Emily in India

I’ve had more fun at work in India than ever in my life before. But RMS Sports week was another level. Months in advance, we were advised that RMS Sports week would be held the last week of August and all were expected to participate. At the beginning of August we gathered in a training room and watched a random Excel selector divided all 88 of us into 4 teams – Teams R, I, S, and K. The list of events was displayed and we were encouraged to “nominate” ourselves (i.e., sign up) for whatever we wanted to play. Chess, carrot, table tennis, foosball, badminton, volleyball, throw ball, football, cricket, 100m, 4×100 relay, and tug-of-war.

That day, our respective captains reached out in a WhatsApp group and we were tasked with coming up with a name.

Then came time to choose jerseys.

I’ve never seen this level of planning and coordination in India. Very impressive!

A couple of weeks went by and then practices started. We met near the office to practice badminton; some met for volleyball and table tennis practice.

RMS Sports week started on a Saturday with badminton. I was paired with a woman who didn’t show up so played with a teammate who was also paired with a woman who didn’t show up. The Raptors weren’t off to a great start. Teena and I played well, racking up enough points to win but not able to get the “seal the deal” point before the other team did. The tournament continued, the competition ramped up, and at least one injury was recorded (Mayur’s ankle was the size of a grapefruit as he paced the courts instead of resting). It was such a fun day.

That night was the night I had agreed to go to Venkatesh’s house for dinner. It’s one of those things I was happy to agree to until the time came. I pushed through the dread, threw on my favorite kurti and dupatta and kept my commitment. I got to meet his mom and wife, Pooja, and son Tarun. Precious family.

They sat me down in front of a sole banana leaf and piled food in front of me. In fact, they piled a long list of foods in front of me – the same list I had casually rattled off to Venkatesh one night on the way back from work when he asked me what Indian foods I like. I wouldn’t have listed every food I know if I had known what he was using the information for. There wasn’t much space to eat but I insisted that they sit and eat, or at least sit and talk, with me instead of just standing over me watching me eat. But, they wouldn’t.

Embarrassed at the scene, I nervously and quickly scarfed down as much food as possible while trying to refuse more portions. It was SO MUCH food. More food than would ever be reasonable for one person to eat at one sitting. Fruit, banana chips, potato chips, gulab jamun, dry dahl, yellow rice, butter masala paneer, chapati, curd, raw vegetables, two more kinds of rice, and yellow dahl. It was delicious but entirely too much.

When I was done eating, I apologized to Pooja for not eating more and she kindly said, “that’s okay! better luck next time!” hahahaha

Then they asked if I would do a blessing for them. Mortified, I agreed (who am I to be blessing anyone?!?!). Venkatesh and Pooja kneeled in front of me and bowed to touch my feet while I sprinkled their heads with uncooked rice. They stood and thanked me. I thanked them back, putting my hands together in front of my chest, “namaste”. His mom quickly said something in Hindi/ Telugu to him and he turned to me sheepishly. “You’re not supposed to ‘namaste’ after giving a blessing,” Pooja adding, “it’s like you’re taking the blessings back.” Even more mortified than when I was asked to it, I was a little annoyed that his mom cared to chastise me for it.

That week at work, the indoor games were played. Chess, carrom, foosball, and table tennis. I had a great table tennis partner, Megha, and we made it to the finals against 2 absolute table tennis superstars and true athletes (they kicked ass all week). We got runners up and scored the first points for the Raptors after 5 events. I was done until Saturday’s outdoor games and championship.

The week at work was a blast. Everyone was happy and excited and competitive. We worked hard but had a pep in our steps with new purpose.

On the second Saturday, the entire team gathered at a local private school where we had rented the sports grounds. I practiced throw ball, never having played it or even heard of it before Sports week, and turned out to be decent at it. At gametime, my serves almost single-handedly carried us into the finals where we lost after I had 2 serving penalties that kept me from serving any more. It was sooooo much fun. I felt like a kid again. An angry and very competitive kid. The rules of throw ball are wild. There were more points obtained by opposing team penalties than playing the game. It seemed like every time anyone touched the ball, they did something wrong, and a point was lost. This is partly why my serves were so clutch, until penalties knocked me out from that role. Everyone was hyping me up after my performance, it was awesome.

All that was left for me that day was the 100m dash and 4×100.

Very early after Sports week signups, the rumor started that I was going to win the women’s sprints. I know that I used to run sprints like the wind 😉 but what would give them that impression?! Plus, I am a decade older than all of them. On the badminton Saturday, I raced my teammate Sharon just to get a sense of what I was up against. I flew past her and she assured me that the two fastest women, Deepthi and …. shoot, I cannot remember who the other one was… beat Sharon but Sharon was able to keep up with them. “She’s winning it!” she exclaimed to everyone at practice.

It turned out to be less than 50m because of the length of the track and none of us wanting to sprint down, turn around, and sprint back (I actually wanted the full 100m because I know my second half is better than my first half. Competitive, much?!). We had to do many heats and then a final race. I am pleased to say that despite two slow starts, I came in a safe first place. The next day, I could hardly walk and laid around with ice on my right knee. Totally worth it.

The 4×100 was called off after many people fell onto the track while running, with one severely injuring his shoulder.

I was headed to rest for the rest of the day. Except a Raptors female cricketer didn’t show up and I was asked to stand in. I “practiced” bowling (pitching) and striking (batting) before it was decided that I was the best female bowler and striker on the team. When the game started, I realized I had been practicing baseball and no one explained how things differed in cricket. So after an abysmal cricket performance, the Raptors lost another one. It was time for tug-of-war and no amount of available points could get us out of 4th place. In true Raptors fashion, we finished tug-of-war in 4th place, too.

The awards ceremony featured medals for all 1st and 2nd place winners and huge, cool-looking trophies for the team sports. GDC’s CFO came to present awards to the winners.

On Monday at work, the trophies were brought in and displayed near my desk (lots of traffic around there). As people walked into work and said good morning to me, I couldn’t see who was greeting me and all day, other professionals came to gawk and ask about Sports week – which inevitably lead to questions about whether RMS is hiring.