Rite of Passage

"Not looking good." That was the thought that went through my head as we walked up to the Canyonside Park for Arjun's first ever Little League game. Surveying the kids playing there gave me the sinking feeling that Arjun was singularly under prepared. He had the wrong pants (the coach had said gray, but we had bought white and then substituted with an almost-gray track pant), he didn't have a helmet, and most importantly, he was clearly the only kid without a glove. He had reluctantly brought along his recently acquired T-ball bat, which looked rather pitiful compared to the kit bags that some other kids were toting. And we had no clue who the coach was.
Fighting my discomfort of such situations, I asked around and eventually found the coach. Pleasant fellow by the name of Matt. First thing I had to tell him was that Arjun has no glove and wondered if there was a spare one. None could be found immediately and Malini was almost heading to Target to buy one when another one of the parent coaches came by with a rather large one. Silly as it may sound, I didn't really know how to pull it on (a baseball fielder's glove is rather unique in that your hand only enters the lowest portion). Thankfully it was so big that Arjun was just able to put his hand into it. Then came the trickier part - catching with the glove. The kids were lined up in two groups and asked to throw to each other and sure enough, Arjun was having a hard time. He didn't know how to squeeze the ball and all he could try was to do a basket catch (essentially, you hold the glove face-up like a basket and hope that the ball lands inside and doesn't bounce out). Even this wasn't going too well and he got conked on his chin with a ball - no joke considering that they were playing with regular hard balls. However, it was soon obvious that most kids were pretty bad - even the well equipped ones - and I began to relax a bit. Still, I went up to Matt and told him that Arjun had never caught with a glove before. He was unfazed and said that he would spend some extra time with him.
Eventually all the practice time was over and it was time to play a real game. Coach announced the lineup and initial fielding positions (the kids would change during each inning) and Arjun seemed to be sidelined. And then it seemed like he was going to have really important position - catcher! The assistant coach started kitting him out with all the required padding and positioned him behind the hitter. Malini was uncertain what this move meant, but felt reassured that with all the padding he would at least be safe from the ball. The game started and Arjun's team (The Timber Rattlers) were fielding. Arjun was standing well behind the hitter, almost all the way to the back boards. There seemed to be no discernible purpose to having a catcher - all he did was to collect the passed balls and pile them up to be thrown back to the pitcher's mound. The whole outfit was a little constricting and severely hampered his mobility. Eventually, he got tired of standing and went into a crouch and looked a bit more like a regular catcher - not that he was doing any catching of course.
Then it was their turn to bat and they sent Arjun fourth or fifth. He was a bit tentative at first, but then all his baseball watching and playing with Abhi kicked in and he started making some good swings. Actually, to be accurate they were very good golf swings, but at his level it was just fine. He made good contact on one, but only succeeded in popping it up to the one kid who could actually catch. Still not too shabby.
The next inning he was fielding at third base and clearly getting more into the swing of things. When his turn came up to bat in the bottom of the second (the entire team gets to bat in each inning), he got his first ever hit and trotted happily to first base. And remarkably, this continued and he got a hit in every inning (going 4 for 5) and was rather decent in the field as well. Sure, he let the ball go through his legs when he was in right field (pretty much par for the course), but he also fielded a few balls cleanly and threw out a couple of runners.
Turns out watching a bunch of really keen 6-8 year olds playing baseball rather badly is a pleasant and indeed mildly amusing way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. They are happy to make contact and chase behind the ball with abandon, but once they have the ball they often don't quite know what to do. It certainly helped that all the parents and coaches were really relaxed about the whole thing and were rather enjoying themselves as well. Abhi was a bit disappointed by the casual air and lack of professionalism - he commented to Malini that this was not like they play on TV. He had had high hopes - as we drove to the park, he asked, "Which stadium is Aeta going to play in?" No doubt expecting the answer to be something like Petco Park. Still he was excited to see Arjun play and as usual provided us with slow motion replays of what just happened on the field.

After the game I went up to the coach and inquired if we needed to get anything more than a glove. He was very complimentary of Arjun's efforts and commented that he couldn't believe that Arjun had never played before. Even without this my trepidation about Arjun's first little league game had long since eased - strangely, this had been at the back of mind ever since the ultrasound told us we were going to have a boy! But Arjun was a real gamer - he really wanted to play (he was the one who asked Malini to sign him up) and he didn't let anything bother him - the lack of equipment, being hit by balls, or being trussed up like a gladiator and asked to catch. Normally we have to drag him (sometimes kicking and screaming) for any extra curricular activities. This was clearly different. As he sleepily headed off to sleep, he said, "I can't wait for next Sunday so I can play baseball again."

"Touching The Void"

Touching the Void is the story of a true life mountaineering adventure. In 1985, two young British climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made an attempt on the West face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes which was a route that had never been successfully climbed. The climb and the return journey have since become one of the most enduring tales of the mountaineering community.

The climb is challenging and dangerous, but they succeed in reaching the summit. However, as any mountaineer will tell you, reaching the summit is less than half the battle - most accidents and deaths happen on the way down. And it is no different for Simpson and Yates. Bad weather and poor planning has them in trouble right away, but disaster strikes when Simpson has a fall and breaks his right leg at the knee while they are still very high on the mountain. That is pretty much a death sentence and Simpson is almost resigned to it when they come up with a strategy of Yates lowering Simpson down the mountain in 300 foot sections. It is not easy, but they make progress until Simpson falls into a crevasse. Yates, who is sitting way above him on the mountain and supporting Simpson's weight has no way of telling what happened and eventually does the only thing he could practically do: cut the rope, causing Joe to fall further into the crevasse with no hope of climbing out with a broken leg and no food or water.
What follows is an astonishing tale of survival - both on the part of Simpson and Yates. It is also an examination of what really matters and the power of the mind over matter. Yates returned from the trip to a predictable storm of criticism over his decision to 'cut the rope' (and indeed, is still known as "The Guy Who Cut the Rope"), but Joe Simpson always defended him staunchly. He finally wrote this book in 1998, largely to defend his friend. The book is well written, but looking up mountaineering terms ahead of time (or keeping a dictionary handy) will make for easier reading.
Simpson and Yates returned to Peru in 2002 to film a documentary style recreation of their climb and far from being cathartic, Simpson had a terrible time during the filming and was later diagnosed to be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - 17 years after his harrowing journey. The movie version is also to be recommended - it glosses over a number of details as all movie versions do, but the impact is more visceral and seeing the mountains and crevasse and hearing Joe and Simon talk gives it a great deal of verisimilitude.
Compelling and engrossing though the story is, we must accept that it is at best an ersatz experience for the lay reader - by Simpson's own account, he could not find the words to express the utter desolation of those 4 days on the Siula Grande.