The Unity Games

It has become a ritual that almost every Easter, the Ismaili community in Eastern and Southern Africa gather and take part in the Unity games. Prior to this, I had the privilege of attending two games, both in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This was the first time I was going to Mwanza and that too by road. Both previous times, we flew and so the journey wasn’t as hectic as this one looked to be. We knew that it was a 14-hour trip consisting of the first and major lag by road and a small portion by ferry. We left Kampala at 6 am although the time given was 4 am; a typical example of what we call ‘Khoja timing’; a concept I totally detest and do not believe in whatsoever! You know when you fly, you don’t feel the transition of one country to another but driving from Uganda to Tanzania, I had a unique feel as if my soul is being dissolved from one existence to another. It was a feeling I will never forget upon crossing the border. We were divided in two buses and of course I chose the quiet one which allowed me to read, listen to music, sleep and move around the bus. One of the things I loved was to put my face outside the window and feel the incoming wind although I was scared that my specs will fly away. Trust me, the scenery and views of the Kampala-Mwanza road are spectacular. If I was driving by myself in my car, I would have stopped at several spots and that would make the 14-hour journey probably an 18-hour one, LOL! We reached Mwanza at night at 8:00 pm; and oh at the end of the journey, we even drove without a head light; LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!! We went to the mosque in Mwanza then our hotel, quickly got ready and headed back for dinner and garba (a form of dance absolutely adored and loved). It rained but that never stopped anyone from dancing; after all, everyone was gathered to have fun!

 

The next morning was the opening ceremony and I loved it especially the unity games official song. After the ceremony everyone was served with breakfast and then the games began. I had registered in badminton and table tennis. Initially both were at different locations but thank God that they shifted table tennis to the mosque where badminton was hence decreasing my travel around but it affected us who were organizing badminton as table tennis occupied one of the only two courts we had; as they say, everything has a benefit and a drawback. I won’t go into every detail about the games but here is how I can describe the next two days…we used to sleep around 2 am and wake up at about 7:30 or 8 and reach for the games by 9 am. I was personally helping with badminton and therefore there was more pressure of both running the games and playing. This went on from Friday to Sunday evening till the closing ceremony. During the course of this, I witnessed rounders, swimming, table tennis, badminton, throw ball and cricket. As I was helping organize badminton, I couldn’t witness much of the games, take photos and have a more proper album on my Facebook page; this will be one of my regrets for these games.

What I want to write here about is how I lost a match which would ensure me to play in the semi-finals of the singles open. I lost it in anger and rage for someone who had tremendously bothered me during the organization of the games. When I began playing badminton, I used to play an amateur game (obviously) with a lot of power. I used to hit the shuttles hard and smash everything. Over the years, I learnt how to calm myself down and play a sensible game. I can describe myself best here using a quote: ‘somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a guy who fell in love with the game and never looked back... play for him’. Today as I look back at that match, I realize I just did not play for that guy and I am also surprised because I never knew I still had the ability of having that much anger. I thought I had silenced that Rahim way back but clearly I did not so yes that loss to me left many lessons and a scar deep down me. I will never forget that loss and neither will I forget the people who hurt me. I am not in the business of holding grudges and so I threw them out of my life and moved past it but the lessons will help me in the future; and I will make sure of this.

Lastly, I am grateful and humbled by these games for two things mainly; my album and the friendships I took back with me. I have always been an introvert and making friends within a span of 2 or 3 days hasn’t been easy at all but I am glad this time I did make friends. I also received a massive reception and appreciation on my page because of my photos and for that, I say Shukar! #gratitude. It was a successful event and will remain special for all the good things and the lesson I learnt as well. 

For more photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.743223205794630.1073741859.468399296610357&type=1

Peace!

Cheers!

Champ!