Ahead of 2023, listed below are 5 tales that show its by no means too late to be taught one thing new

Latha Srinivasan: Dream Run

At this 12 months’s National Masters Athletics Championships, Latha Srinivasan, 62, received three silver medals — in 5K, 1500m, and 800m. She completed her first marathon final 12 months. At an age when most individuals retire from sports activities and athletics, she has simply begun. 

Until 4 years in the past, her publicity to sports activities was restricted to the occasional Olympics and Wimbledon-watching on TV. 

“Then, in 2018, I noticed an article by Pankaja Srinivasan in The Hindu Metroplus concerning an upcoming marathon in Coimbatore. It kindled an curiosity inside me. So, I contacted an area runners group and joined them,” she says. 

Latha signed up for the 10K occasion on the Coimbatore Marathon, which was simply over a month away. But working at a retirement age was not very straightforward. “I used to gasp after working just some metres. I felt signing up for the 10K occasion was a mistake.” She requested her runners group coordinator if she ought to downgrade herself to 5K. But he informed her, ‘Just preserve practising. There’s nonetheless a month’s time. The vibes on that day will carry you previous the end line.’

It did. Latha, aided by the help of her brother and sister-in-law (each of them, runners), completed the 10K run. “The euphoria of finishing that run… Well, I can’t describe that. Ever since, I haven’t regarded again.”

Running, she says, is like meditation. It helps her stay match and wholesome too. 

To those seeking to begin working, Latha’s recommendation is: “Don’t focus an excessive amount of on the pace or distance. Consistency is extra vital. It applies to any new talent you need to grasp.”

Navin Balachandran: Play by ear

In July this 12 months, Navin Balachandran, 46, got here throughout a number of articles in regards to the rising recognition of pickleball within the US. He noticed that a number of well-liked athletes reminiscent of LeBron James and Kim Clijsters taking on the game. Many enterprise capitalists have been investing on the sport which is a mishmash of tennis, desk tennis, and badminton. . 

His curiosity piqued, Navin needed to test if the game was performed in India as effectively. That’s when he found the Instagram web page of the Tamil Nadu Pickleball Association. “Hey, appears like you may have a pickleball setup in Chennai. Where do you play?” he pinged them. 

Just a few days later, Navin was on the DAV Boys School, one of many apply venues of the Chennai ‘picklers’. “I quickly realised that it’s a community-based sport,” says Navin. “When you begin enjoying a sport, it’s powerful to search out individuals to play with since people who find themselves higher, don’t need to play with you. But individuals have been very welcoming. The first day, I performed with a man who had accompanied his brother, his spouse and his dad. So it may be a sport for all the household.”

Within a number of months of taking on the game, Navin received the doubles gold medal on the Tamil Nadu State rating match in Kanchipuram and made it to the singles and doubles quarter-finals on the Nationals in Indore. But greater than the medals and victories, he cherishes the sensation the game offers him. “I select to place myself out of my consolation zone. I benefit from the thought of studying one thing new and assembly totally different individuals, doing issues I by no means knew existed. Pickleball gave me that,” he says. 

Divya Rolla: Giving it a shot

What do rifle taking pictures and yoga have in widespread?

The two appear worlds aside as rifles are normally related to violence and yoga with peace. But they aren’t, says Divya Rolla, 41, who took up rifle taking pictures 4 months in the past. As a yoga coach at Cult Fit, she trains individuals in focus, breath, and stillness — three issues which can be important in taking pictures as effectively.

“Post-COVID, I used to be trying round for one thing I may do after work. And, this rifle institue, which was simply 10 minutes away from dwelling caught my eye,” she says. 

Divya was not solely new to rifle taking pictures. She had briefly practised it throughout her school NCC days. But that was twenty years in the past. Without apply, she was going to really feel like a novice. After a number of lessons, nonetheless, she felt like she by no means left taking pictures. Now, it has turn out to be an vital a part of her life. She attends the lessons two hours a day, 4 days per week.

Working at a Cult Fit, she is effectively conscious of how troublesome it’s to start out a brand new health interest. “Even I used to be not very certain if I might stick with taking pictures. I believed it might put on off. So far, it hasn’t,” she says.

“The trick is to select one thing that excites you — one thing that you’d do simply because it offers you pleasure. Don’t burden your self with the expectation of being good at it. Take it someday at a time. And, don’t disgrace your self if you happen to really feel like dropping it.”

Prabhakar Aloka: Write flip

There is a world of between real-life espionage and its pop-culture portrayal, in keeping with Prabhakar Aloka, a former intelligence officer. “While the latter includes 5Gs (glitz, glamour, gizmos, weapons, and women); the precise factor includes simply 1G (grit),” he says. 

Aloka is aware of this as a result of he has served the Intelligence Bureau for over three a long time. When he retired two years in the past, he needed to inform individuals what occurs within the lives of actual spies. He thought-about doing it by way of a lecture collection or a podcast however neither of these codecs let him discover the psyche of a spy. “Spies are normally proven as motion heroes who can leap off tall buildings and interact in fights. But they’re additionally people with feelings and conflicts.” The finest approach to convey this, he felt, was by way of tales. 

Aloka knew what to put in writing; he simply needed to be taught how to put in writing it. He was into Hindi literature at school and school and a fan of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s works; English literature was extra of an acquired style. He began writing solely in direction of the top of his profession. He took two years to complete his spy thriller Operation Haygreeva (Penguin Random House), which was launched in direction of the top of 2021. 

This 12 months, he completed its sequel, Operation Sudarshan Chakra, which is on the market on-line and in bookstores. After a long time of lifeless critical intelligence work, now, as a author, Aloka says he feels “the juvenile pleasure of a pupil anticipating his examination outcomes” earlier than the discharge of his books. 

Jayachandran Palazhy: Grow inexperienced

Jayachandran Palazhy grew up amidst greenery. As a boy, in his village in Thrissur, he used to water the paddy fields and trip again dwelling on a bullock cart. He left the pastoral life to pursue arts in Chennai, then in London, and finally in Bengaluru, the place he based the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. Dance has beenJayachandran’s main focus for many of his life. But at any time when he travelled, the bushes lining the roads reminded him of his boyhood conversations with Nature. Constantly surrounded by concrete enclosures, he says, robs us of one thing intangible that we discover within the midst of greenery. So, over the past 12 months, the worldwide choreographer has taken up natural farming on a three-acre plot close to Bengaluru. 

“I really feel there’s a connection between artwork and sustainability,” he says, “Art teaches you to have fun Nature, to apply a easy way of life, to consider the following era. We ought to all contribute to that.”

Though Nature is a vital a part of his artwork apply, Jayachandran longed for a visceral expertise. “Lots of people are into natural farming. They personal a chunk of land and get vegetables and fruit from the farm. But to get happiness and pleasure together with the yields, they need to get their arms soiled — really feel the earth, the leaves, the water.”

In his 60s, he’s, in a means, going again to his boyhood but in addition studying one thing new. “Scientists say dance and music assist the mind make new neural connections. There is not any time restrict to studying one thing new. The second you cease studying, you cease evolving.”