I hadn’t even so much as heard of dragon boat racing all these years and in the last three months I’ve participated in a dragon boat race twice already. The most recent one was on Friday at the Dragon boat festival and it was only because of my office that I got to take part in a fun festival such as this. Dragon boat racing is a serious passion for many in this part of the world, and not everyone thinks of it as a fun sport. There are teams that are extremely dedicated and serious about it. They are also a delight to watch, an epitome of team work and co-ordination and one look at them made it clear to us that we were going to come last, which we did :)
Since we all work different hours we could not go for any training session and it is a miracle we managed to keep the boat afloat. However we did manage to stand out as a team all due to the mad streak in my colleagues. The motto of our team was Mission Sabotage; we wore pirate hats and went on the boat with huge supplies of water guns and water balloons :) and in true pirate-style we growled at other teams passing by, hoping to intimidate them.
On my way back home from the event I was thinking about how lucky I am to be with people who are so fun loving and young. Not only my colleagues, but also the other team members who simply laughed when we threw balloons at them or attacked them with our water guns. I thought we’d probably get beaten up for our behaviour but it was all taken in a sporting manner. Though secretly I would have loved for us to win I feel that we were the jesters who added the fun and lightness to a highly competitive sport, and I quite liked being on that side of the fence :)
Since we all work different hours we could not go for any training session and it is a miracle we managed to keep the boat afloat. However we did manage to stand out as a team all due to the mad streak in my colleagues. The motto of our team was Mission Sabotage; we wore pirate hats and went on the boat with huge supplies of water guns and water balloons :) and in true pirate-style we growled at other teams passing by, hoping to intimidate them.
On my way back home from the event I was thinking about how lucky I am to be with people who are so fun loving and young. Not only my colleagues, but also the other team members who simply laughed when we threw balloons at them or attacked them with our water guns. I thought we’d probably get beaten up for our behaviour but it was all taken in a sporting manner. Though secretly I would have loved for us to win I feel that we were the jesters who added the fun and lightness to a highly competitive sport, and I quite liked being on that side of the fence :)
4 comments:
Wow... lucky you... you got to participate (and have fun) in the race. I have seen dragon boat races in the backwaters of Kerala, but they are all verrrry serious about it, won't even think of participating there.
hey...this must have really been awesome..although i did see a dragon boat in Kerala [allepey] but to be part & witness the race is a dream...i'm so glad to read ur experience!!
Yes, I was really lucky to get to do this. I don't think I would have joined something like this or paid to train for this. Got to experience it and the only investment needed was time.
Good fun. I have been thinking of getting into rowing since some of my friends are big champs :) but unfortunately just can't find the time... Wish I could be working someplace like you where I get paid to row :)
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