Sify Pulse: Aug - Sept Edition

The post is a little late, I know...but as they say, 'better late than never'! Lol :)

Sify Breaks Own Record by Taking 6 in a 'Row'!!

That's right, folks! Last Saturday evening, we surpassed our own record by being the first company in the history of the M&B Regatta, to win the championship 6 times, consecutively. Howzzat?? :)

The last one and a half months have been absolutely crazy. So much so, that I even gave up on updating the rowing blog, something which I had taken up with a lot of interest last year. But after achieving this almost impossible feat, I felt I had to include the details in the 'Chronicles of Defending the M&B Regatta Championship'!

So let me attempt to give a gist of the whole story, and thereby make up for the absence.

This year, with great difficulty, we rounded up a handful of people and assembled at the club by around the 13th of July. By then, most of the other companies had already started serious practice. I remember landing up for my first day of practice, this season, and there was hardly anyone from our team. Someone from another team walked up to me and asked, in a tone that I would say was more patronising than concerned, "Where is your team?". Of course, seemingly unfazed, I replied lightly, "Good question. That's what I'm looking for, too." :)

With all the management changes and its subsequent effects riding high in the company, motivation levels were low and not many people were willing to volunteer for any extra-curricular activities that would warrant any extra effort on their part. I still remember people dodging away at the sight of me, for fear that I would talk them into coming for rowing practice!

From there, to be honest, it was quite a difficult stride ahead. Every morning, we would find half the crew missing. By the time, we got them and, not to mention, our coach in, we would barely have time for our outings. Come to think of it, it's almost unbelievable how we froze on our final teams just hardly a week before the races!! The Womens Fours crew was a classic example where the team was finally put together 2 days before the races and I think, counting the finals, we would have had a maximum of 8 outings!! :)

With the other teams majorly gunning for us, I must admit that we were also highly apprehensive. The main tangible difference from last year was, more than anything else, the size of our team. Last season, wherever you turned, you could only see the Sify team whereas this time we had to really turn our heads to see someone from our team!! In the mornings when we walked in to see only a handful of us, we would ask each other, hopefully, 'Is the rest of the team on the water?" only to get a reply, "What rest of the team?? This is the team!!". We would also constantly trip on ourselves and keep joking around and putting ourselves down. Trust our team to have our fun even during tough times! Somewhere, I think, that sent out a signal to the other teams that we were going down. Well, were they wrong or what?? :)

Another major problem was getting proper coxes. Somehow, whoever we tried just didn't work out. In the end, we decided that Lokapriya and I would cox all the races, ourselves, and Wasim would cox the Women's Pairs and Fours. That still left the Mixed Fours which had Satish, Wasim, Lokapriya and myself in it! (It was finally coxed by Roshan.)

Nevertheless, we still put in all our efforts and went about with our practice and preparations, quietly. The races came, and we qualified for the finals of 4 events out of 8. The unexpected sweet victories were the clean sweep we made of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the Men's Pairs, and Vishnu and Ezhil, who had never been on a practice outing previously, coming 3rd for the Double Sculls!! We also came 1st for Men's Sculls, 2nd for Mixed Fours and Women's Fours, and 3rd for Men's Fours, Women's Pairs and Women's Sculls. And, finally, we managed to beat our opponents by a close margin of 3 points, taking everybody by surprise!!

I was a little disappointed (okay lets be frank here, a lot more than a little) when we were knocked out of the finals for my Women's Pairs. This was one event that I had practiced for from the very beginning and I simply could not believe that I could not even enter the finals, let alone win it. But I guess, things don't always go the way we want it to. I also feel, most of my energy was channelised more towards coxing than rowing. While taking up coxing, I really wasn't aware of the amount of efforts it warranted. Only towards the end of the races did I realise, it had left me totally drained. However, I have no complaints. I am ony too glad I got to experience it and I must say coxing is is one hell of an experience. So I totally enjoyed to the tilt, all that I got to do and I am only left thirsty for more!! :)

To sum it up, I would say that it is one and a half months of sheer hard work, grit, dedication and our never-say-die attitude, which were the key factorsfor our win. Of course, it is also the right kind of attitude, determination and team spirit that drove us and kept us from being demotivated, despite all odds. And I guess, in the end, despite all that tough competition we faced, the best team won!

So here I am all bruised, blistered and badly burnt, yet, eagerly looking forward to the next regatta. :)

We did it!!!

And Sify 'takes home' the M & B Regatta championship once again, for a record-breaking 5th time, in the more-than-100-year-old history of the prestigious Madras Boat Club!! :)

Adding to the feathers in our cap is that we created another record by qualifying for the finals of seven events out of a total of eight in a single regatta. Out of 126 races, we participated in and won the most. What's more, our victory was so tremendous that our winning points were higher than both the second and third place winners put together!

We can all look back with pride at this special feat. It didn't come to us easily on a platter, though. This is the result of more than two months of concerted efforts, determined practice, crazy work routines, and a truly amazing team spirit! Our more-than-25-member team totally deserves a pat on the back for the support and togetherness offered to one another despite all odds and differences throughout the regatta. And am sure all of us, both the veterans and newcomers, would have a lot of memories to take back with us this time.

We have all come a long way together during this past few months and seen a lot. We have learnt quite a few things as well. About commitment, discipline, pushing all limits and giving your all to the team. Though we may not have won all the races, I believe there are valuable lessons to be learnt from losing as well. Lessons that we might have missed out on had we won them all. Lessons about team spirit, trust, and supporting and standing by your teammate/s no matter what!!

Think everyone is yet to recover from the post-rowing mood. We're all still discussing the races, the regatta night, paagal regatta and, not to mention, sending across snaps and video clippings. We have the traditional group photo session with Mr. Ramaraj tomorrow. Looking forward to that.

So I guess we'll all miss rowing, terribly, now.

Jus a coupla days more...

After all that practising and pushing ourselves towards the big day, finally we have the regatta approaching in a couple of days.

We held internal races during the last week between the different teams to get a grasp of our own strengths and weaknesses. And if you ask me, it did us a whole lot of good. We got to know where we stood and where there was room for improvement. Teams have also been practising race lengths on a daily basis and are fully sweating it out. We don't even spare ourselves on the weekend evenings.

The ergometer race which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday went great. 6 out of the top 10 men and 5 out of the top 10 women were from Sify. Ajay and Satish stood second and third respectively and, among the girls, Aditi did us proud by coming in third. Finally our efforts are beginning to pay off.

Well, it's just a matter of a few more days where we have to push ourselves and give our all to the team. And then, hopefully, we can all rest on the laurels which we intend to bring home :)

Where is the drive?!!

Guys, what is happening to us? Where is the team spirit? Where is the drive? Why are we all so watered down? We have around two more weeks for the regatta. Just two more weeks! What are we thinking?!!

Why is it that the numbers are decreasing at the club instead of everyone being there on time and practising away? And when the rest doesn't make it, the few that do also loses motivation. I admit that I have also been skipping jogs and exercises. We all used to have jogs, stretches and circuits on a daily basis. What's happening to all that now?

Come on, people, we have all been putting in lot of effort getting up at unearthly hours and coming for practice when we could have happily slept off in our comfy beds. We can all come up with zillions of excuses for not making it, if we want to. But we didn't. We made it to the club and we have been practising for the past two months. Please don't let all that effort go to waste just a few weeks before the race. Don't let the team down.

It's high time we pull ourselves together. We are a championship winning team. Let's not forget that. So believe that we are going to lift the trophy this year and come for practice, keeping in mind that we HAVE to retain the championship no matter what!

Now is definitely not the time to get complacent. Now is the time to sport a killer attitude and psyche out the other teams with our sheer grit and determination! And let's do just that. Let's take her home!

Give it your all!

Quite a lot has been happening over the past few days. Along with practice, workouts, and fighting with the other companies for the boats, a few new faces have shown up and teams have been reshuffled. Hopefully, this time it is for good.

In practice, we're doing good on the techniques and their synchronisation. Now, what we need is power. We have to follow our regular fitness routine for that. The ergometer training helps a lot. And when we go for jogs, let's try to run faster as it improves our stamina. And of course, eat well. I think we're doing fine there and we have the rising refreshment bills as proof :)

Last weekend was a blast. After practice, all of us were lounging around and chilling out at the club. And the best part about our team is that we don't need much to have fun. We have a great time just by being together, where everybody is busy trying to pull the others' legs and, in the process, gets caught in their own traps. DJ, especially, seems to have a penchant for digging his own grave!! But people, beware of him, as he has several physical and other means to get back at you! Me speaking from experience here :)

However, all said and done, there's something that's still lacking in our attitudes towards the regatta, which automatically reflects in our actions. We're just not getting serious enough. What's worse is, with the race less than 20 days away, this is clearly something we can't afford! Come on guys, where is the drive? It's just a few more days. Let's give it our all!

"Together!"

Feels good to realise (slowly albeit) what synchronisation actually means as we find it in our own rowing instead of always hearing the cox shout out "Together!". Guess all that effort we're putting in is starting to pay off. Though of course, consistency, which is more important, calls for a lot more of it.

The ergometer race is up on the 20th of this month. Practice is on for that as well. However, yesterday, practice gradually shifted into goofing around on the swings and go-rounds near the erg in the club. Amidst all the fun and frolic, nobody realised the time and, to cut a long story short, we were all horribly, horribly late for work!

So today, we were careful not to go anywhere near them, and to be there for breakfast on time. Things are not so different at the breakfast table either, where we are all reluctant to lift our bums and get to work after a nice meal and joking around with everyone. It's also funny how the number of breakfasts and lime juices seem to be increasing in a directly proportional manner to the number of days left for the race :)

In sum, a nice day, though quite a few were missing. After all, the more the merrier. Nevertheless, I can see the determination building in our team as even the once-in-a-week timers are slowly becoming regulars.