is Plan C.  While I was at my junior college, I became good friends with one of the administrators there.  He is Caucasian American with a wife who is half-Indian.  The man adopted children from the same city where I was born in India.  I reached out to him recently.  He is now a senior administrator at a private educational institution.  If he wanted to bring me on board, he could bring me on board.  I have told him where I am with my Plan A and Plan B and wanting to stay in touch with him to see how things unfold.  He readily agreed, well, sort of.  I got the sense from him that I am asking him for a favor after not being in touch for years.  It was not a major issue but I could tell it was a thought that crossed his mind.  I know it crossed mine.  You should always stay in touch with people.  I know that.  But due to life circumstances, I kept my distance from people by a conscious decision.  With others, we just separated and went our own ways.  It was good to be reminded of this lesson.

By this summer, I could be in a very different job and in a very different city.  Or I could be in a different job in one of the cities I have lived in before.  Too bad I can’t look into the crystal ball and figure it out now (I could make many decisions now based on that).  But it is okay.  It is an exciting time.  It’s also worth the wait.

Golf Teaches You to Focus

I’ve already figured this one out – golf will not tolerate a wandering mind.  It will force you to focus!  When I played tennis, I could watch my teammates on the court next to me and see how they were faring and still kick ass.  In cross-country, well, you don’t do anything but ponder in that one.  Golf, on the other hand, will kick you if you don’t pay attention to it!

Along with another reminder today that I needed further lessons on golf swing fundamentals, the realization also came that golf is a game that requires tremendous amount of focus.  It is a mental game, much more than other sports I have played.  As I was hitting, probably into my second basket of 50 balls, I noticed my mind was wandering.  But it was a good kind of wandering I think.  I was noticing how two gentleman, who were both very good players, were swinging.  I noticed the straight left arm, the complete turn of the body, and the smooth follow-through (well, for one of them, the other had a kind of weird swing.  He would swing like one of those side-arm baseball pitchers, almost swiping at the golf ball.  But he was getting decent results enough times).  I still don’t know enough about the basics to focus on my own game and improvement when I’m on the range.

I’ve heard golf is a game that challenges you more than opposing players do.  That makes sense because you’re not hitting the ball at someone and waiting for their return shot and you’re not physically defending an opponent’s moves.  It’s a matter of focusing on your approach to your shot, the shot, and the follow-through.  This requires clearing your mind from extraneous thoughts and focusing on each of these aspects, especially because the game is very technical.  You must get your swing down and keep it consistent in order to have success.  I like this requirement for focus, though undoubtedly I will not be perfect at it.  It should be a good training tool.

Meanwhile, I found out that the golf club that opened up recently near my house is actually all but 7 km away!  Wooohooo!  It is a 9-hole course with a driving range and greens for practicing putting.  It’s clean but the grass is not as green everywhere nor is the maintenance as good as the grounds at the Delhi Golf Course.  But, it’s only 7 km away!

I hit 150 balls this morning.  I also got my first coaching session, although it was not by any kind of certified coach (they just started the first golf coach training institute in Chandigarh, so I doubt there’s a body for coach certification).  He was a local guy who worked at Sirifort Complex and picked up the game on his own, as he admitted to me.  So, not the ideal coach, but he was available right there and I hired him for 30 minutes.  He taught me the basics of the swing and it was helpful information, so it wasn’t that bad.  I asked him to hit a few balls too and he knew what he was doing.

As I was leaving, the guys managing the place told me I could not wear a full-sleeved shirt and jeans!  I had forgotten this part of the gentleman’s game.  You must be dressed as a gentleman to play golf as well!  It will be warm enough soon so I am not too concerned about the shirt.  But the jeans!  That is going to hurt.  Man, I don’t even wear slacks to people’s houses and I have to wear them to hit a ball with an iron rod!  I tried protesting for a few minutes but I wasn’t going to get anywhere.  The guy, in fact, told me very clearly that he didn’t make a fuss about it because it was my first time, but he wouldn’t let me play next time!  I guess I have to iron some pants now.

My plan of taking lessons at the DGC and practising near home may work out just fine.  When I take lessons, I can hit at DGC also.  I’m excited about that possibility.  I now just need to make the time to do it.

Inauguration of a Lifetime

It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime moment that hits you right at the core!  An African-American man is elected to the highest office in the United States of America.  From a historical perspective, what a statement – look where the country has come, look at what you can do if you work hard, this is how the glass ceiling breaks, in fact, shatters!

As I watched the inauguration on ABC TV’s webcast, I was filled with awe.  It was not just the poignancy of the moment or the history I was witnessing that got to me.  It was also the ocassion and the environment – the cold morning with its gleam of fog, the sheer masses of people on the Washington Mall, the large screen TVs raised so that people could see what was happening at the Capitol, the look on peoples’ faces as they awaited the inauguration, the limousines carrying the Vice-President Elect Joe Biden and his wife entering the White House to be followed by President-Elect Barack Obama and Michelle, the calm on Obama’s face!  It was a moment where I felt speechless and carried away by the immensity of it all.

Long-term, I think Obama’s election has wonderful prospects for growing the nation and the world.  Long-held strong and subtle prejudices will be challenged and not easily defeated, if not won, because of the power of the presidency and the person holding it.  Enemies of peace can be approached by one of their own.  Well, sort of.  At least enough to make a difference.  I hope.  Obama can affect change within people and among people just by who he is not to mention by all he will bring forward in terms of policies and plans.  Yes, it is not just the message that matters. The person who delivers it makes a big difference.  The way it is managed can make or break acceptance, positive response, and mutual gain.

Short-term, Obama will bring perspectives and action to fiscal and economic policies that come with him being a Democrat, although he is a centrist.  He will invest in new forms of energy, education, and healthcare.  Senator Kennedy, an icon of his party that has pursued these causes for decades, will have a real opportunity to see healthcare reform enacted.  Investment in schools and infrastructure will happen.  There is a lot of stimulating required and Obama is going to do it.

The upside is huge.  We all know that.  The wars and the economy the way it is means it will be hard for him to go wrong.  He won’t go wrong by making wrong choices.  He will only go wrong by not taking action.  Obama has a license to take risks and bold steps and he’s a man suited for just that.  The one major downside is that another terrorist attack happens.  No matter how much he improves the economy and how quickly he brings the wars to an end, a successful attack on the United States will be his fall.  That’s the only downside that has any significant depth.  Improving the economy will take time and he won’t be blamed for it as long as he tries.  Well, he may be blamed for it, but it won’t stick.  He inherited a mess.

With Obama’s election, it is a time of doing for the country, for the people, and for the president.  Let’s see where we end up in 4 years.  I suspect we will be surprised by how distant January 20, 2009 will look.

Lessons Required

I went to play golf at the Delhi Golf Club yesterday morning.  I was reluctant to go.  Then I told myself I had to go otherwise I’ll never get started.  I went back and forth on that for about an hour as I was taking a shower and having breakfast. But then I did make it out there.

Delhi Golf Club is the most prestigious, and therefore also the most expensive, of the 4 or 5 courses in New Delhi.  This doesn’t include Gurgaon and Noida but I don’t have any plans of driving all the way there quite yet for golf.  I got there about 9:30 AM.  It is about 20 to 22 km from home.  Depending on when I go, it’s anywhere from a 30 minute to a one hour fifteen, maybe even one hour thirty, minute drive.

DGC has two courses – the 9-hole and the 18-hole.   It also has the driving range.  The 18-hole course is closed on Mondays.  The place was empty except for two people at the driving range when I got there.  People may have been on the course itself but no one was lining up to get started nor were there people coming and going.  I walked around a bit and found the environment wonderful.  It was clean.  It was well-maintained.  It was posh, for India.  I add that disclaimer because clean and well-maintained seem to take on a very different meaning to me when I think of the courses I have been on in the US.  They are clean also.  But they just seem so much cleaner.  I wonder why that is.  Anyway, DGC took the cake.  Very nice place.

Like I normally would, I looked for the office.  I figured I would talk to the manager and find out about costing as well as about membership.  I knew from my research that DGC was the most celebrated course in Delhi.  I then found out really how much.  The current waiting list is 22 years.  I asked the man I was talking to why even have a list that long.  He was a bit surprised by my question.  I told him I didn’t want to wait that long and left.  I thought, if I really did want membership, I’d be able to find someone I knew in my family or family friends who was on the board and I’d get it much quicker than 22 years.  I also knew I wasn’t going to be in India in 22 years.  It was good to have the basic information down though.  This way when I mention my golfing adventure as a story, I’ve got an interesting anecdote I could share.  22 years! 

I wasn’t sure if I should hit the range.  I didn’t want to get myself into bad swing habits.  Even a day or two of golfing can ingrain your swing in your mind.  Then I would have to unlearn it.  I thought about that for a few minutes as I walked the grounds and quickly bunked the notion.  I was going to hit some balls!

I went back to the counter at the entrance where I was to pay.  It was really quite inexpensive.  Rs. 225 is for the driving range.  Rs. 50 gets you 50 balls and Rs. 75 gets you 100.  I went for the 100, figuring if I wanted more, I could come back.  The entire practice round cost me Rs. 300.  That’s between $7 and $8 depending on the exchange rate.  That’s a paltry sum compared to what I would have paid in the US.  Hah, I suckered them golf Gods!  Why was I satisfied by that?  Who knows.  But I did get a little joy out of it!

The bucket was to have 50 balls but had 40, maybe 42.  I figured this out because there was no way it was 50, it just didn’t seem like there were that many in the bucket.  Turned out there almost was.  Golf being a gentleman’s game, I wasn’t going to haggle about it.  I was going to mention it to the dude managing the counter.  If he was going to resist or give me a hard time, I was going to brush it off.  This was my first day there too, after all.  I didn’t want to piss people off, even the “peons” (I don’t like it when people call staff that).

I have to admit I really enjoyed hitting the ball and being out on the course, err, driving range.  There was some real feeling of enjoyment and a sense of peace too.  I think it felt peaceful because of the greenery, the trees, and the lack of people.  Or, maybe it was the golf itself.  No, I think it was the environment.  If that changes in the future, I’ll let you know.

About 25 balls into practice, I was doing fine.  Fine in the sense I wasn’t bothered about my really bad hitting.  After all, I had played about 5 times in my life, had never taken lessons, and hadn’t hit a ball in about 7 to 8 years.  I wasn’t expecting much but just to be hitting was enough. At about ball number 55, theory and expectation turned into reality – yes, I needed coaching!  I knew by then that I was in fact going to go home and contact the coach I had been referred to.

Oh, by the way, this is an interesting thing about DGC (and probably at other courses in India).  It has a short list of about 12 to 15 coaches that can train on the driving range there.  That’s it.  No one else is allowed to do it.  There are three tiers of coaches – A, B, and C. The A category is for those who already know what they’re doing but want to take their game to the next level.  Or, the rich folks who want those coaches from the get-go.  I would probably be one of those people who’d get an A category coach if I wasn’t so budget conscious (some day, money will be less of a concern but that some day is not today).  Why?  I always want to learn from the best.  This is even more important in the game of golf, as I have mentioned the importance of the swing.

The B category is the mid-tier and there’s the C category, presumably for beginners.  The fees for each coach is fixed.  For a C category coach, I will pay Rs. 400 per 30 minutes as a non-member.  It would have been Rs. 300 if I was a member.  For B category it was Rs. 600 (or Rs. 500).  The A category was Rs. 800 (or Rs. 700).  It seemed fairly reasonable to me because I knew coaches in the US don’t start for less than $25 per hour and that is the lowest of the low.  They’re usually anywhere from $50 to $100 per hour.  Yes, golf is a “gentleman’s” game in more than one sense of the word.

I got home and emailed the coach I was referred to last year.  She was on the list of C category coaches, which I found kind of interesting and amusing.  Why?  I wasn’t expecting there to be just a dozen coaches sanctioned to train at DGC!  I figured I would do 2 sessions with her per week and wanted to get the first one in on Thursday or Friday of this week.  I would practice 2-4 times as well, depending on if the course closest to me was in fact close and if it was in decent condition (decent being a relative term now that I’ve seen DGC).  If I’m spending 2.5 hours driving back and forth, that’ll definitely dent the frequency.

On the way back home, I stopped at Connaught Place (CP).  There are a few book stores there and I thought I might pick up an instructional book on golf.  If the concepts of libraries existed in India, I would have gotten one from the local branch.  But libraries are only at the embassies or at universities.  There is no local branch.  I found a couple of books that looked decent but they were hard cover and thick.  How would I carry those with me back to the US?  I decided I would find an electronic version of instructions online and combine it with my coach to learn.  If I felt I needed to buy the book, then I would do it after a few sessions.  This way, I wasn’t buying it and not using it.

I also called a friend to tell her about my playing golf.  Why?  Not quite sure.  I guess I had to tell someone.  Turns out this girl also wants to play.  I told her she should take courses with me.  If someone else was doing it too, it’d keep me motivated.  She readily agreed.  Well, sort of.  By the end of the conversation, she said she would meet me at the course and just watch.  She would not play.  She had her own clubs.  Her brother and her would play as kids.  She sounded like she wanted to do it.  But, anyhow, I’ll see if she comes out there.  It’d be good to have a regular friend to hang out with.

So, my friends, I have started playing golf!  This is an exciting time.  I have wanted to play since I graduated college.  It is finally happening.  I am finally using the clubs I bought 3 years ago.  They were brand new and sitting in storage until now.  Oh, that’s something else I should mention.  I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to play yesterday so I didn’t get my clubs ready.  When I was at the driving range, I had to sit on the seat near my area and quietly peel off the plastic covers.  It was funny and embarrasing as well.  Who comes to a golf course with brand new clubs that haven’t even been removed out of their packaging?

Fore!!!!

Golf is an expensive game.  I avoided it in the US because the green fees can be anywhere from $25 to $75 (and higher).  That’s a lot of cash I decided not to spend 5-10 times a month.  It’s also a game big on technique – of the swing.  The slightest wrong angle of the head or the arm not being in the right position or the follow-through being incorrect or the legs not being positioned properly means that the golf ball ends up in the trees.

I consciously decided I was going to stay off golf until I could take lessons.  I didn’t want to pick up bad habits, which are very hard to break in golf.  They’re worse than in tennis.  I didn’t take lessons for tennis, I just started playing.  Technique is important in that sport too, but I think golf is the most specific.  Plus, I didn’t want to spend the cash on it either.  Those two solid reasons combined, I held off on “the sport” for business people.

Now, I want to get into golf.  I have found a few courses I can take lessons here in Delhi.  And, they’re very reasonable (especially if I convert to what I would pay for lessons in the US).  I have to admit, I’m a bit skeptical on the quality of the training.  I’ll find out soon enough I guess.

The problem is that this is usually the beginning of the busiest time of the year for me.  That is, from mid-January to about end of April, sometimes end of May or early June, is just horrible.  And I’ve got my career transition effort underway as well that requires a sizable amount of time as well.  But I can’t possibly be as busy as so many other people.  And they get out to golf just fine!  If I am going to do this, I will need to consciously take time out from work.  I would want to take lessons twice a week so I would want to play at least 3-4 times a week.  That I know is not happening.  I will be luckily if I can do 2 times a week, period.

I figured I could take lessons twice a week but do them in the afternoon or evening.  That way, I can play before the lesson.  If I can get into the driving range and even do 9 holes, I think that’ll be good.  I won’t be able to do 18 holes on a regular basis though.  That can be kept for like once a month or something.  Sounds like I’ve got a plan.  Now let’s see if don’t let work and the long drive to the course stop me!