I just had an awesome experience coming to Chennai by indigo’s all womens flight.it was an initiative taken by cnn ibn for badminton.they had me,saina and sayali in it.basically it was gesture to wish us all the best for the Indian open.the flight had atleast 25 more women professionals from different fields amongst them we also had the queen of Bikaner and pooja chopra the femina miss world.it was awesome to meet the queen.she wore a simple saree and didn’t have any hi-fi accessories either,when i looked at her i was pretty happy with the way she turned up. Real royalty doesn’t have to really SHOW how royal they are,do they!i think thats the first sign of being royal.as of for pooja chopra she had turned up completely glam sham.she wore a nice yellow salwar suit,which was ultra glamourous and had people to hold her bags around when she walked.she was beautiful ofcourse and from pune.i mean with such a nice dress you cant be expected to hold your bags!!!but she was sweet and cordial.apart from us 30 women the whole crew right from the pilot to the attendants were all women.leaving us 30 the rest of the flight was an ordinary one ,i mean with the regular crowd.the best part was when they announced our names and wished us all the best.people who didn’t want to pee,keep coming to the toilet just to check us out.it was hilarious… J.we also had tv cameras and good number of press on the flight to get their stories.once we were seated in the flight there were cameras flashing, interviews happening,until the crew had to tell everyone to settle down as the other passengers were getting delayed because of us.i guess saina should be used to this but for me its not that usual yet…..i have to thank cnn-ibn,utsav and indigo for doing this for us.it was surely a super cool experience.

Im in Chennai for the INDIAN OPEN. Whenever i come here there are only two things that strike me its unbearable heat and the Chennai rickshaw wallas.sitting in Chennai rickshaw is as good as any other rickshaw in the country,but the rickshaw wallas whoaaa… you have to come here to believe it.they charge you anything between 30 to 40 for a distance of 1km.though i don’t pay them more than 20. A pat on the back for myself there J so if you have to sit in a Chennai rickshaw leave atleast 30mins before schedule time as you have to do the bargaining for atleast 20mins before you find one rickshaw walla who feels guilty and accepts your offer.

I have loads of memories in Chennai most of them from badminton ofcourse.we had loads of junior tournaments here.this is the place where i used to win titles in two age groups atleast.it used to be either in under 13 and 16 or 16 and 19.chennai courts have always been good for me.most of the players hated Chennai.there were some valid reasons.some being the hall was a multi purpose one which was used for basketball,volleyball,etc…so there were atleast 10 more lines leaving the lines actually marking the badminton court.i remember one guy continuously playing from a wrong line thinking its a service line but it was just one random line which belonged to a basketball court and still winning because the umpire just didn’t notice.also Chennai was one of the biggest badminton halls we ever played in the junior circuit.this was the first hall that taught us how to play in breeze.there always used to be unbelievable amount of drift here.it did what an international ac hall does but ofcourse minus the ac.our coaches always said that if you can win in Chennai you are a really good player.thanks to the conditions and also the timings of our matches.there used to be atleast 1000 entries in Chennai covering all the events.so i have played a match at 1 in the night of the under 19 category and had to report back at 8 in the morning for the under 16 match.these were the toughest conditions we as players have ever faced.and thats why i guess Chennai is just a very memorable place for me.they were seriously the toughest of conditions.

Chennai also marked a start of my knee injury.this is the place where i got my first meniscus tear.i remember that final well.i was playing against saina i had won the first game 11-6,and was leading 7-4 in the second and i fell.i twisted my knee.thanks to the tape that was used to mark the court.the tape stuck o my shoe and my body went forward resulting to the twist,after that my poor right knee has suffered quite a bit and i continue troubling it even now.i guess after my mind and heart thats the only part of my body that knows how badly i want to play.love u….my poor knee! J

It feels good to be back here.i cant wait to get on to the court and play some more memorable matches and add up more great memories to the Chennai column.wish me luck! J