Photo courtesy of Chris Smith.
The top-ranked Harvard women's squash team is traveling to India
for an 11-day training and service trip. Members of the team will
post regular blog entries on GoCrimson.com during their trip over
the next few weeks.
Blog Post by
Vidya Rajan '13 on Jan. 5
Blog Post
by Alexandra Zindman '11 on Jan. 8
Map of Harvard
Destinations During Trip to India
Photo Gallery of Harvard Women's Squash in
India
Post by Cece Cortes '12
Today was one of the most squash-intensive days of the trip with
one of the two sessions being a much-anticipated match against CCI.
We prepped ourselves for the big day with the hotel's impressive
complimentary breakfast spread. A few of us tried the "dosa," the
Indian equvalent of a crepe filled with potatoes, onions and
spices--yum! Alisha (Mashruwala), our resident Indian-in-training
took a break from her rigorous exotic-food-eating regimen to eat
smiley-face fries and scrambled eggs; needless to say she was
pleased after the interesting dishes of the night before. We packed
up, piled into the familiar silver vans, and set off for our first
session of the day.
After a brief Hindi lesson and photo op of the coaches in dance
poses we warmed up, repeating the new phrases we'd learned to pump
each other up--some of the phrases included me bhukhi hoo (i'm
hungry) me pyasi hoo (i'm thirsty), and chaltahe, the hindi
equivalent of hakuna matata (Baj's favorite). We spent the morning
playing matches to adjust our games to the hot courts and dead
floors--a lethal combination for those used to the cold courts and
spring-floors of the Murr Center. Squash was followed by a quick
team meeting, and a stop at the smallest Subway shop to comfortably
fit both a customer and sandwich-maker. We napped, we tanned, we
napped some more, and finally made our ways back into the silver
vans for our big match. CCI greeted us with a wonderful reception
and scrumptious food and drink (no doubt trying to weigh us down
before the match), where they presented us with plaques of
appreciation and polo shirt, and we in turn presented the team and
club officials with plaques, Harvard squash ties, and Harvard
squash 2010 shirts.
Then, down to business: 12 matches, two spectator courts, and some
loyal fans eager to watch some solid battles. Then off to dinner
with the Mashruwalas, we toasted our first match of the new year
and stumbled into bed, sad that our final day in Mumbai was
approaching. We are taking the day off from squash to see the
sights of Mumbai including a few museuems.
