My grandmother told me some of the best stories as a child. They ranged from fairies, witches, Gods, kings and queens, and robbers and policemen. The list could keep on going. After every story she would ask me what I had learned from it. After I had heard a pretty intriguing robber-police story she asked me what I had learned and I had replied after a very thoughtful silence, "If I want to be a robber I will have to be smarter than the police." She hit her hand on her head and hit me on the back. " That is not the moral of the story you fool. The moral is to never steal because you will always get caught in the end." Every story my grandmother told me was meant for me to choose and understand the right and the wrong. She would always make me choose a side.

Being an athlete you have to mature very quickly and sometimes deal with life's toughest questions even before you cross your teens. Hence to deal with the pressure very early in my career I exposed myself to meditation. I was fascinated by the stories of Mahabharata and sometimes would also indulge myself in reading a few pages of The Gita. I was also a fan of Gautama Buddha.  I never looked at spirituality as a philosophical subject. It always was very practical for me. I wanted to keep calm and be focused as a player and meditation helped me achieve that. I looked at meditation as a means to a victorious end.

As an athlete, you have to learn that nothing is permanent. If you have lost ten matches in a row you might win the eleventh one. If you have won ten matches in a row you might lose the eleventh one. The most important thing in a player's career is to understand that you can never react to success and failure with extreme emotion of either joy or sadness. Understand that life as a sportsperson is cruel and unfair. I still remember when I became the national champion for first time in the under 13 category, I felt invincible. I came home to a party. I was getting phone calls from relatives and friends. I was on cloud nine. The next day in practice I was almost floating in the air. My coach made me play against an under 19 singles player and I lost under five in both the games. I realized my place and my standard in a match and knew there was really not much to party about. I realized very early that as an athlete you will get to celebrate only for a very brief period. The next day you will be the most hunted player on the circuit and everyone would want to beat you and if you are not prepared you will lose. It is really important to treat success as a stepping stone and a validation of your hard work, though it is much more important to move on.

Never play to lose, give all your energy to win. But if you lose, then learn, make improvements, and know that success will come if you believe in it.

Never play to lose, give all your energy to win. But if you lose, then learn, make improvements, and know that success will come if you believe in it. I have to end this article with my favorite quote by Rudyard Kipling- "If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster, And treat those two imposters just the same; And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"