When the ball began to roll...

Like most Indian children, I grew up in a household where cricket was one of the most talked about subjects-- this though, only after i was 7! Till then I had been locked away in the cricket-free country of the United States of America. I spent four years in that country, playing almost all the sports it had to offer, but never hearing the word "cricket" (apart from the insect, of course).

Almost as soon as we returned to India, the wave of euphoria surrounding the sport hit me unawares. As a 7 year old, who had no idea that a sport could become a religion in a country as large as India, it was rather scary. I took a while to adjust to it, but like most other Indians, I took to the game quickly. With a lot of help from my grandfather ('Thatha'- my mother's father), i picked up on the various rules of the sport and before I knew it, cricket had become an important part of my life.
I started off playing on the terrace with my father and a tennis ball. We had the usual "one bounce, one hand catch- out" rule. (I suppose that's when I learned how to play with 'soft hands'; only at that time I didn't know that such a style of play would help me in my "professional" career). There was also the "hit outside full toss- out" rule. (This rule also benefited me by teaching to keep the ball down). It was a challenge to face my father's (Appa) off- spin. I was faced with a dilemma- I couldn't bat like Adam Gilchrist, or else I'd get out (to the second rule), and if I were as defensive as Mike Atherton or Mark Richardson, Appa would sooner or later get the better of me; so I decided to adopt a more Steve Waugh/ Nasser Hussain approach where I would just work the ball around and when the 'loose ball came' (usually a full toss or a half volley) I'd smash it with all my might (along the ground).
Believe it or not, another thing I learned while playing cricket on the terrace, was to dive! Yes, I dived on a concrete terrace, not worried about how badly I might get hurt or even that i could break a few bones! It didn't matter to me. Not one bit! All I cared about was that I was diving and therefore "Jonty Rhodes would be proud of me!"-- that's how naive I was.
The shift from terrace cricket to a real coaching camp came in the year 2004. It was a big change, but one I welcomed wholeheartedly. At that point there was nothing that I wanted to do more than play cricket; and I can proudly say that to this day- it remains the same...