Forward of 2023, listed here are 5 tales that show it’s by no means too late to be taught one thing new

Latha Srinivasan: Dream Run

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

Till 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 relating to an upcoming marathon in Coimbatore. It kindled an curiosity inside me. So, I contacted a neighborhood 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. However operating at a retirement age was not very simple. “I used to gasp after operating 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. However he instructed her, ‘Simply 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… Nicely, I can’t describe that. Ever since, I haven’t appeared again.”

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

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

Navin Balachandran: Play by ear

In July this yr, Navin Balachandran, 46, got here throughout a number of articles concerning the growing reputation of pickleball within the US. He noticed that numerous widespread athletes comparable to LeBron James and Kim Clijsters taking on the game. Many enterprise capitalists had been investing on the sport which is a mishmash of tennis, desk tennis, and badminton. . 

His curiosity piqued, Navin needed to verify if the game was performed in India as nicely. That’s when he came upon the Instagram web page of the Tamil Nadu Pickleball Affiliation. “Hey, appears to be like like you could have a pickleball setup in Chennai. The place do you play?” he pinged them. 

A number of days later, Navin was on the DAV Boys College, one of many apply venues of the Chennai ‘picklers’. “I quickly realised that it’s a community-based sport,” says Navin. “If you begin taking part in a sport, it’s robust to search out folks to play with since people who find themselves higher, don’t need to play with you. However folks had been very welcoming. The primary 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.”

Inside a number of months of taking on the game, Navin received the doubles gold medal on the Tamil Nadu State rating event in Kanchipuram and made it to the singles and doubles quarter-finals on the Nationals in Indore. However 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 concept of studying one thing new and assembly totally different folks, doing issues I by no means knew existed. Pickleball gave me that,” he says. 

Divya Rolla: Giving it a shot

What do rifle capturing and yoga have in widespread?

The 2 appear worlds aside as rifles are often related to violence and yoga with peace. However they aren’t, says Divya Rolla, 41, who took up rifle capturing 4 months in the past. As a yoga coach at Cult Match, she trains folks in focus, breath, and stillness — three issues which are important in capturing as nicely.

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

Divya was not totally new to rifle capturing. She had briefly practised it throughout her school NCC days. However that was twenty years in the past. With out apply, she was going to really feel like a novice. After a number of lessons, nevertheless, she felt like she by no means left capturing. Now, it has develop into an essential a part of her life. She attends the lessons two hours a day, 4 days every week.

Working at a Cult Match, she is nicely conscious of how tough it’s to begin a brand new health passion. “Even I used to be not very positive if I’d follow capturing. I assumed it might put on off. Thus far, it hasn’t,” she says.

“The trick is to choose 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 sooner or later at a time. And, don’t disgrace your self if you happen to really feel like dropping it.”

Prabhakar Aloka: Write flip

There’s a world of between real-life espionage and its pop-culture portrayal, in accordance with Prabhakar Aloka, a former intelligence officer. “Whereas 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 folks what occurs within the lives of actual spies. He thought of doing it through a lecture sequence or a podcast however neither of these codecs let him discover the psyche of a spy. “Spies are often proven as motion heroes who can leap off tall buildings and interact in fights. However they’re additionally people with feelings and conflicts.” One of the simplest ways to convey this, he felt, was by way of tales. 

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

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

Jayachandran Palazhy: Develop 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 Motion Arts. Dance has beenJayachandran’s major focus for many of his life. However at any time when he travelled, the timber lining the roads reminded him of his boyhood conversations with Nature. Continuously surrounded by concrete enclosures, he says, robs us of one thing intangible that we discover within the midst of greenery. So, during the last yr, 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, “Artwork teaches you to rejoice Nature, to apply a easy life-style, to consider the subsequent era. We must always all contribute to that.”

Although Nature is a crucial 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 vegatables and fruits from the farm. However to get happiness and pleasure together with the yields, they need to get their fingers soiled — really feel the earth, the leaves, the water.”

In his 60s, he’s, in a method, 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 no such thing as a time restrict to studying one thing new. The second you cease studying, you cease evolving.”