20/04/2026

 So, I got there on time. I noticed in a mat room, Pranay Raskar was there.

This time he was wrestling at Aditya Birya. It's pretty clear, it's part of his rehab. He's gonna wrestle all the lightweight guys first, Siddhant, Aditya, why not me?

"You're wrestling all the lightweight guys right now", I told him. "I'm lightweight, too let's wrestle".

Pranay agreed. I was doing this to get a feel for him, but the feeling was so powerful. He was so strong that anything resembling an attack would set me pretty much flying. And his arms... Even when not going all out, felt like he was three times stronger. His wrists were like logs, The thickest wrists that I had ever felt on an 18- or 19-year-old, ever.

I ended up repeatedly in turtle just by being thrown there with his hands.

I noticed Mayuresh was there, I showed him the first two books, which he looked through, and Shubham Shinde looked through as well, proud that he could find himself so easily.

I went outside and spoke to girl Shourya, apparently, her dad made her join cause this wrestling gives her more job opportunities specially in things like the IPS. The one she could beat was Yyomi. We joined the outdoor run. I recognised Yyomi by her shirt, she seemed to be Happy's big sister.

In the outdoor run, well, it hadn't actually started, so I led the run with this guy named Kushal, this skinny guy, like even skinnier than me.

As we jogged, I told Kushal about what I'd heard. Apparently, the coach's son, Kartik, who was practicing hanging and assisted pull-ups in the corner, was only three years old, and that other strong, muscular-looking toddler was two and a half.

"What are they feeding him?" asked Kushal. "He's not just big, he's muscular, too", he said, referring to the supposedly two-and-a-half-year-old kid. "It's not good to train them that much if they're two or three years old", he continued.

The jog ended, and we were asked to do two fast laps, this time I stayed ahead of the whole group.

After the jog, was round after round of shoot PT. This ended with a round of hopping the whole way, and a round of going the way holding your ankles. 

We then went inside. Happy's dad was coaching the indoor workout, made us do multiple sets of sapate and squats and more sapate. I couldn't keep up with his speed and my sweat sprayed on the ground, I noticed nobody else was sweating. 

After his sets, he relegated me to do more sapate with the advanced wrestlers. I followed them for about 20, then walked off. 

"Don't step in our sweat", said Viraj, "You are wasting our effort", he said. so I stepped around and went to the mat room. 

Inside, I watched Aarav wrestle Navneet. Even though Aarav was older and according to her a boy (I dont believe her, her skin feels like a girls), Navneet was stronger. He hit a hard sideways collar tie that bent Aarav's skinny feminine neck sideways. And she protested. 

I watched Urvi wrestle Samarth Mhatre, but that was normal. What perked my interest was girl Shourya getting completely overpowered by Shivam. His sheer aggression and moderate wrestling skill overpowered the older girl. 

21/04/2026 Shivam vs Shourya - YouTube

They wrestled for several minutes, Shourya looking frustrated, I took a short clip to show you what it looked like. 

"Why are you filming her", asked Urvi. Her tone implying that I shouldn't be filming such a low level match. 

"It's fun", I said. And I meant fun to watch and rewatch. 

"You reached state level this year, what did you reach last year?", I asked her. 

"Pre district", she answered. I didn't realize this place even bothered with pre district tournaments. Let alone had anyone eliminated in them. Yes, she would have been only 12 in under 14, but, in this place 12-year-olds winning district in under 14 is expected, normal. True, her ultra lightweight girls bracket was surprisingly dense, one of the denser brackets overall, and she would have been inexperienced, not just younger, then, but still. 

At the end of class I wrestled Vikrant. The guy claimed his weight advantage was why he was doing so well, he does ot know how much of a beast he already is. The guy just like 1 week in could already counter throw me easily. Front headlock threw me twice. managed moves I had never seen a beginner do, not even close, not even on a smaller person. 

His hand hit my eye multiple times, I finally called it off, it had been about 8 minutes, confirmed by the fact that the kid I gave my phone to had filmed a 45 second and 6 minute 45 second video of the match. 

"You are just a beginner", said Vikrant, as we spoke after the match. I showed him the copy of "The Start"

"Where am I in this book?", he asked. Surprised to find out I had been coming for 9 months (which is still a beginner by wrestling standards)

He was surprised to find out I had been here 9 months. 

"You've been here almost a year!", "You should be a beast by now!" "strength is in the mind, you have to imagine everything from the first contact to the finish". 

Well, I was a beast compared to when I started. Vikrant looked through the book. 

"you overananlyze", he said. "don't think too much, just finish", "I have practiced the same punch 1000 times a day. 

'Okay', I thought.