And we usually chose to play table tennis throughout the week, and watch movies or the serials Param Vir Chakra and Fauji on TV at our neighbours’ house over weekends. Gradually, we even succeeded in overcoming Dad’s recalcitrance, persuading him to buy us the upgraded table tennis bats, a decision that he had been hedging for long. The story of selections for the table tennis nationals is as heartbreaking as that of our subsequent SSB interviews. But that year, I was in top form, and the only one among the three of us (Vikram, Sunny and me) to be selected for the nationals. Notwithstanding our love for table tennis, Vikram and I actively participated in other sports too, including badminton, sprints (100 m, 200 m), in which I was a silver medallist, and relays (400 m X 2).