When we woke up today, we had no idea we’d be doing so many things for the first time. In fact, this week has seen us experience so many things for the first time in our life that we are convinced this is the best week in our life. Like ever!
Over the weekend, we went to Mahabaleshwar and went strawberry-picking, swam in a heated pool, saw a juggler, slept in a hammock, and made origami flowers out of tissue paper, all of these for the first time ever in our life. Then, we got to use a treadmill (and we even listened to our Walkman while running) for the first time ever. And today morning, we got to wear a seatbelt like an adult, you guessed it, for the first time ever. Later, we warmed up, stretched, jogged, ran sprints, recovered, and then did front rolls (no video or photo because Baba bear was helping us) and raced the wheelbarrow with someone 2 years our senior (and won), all of it in the course grainy sand on the racecourse, scratching and hurting our palms in the process, filling our hair with dry grass and dust, and dirtying our entire costume. But boy, did we have fun!
Do you know what’s slated for next week? We are going to learn how to change gears in a stick-shift car that Baba bear will drive and allow us to change all by ourselves! Is that cool or is that cool?
Just to be clear, we are being educated about privilege and how, as someone who has won the genetic lottery, a lot of what we get to do and experience has to do with how lucky we got and nothing to do with our ability or merit or hard work. And while we are still too young to understand it fully, it is something Baba bear makes it a point to bring to our notice every time. At the same time, we are not going to let not understanding this come in the way of learning from every experience, and having fun while doing it. As we grow, we will understand more, and will learn more, we are sure.
And now, for a small announcement:
There are some well-meaning and very nice folks who are appalled by our training regimen and daily activity. They think we should go easy. They think that it is our parents who are forcing us to run or work out or wake up early or do any of this. That they want us to win medals for India and take up sport as a profession. That they will end up pushing us off the edge and breaking and damaging us, injuring us in their greed for vicarious success.
Here’s the thing: Baba and Mamma bear get it. They really do. They understand where these people are coming from. They understand that all these friends are trying to do is to give good advice and help out. They know these friends have nothing to gain from either the bear family taking or discarding their well-thought-out suggestions. But we believe they have got some fundamentals wrong. We know that real athletes don’t train more than 3 times a week. That they do core and strength training more than actual running. That if we train too often, at some point, we may burn out. We agree that all of these things are true.
But as we said, the intent behind our schedule needs some clarification, and while Baba bear has already spoken about it on multiple occasions, we think it is important to repeat it. The objective of waking up at 0500h every day, of going out in the fresh air, of training with people that are serious about what they are training for rather than those who have come there to pass time or because their parents wanted them out of their hair for some time, of doing a physical activity that we do not need to force ourself (or be forced by Baba bear or by a coach or whoever other than our own soul inside us) to do, of enjoying the first 2-3 hours of the day without external stimuli (we don’t even use the Walkman while open running, though we prefer it on the treadmill), of pushing our body so much that at the end of it, when we’re home and we’d had a shower and breakfast, we feel like the day’s begun well, of sleeping in the night looking forward to waking up in the morning and doing it again, and then waking up in the morning and doing it again, is exactly as written. Nothing more. Nothing less.
If we were to be able to do just this much, our life would be much richer and more fulfilling than if we didn’t do it. That is all the thought that is behind this. What about burnout? Well, what about it? The day we feel we have to drag ourselves out of bed and force ourselves to run and meet with buddies and push our physique to its limits and sweat and laugh and sprint and jog, we’ll stop doing it. Koi zabardasti thode hi hai? That’s the whole point in homeschooling, right?
So, to all the fantastic, well-intentioned, and loving uncles and aunts out there: We are in this for the fun. And for that, we are just meandering through stuff, sports, subjects, languages, and so on, as well as coaches, tutors, and teachers. No one and nothing is carved in stone. Yet. The day we stop having fun, we’ll stop doing it. And we guarantee you that Baba and Mamma bears will support our decision to stop what we no longer enjoy. The idea is to have fun. That way, we are very Epicurean in our approach to life. We hope you understand and do not think we (or the Baba and Mamma bears) are being rude or stuck up or difficult on purpose. Thank you for your concern and support. And thank you for your understanding. Remember, we love you and love it that you love us so much to speak to Baba bear about us. Keep doing it!
And now, back to life.
