The WYSC qualifying rounds were held in October over three days. We played twenty-seven awesome matches: won some and lost some. In the end eight people qualified to represent Pakistan at the 6th World Youth Scrabble Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
We had the AWESOMEST 12 days of our lives. We played scrabble, laughed, cried(some did), stayed up late, made fun of each other, shopped, visited malls, went bowling and a lot more.
When we left Karachi airport, I had butterflies in my stomach fluttering about because I felt afraid that I won’t perform that good because we’d be playing against really awesome scrabble players from all over the world. Even on the plane we had so much fun: from Karachi airport to Dubai airport and from Dubai airport to Kuala Lumpur airport. When we came out of the airport there was some guy whose bus we had rented waiting for us there. The bus journey to Johor was epic: filled with Jahanzaib’s and Umair’s annoying non-stop laughters and jokes to ensure that no one slept (and they nearly succeeded too), and their annoying “dhchuk- dhuz”. We stopped twice during the way and took refreshments. When we reached our hotel, the Zen Zeng Hotel, which was to be our home for the next 12 epic days, we all emerged bleary eyed and tired from the bus and stumbled into the hotel to our respective rooms. Though all that drowsiness wore off when we went to our rooms and freshened up.
Rewind, rewind, rewind!! Forgot to mention something! When we reached the hotel I found that I had LOST MY $300!! I started panicking and feverishly and frantically went through all my belongings but without any result. I was near to tears and spent the whole trip under strain. I think that I would have performed better had it not been for this incident which put me under stress.
We stayed up late had fun and slept near daybreak and woke up at around late. We visited the Leisure Mall and roamed about looking at stuff. All of even went bowling and it was fun to watch Tariq uncle and Waseem bhai challenge each other and their awesome expressions and reactions when they didn’t get all their bowling pins knocked out and the other did.
We all got a lecture that night to play like a sportsman and to uphold Pakistan honour and not tarnish its already tarnished reputation. The next five days went away in a blur: playing 45 matches was so taxing that by the end of the day we’d be half-dead but we’d freshen up after a visit to the mall or somewhere. It was an awesome experience playing against international players more experienced and better than us. Plus we all (the kids) were a bit scared cause of the five-point penalty rule and it cost me quite a few matches but after two days we got over the scare and openly challenged the words. The last day was exciting: we all were tensed up and praying for Inayat uncle and Waseem bhai to win all their matches that day as it would get them in the top ten in their respective categories. They both missed it out by just one match and in Inayat uncle’s case just half a match point: but there’s always a next time and they’d performed really well and had proven that Pakistan does have potential and they can become champions.
Playing five straight days in a row was a tiring but we fully intended to enjoy ourselves to the greatest extent. We laughed, shouted, shrieked, jumped on beds and went fully mad. The next day was a rest day and then what we actually came for would begin: the WYSC!!!
We all got up late and it took ages to get everyone up especially Tariq uncle who took the longest of all: one whole hour (according to Inayat uncle)!!! :p We spent the whole day having fun and stayed nearly the whole day at the mall (it was a different one, not the Leisure Mall). According to the receptionist at our hotel the mall was only twenty minutes by foot but it actually turned out to be more than forty minutes. We took lame pictures, cracked lame jokes and laughed while walking to the mall. Again Tariq uncle challenged Waseem bhai to bowling and as usual won.
The WYSC started the next day and though I got a bad starting the first day the next day I moved steadily up and those who had started well the first day moved a bit down but overall all the Pakistani’s performed really well and we finished 5th as compared to last year’s 8th place. Everyone performed really awesomely even those who were non-qualified. The WYSC ended with us taking back good memories with us and making awesome friends whom we promised to stay in touch with. We tried to play as we had been instructed with sportsmanship and good grace because as Tariq uncle said, “No one will remember the number of matches you’ve one but your behaviour will make a lasting impression.”
We then went to the Leisure mall again and spent hours shopping and bowling. We had dinner really late at McDonalds and had fun taking pictures with them. What followed was really awesome: we spent more than half an hour standing on the road trying to flag down taxis but who very rudely passed us. Finally after ages we managed to find taxis to take us back to the hotel. We all packed and planned to stay up the whole night and sleep on the bus in the morning while on the way to Kuala Lumpur. But eventually in the early hours of morning just an hour or two before we were supposed to board the bus we succumbed to sleep and overslept and woke to find Inayat uncle knocking on our doors. We all rushed and in that haste I forgot my SIM in the room and ended with some of my stuff in my hands. As I had slept the most I was wide awake and fresh and played songs on the laptop at full volume to wake the rest up!! But then sleep overtook me as well and we all slept on the bus and woke up to have a bit of breakfast on the way. We woke up when we reached Kuala Lumpur.
We visited a memorial dedicated to the fighters of some war and were awed by the breathtaking architecture and the statue. After which we took a tour of the city and snapped pictures of the tall, graceful and official looking buildings. What we all looked forward to was, seeing the Petronus Towers and were knocked out of breath by this mass of steel, standing high and proud, reflecting the sunlight and sparkling like a diamond, a mark of pride for these kind-hearted Malays. We all took pictures nearly lying on the ground to capture it to its full height and even took pictures of each other standing in front of it lying like this. We roamed the surrounding park and we were joined here by Umair, Ruman and Rafiq Khatti as they had been in Kuala Lumpur since after the Causeway Scrabble Challenge. After spending a bit of time here we boarded the bus again and finally started for the airport. We were all high and had fun the whole way. The guys got really, really hyper and started doing stupid stuff. In short they were just being themselves. We enjoyed a lot: had laughs at each other’s expense and of course the guy’s “dhchuk-dhuz” got us cracking up wherever we were and we’d laugh like mad’s. We’d just stop when it would start all over again.
This trip holds special memories and fantastic moments that will always remain with me. The most memorable moments of this trip were
1. Me losing my $300!!! And being the laughing end of all of Tariq uncle’s jokes
2. Nearly making Waseem bhai cry when I took his wallet, debit card and his ID card and asking him to sing a song to get his things back.
3. Jahanzaib and Umair’s “dhchuk-dhuz”
4. The 11-year old Anand Bhardwaj winning the WYSC and getting the prize for Best Under 16, Best Under 14 and Best Under 12.
5. Going to Danga Bay at 11.30 in the night on Rodney Judd’s recommendation and then finding it all closed and then returning disgruntled.
This trip was AWESOMEEE!!! And EH-PIC!!! Last but not the least, this trip would not have been what it was: a success, without Tariq Uncle’s and Inayat Uncle’s efforts. They did a lot for us: trained us, gave tips, supported us, were always there for us and never let us feel that we were with strange people and treated us as they would treat their own kids. Thank you so much for making this trip wonderful and exciting and an awesome experience. And all those PSA members who worked hard and trained us: Thank you!!!
We had the AWESOMEST 12 days of our lives. We played scrabble, laughed, cried(some did), stayed up late, made fun of each other, shopped, visited malls, went bowling and a lot more.
When we left Karachi airport, I had butterflies in my stomach fluttering about because I felt afraid that I won’t perform that good because we’d be playing against really awesome scrabble players from all over the world. Even on the plane we had so much fun: from Karachi airport to Dubai airport and from Dubai airport to Kuala Lumpur airport. When we came out of the airport there was some guy whose bus we had rented waiting for us there. The bus journey to Johor was epic: filled with Jahanzaib’s and Umair’s annoying non-stop laughters and jokes to ensure that no one slept (and they nearly succeeded too), and their annoying “dhchuk- dhuz”. We stopped twice during the way and took refreshments. When we reached our hotel, the Zen Zeng Hotel, which was to be our home for the next 12 epic days, we all emerged bleary eyed and tired from the bus and stumbled into the hotel to our respective rooms. Though all that drowsiness wore off when we went to our rooms and freshened up.
Rewind, rewind, rewind!! Forgot to mention something! When we reached the hotel I found that I had LOST MY $300!! I started panicking and feverishly and frantically went through all my belongings but without any result. I was near to tears and spent the whole trip under strain. I think that I would have performed better had it not been for this incident which put me under stress.
We stayed up late had fun and slept near daybreak and woke up at around late. We visited the Leisure Mall and roamed about looking at stuff. All of even went bowling and it was fun to watch Tariq uncle and Waseem bhai challenge each other and their awesome expressions and reactions when they didn’t get all their bowling pins knocked out and the other did.
We all got a lecture that night to play like a sportsman and to uphold Pakistan honour and not tarnish its already tarnished reputation. The next five days went away in a blur: playing 45 matches was so taxing that by the end of the day we’d be half-dead but we’d freshen up after a visit to the mall or somewhere. It was an awesome experience playing against international players more experienced and better than us. Plus we all (the kids) were a bit scared cause of the five-point penalty rule and it cost me quite a few matches but after two days we got over the scare and openly challenged the words. The last day was exciting: we all were tensed up and praying for Inayat uncle and Waseem bhai to win all their matches that day as it would get them in the top ten in their respective categories. They both missed it out by just one match and in Inayat uncle’s case just half a match point: but there’s always a next time and they’d performed really well and had proven that Pakistan does have potential and they can become champions.
Playing five straight days in a row was a tiring but we fully intended to enjoy ourselves to the greatest extent. We laughed, shouted, shrieked, jumped on beds and went fully mad. The next day was a rest day and then what we actually came for would begin: the WYSC!!!
We all got up late and it took ages to get everyone up especially Tariq uncle who took the longest of all: one whole hour (according to Inayat uncle)!!! :p We spent the whole day having fun and stayed nearly the whole day at the mall (it was a different one, not the Leisure Mall). According to the receptionist at our hotel the mall was only twenty minutes by foot but it actually turned out to be more than forty minutes. We took lame pictures, cracked lame jokes and laughed while walking to the mall. Again Tariq uncle challenged Waseem bhai to bowling and as usual won.
The WYSC started the next day and though I got a bad starting the first day the next day I moved steadily up and those who had started well the first day moved a bit down but overall all the Pakistani’s performed really well and we finished 5th as compared to last year’s 8th place. Everyone performed really awesomely even those who were non-qualified. The WYSC ended with us taking back good memories with us and making awesome friends whom we promised to stay in touch with. We tried to play as we had been instructed with sportsmanship and good grace because as Tariq uncle said, “No one will remember the number of matches you’ve one but your behaviour will make a lasting impression.”
We then went to the Leisure mall again and spent hours shopping and bowling. We had dinner really late at McDonalds and had fun taking pictures with them. What followed was really awesome: we spent more than half an hour standing on the road trying to flag down taxis but who very rudely passed us. Finally after ages we managed to find taxis to take us back to the hotel. We all packed and planned to stay up the whole night and sleep on the bus in the morning while on the way to Kuala Lumpur. But eventually in the early hours of morning just an hour or two before we were supposed to board the bus we succumbed to sleep and overslept and woke to find Inayat uncle knocking on our doors. We all rushed and in that haste I forgot my SIM in the room and ended with some of my stuff in my hands. As I had slept the most I was wide awake and fresh and played songs on the laptop at full volume to wake the rest up!! But then sleep overtook me as well and we all slept on the bus and woke up to have a bit of breakfast on the way. We woke up when we reached Kuala Lumpur.
We visited a memorial dedicated to the fighters of some war and were awed by the breathtaking architecture and the statue. After which we took a tour of the city and snapped pictures of the tall, graceful and official looking buildings. What we all looked forward to was, seeing the Petronus Towers and were knocked out of breath by this mass of steel, standing high and proud, reflecting the sunlight and sparkling like a diamond, a mark of pride for these kind-hearted Malays. We all took pictures nearly lying on the ground to capture it to its full height and even took pictures of each other standing in front of it lying like this. We roamed the surrounding park and we were joined here by Umair, Ruman and Rafiq Khatti as they had been in Kuala Lumpur since after the Causeway Scrabble Challenge. After spending a bit of time here we boarded the bus again and finally started for the airport. We were all high and had fun the whole way. The guys got really, really hyper and started doing stupid stuff. In short they were just being themselves. We enjoyed a lot: had laughs at each other’s expense and of course the guy’s “dhchuk-dhuz” got us cracking up wherever we were and we’d laugh like mad’s. We’d just stop when it would start all over again.
This trip holds special memories and fantastic moments that will always remain with me. The most memorable moments of this trip were
1. Me losing my $300!!! And being the laughing end of all of Tariq uncle’s jokes
2. Nearly making Waseem bhai cry when I took his wallet, debit card and his ID card and asking him to sing a song to get his things back.
3. Jahanzaib and Umair’s “dhchuk-dhuz”
4. The 11-year old Anand Bhardwaj winning the WYSC and getting the prize for Best Under 16, Best Under 14 and Best Under 12.
5. Going to Danga Bay at 11.30 in the night on Rodney Judd’s recommendation and then finding it all closed and then returning disgruntled.
This trip was AWESOMEEE!!! And EH-PIC!!! Last but not the least, this trip would not have been what it was: a success, without Tariq Uncle’s and Inayat Uncle’s efforts. They did a lot for us: trained us, gave tips, supported us, were always there for us and never let us feel that we were with strange people and treated us as they would treat their own kids. Thank you so much for making this trip wonderful and exciting and an awesome experience. And all those PSA members who worked hard and trained us: Thank you!!!
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