These are a few of my favourite..

"Let me tell you something. I came here to win a trophy…for sheer bloody pride at being the best, that's why we do this." Harry Vardon, The Greatest Game Ever Played.

They say you truly fall in love only once. I've fallen hard, twice over, and it's been for a sport both times! Or maybe it is just winning, that I love so much. It was a summer afternoon two years ago; I'd just moved from Bangalore to Pune having retired from 20 years of professional swimming. The life of a professional swimmer is very demanding with long hours of training in the pool and gym, and having achieved more than I imagined possible in the sport for India, I was figuring out what to do next. I do a lot of motivational speaking these days, and one of my main messages to people is that you should try to find something you love doing and are willing to work hard at. When you find that something you are willing to go the distance for, you will be successful. Someone gave me this movie to watch in my suddenly very empty day – The Greatest Game Ever Played - and suggested that I try golf. I went to the Pune Course the next day, and after hitting a few balls, found what I think will be my calling for the next 20 years!

Over the last two years, as I've travelled for work and leisure, I've had the privilege to play across several courses in the world and here's a list of my favourite courses so far.

Emirates Golf Club, Dubai: I recently watched Rory McIlroy win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at this beautiful course, and am also playing there again this week.  A stunning clubhouse, combined with the natural rolling desert terrain for serious golfing on two of the cities finest must-play courses (the Majlis and the Faldo Course), the EGC is the recipient of a host of awards including Golf World magazines 'Top 100 Golf Courses in the World' and  'Best Course Middle East' in the Asian Golf Monthly Awards 2010. And if you've had a busy day at work, it may interest you to know that EGC also is the only 18-hole course in the region to offer night golf. A host of F&B options to unwind over, Le Classique the club's award-winning French fine dining restaurant with a menu that includes both classic favourites and new dishes with a modern twist, has my vote for an unforgettable dining experience.

My All-time Favourite Monsoon Retreats

There's something about the monsoons that have always had the poets very inspired. And while the city's an unbelievable mess if you're trying to dodge potholed roads, pavements crowded with hawkers and pedestrians or just the traffic that's moving at a snail's pace, there are some places that immediately take you right back to that inspiring, sweet spot like the poets, even in the urban jungle.

As a professional swimmer, you need to swim all year round to keep up with your fitness routine. So rain, hail or sunshine, we'd have to be in the pool everyday swimming that mandatory 15 kms; anything except if it thundered, really, when the coach would reluctantly agree to let us off because of the imminent risk of electrocution. And trust me this gives you an even deeper appreciation for how pretty the rain looks - out there!

So here's a list of some of my favorite monsoon retreats:

1. The Palladium Hotel, Mumbai

One of my favorite monsoon retreats in Mumbai is the Palladium Hotel, with its floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city, Mahalaxmi Race Course and the Arabian Sea. The hotel's plush contemporary interiors with opulent chandeliers, marble and traditional mosaic motifs, blend with rich velvets and dramatic sculptures, to create a warm ambience. It's the perfect setting to sit back with your cup of espresso and that special someone and watch the monsoon clouds break the sweltering heat and wash the city clean. If you're getting restless, you can walk down to the luxurious High Street Phoenix Mall, watch a movie, shop for a range of labels, relish a delicious meal or just lie back in your room and enjoy the view!

Must Try: The Tiger Tear Maki at the award-winning Japanese restaurant Yuuka is one of Chef Ting's signature dishes.

Dubai Dairies - Part 4

I started swimming at 7, and loved competing, so becoming a professional swimmer was meant to be. I was fortunate that the passion I felt, translated to success and I became one of India's best in the sport. I've recently taken up a new sport - Golf, and now dream of tasting the same success in this as well. My golf coach, Justin Parsons, is based in Dubai, and teaches at the Butch Harmon School of Golf, which trains some of the world's best golfers today. This means I get to Dubai quite frequently, and along with my golf training, because I love to travel, am becoming quite the expert on the many entertaining things this incredible city has on offer.

Given my affinity for the water, it's not surprising that one of the things I've really enjoyed in Dubai is the interactive programme for guests at the Dolphin Bay in Atlantis, the Palm where you can get up close with some of their Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins in a beautiful 4.5 hectare environment.

Maybe it's their seeming smiles, or tales of friendliness that surround this mammal; perhaps it's their incredible intelligence or their emotional connect with humans, but something about dolphins has always fascinated me. As a professional swimmer you learn to live by the clock, and all your effort is geared to getting as streamlined as possible, to building power and reducing resistance, with the goal of cutting that minuscule fraction of a second from your race time. So when you see a dolphin, do a 100 meter dash in just over 10 seconds, something that you know as a professional swimmer, would take the fastest human being about 4 times as long to finish, you're bound to feel a splash of awe and wonder for these extraordinary animals.

With seven interconnected resident pools and three interaction lagoons complete with temperature controlled water, sandy beaches and landscaped gardens, I think these dolphins have it really good, much better than many of the training facilities for pro-athletes back home! So I wasn't surprised to hear that the dolphins at Atlantis have not only reproduced in the absence of a formal breeding programme but also are expected to live much longer than they might in the wild.

Dubai Dairies - Part 3

When you spend more than 1500 hours a year in the water, training as a professional swimmer, there are only two reactions humanly possible – you'll either absolutely love the water or never want to see it again when you're done! Water's definitely my first love, which is why even though I've now switched to a new sport, Golf, I still absolutely love being in and around water. It's one of the reasons I like Atlantis, the Palm, in Dubai, with its huge aquariums, private beaches, pools and marine habitats for dolphins and sea lions, so much. That and the fact that I'm Parsi, which I think makes me a foodie by default. This place has no less than 23 different restaurants, bars, lounges and cafes promising cuisines to suit every mood!

So if you get to Atlantis, which is a destination in itself, here are my top 5 must-try food places:

Dubai Dairies - Part 2

The good thing about being a professional swimmer is the high calorie burn out because of the intense workout, which for me equals enjoying decadent food while touring or on holidays, without too much guilt. This comes particularly in handy when you're dining at a restaurant like Levantine, at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai.

Atlantis the Palm - Luxury redefined

One of the hotel's 23 bars, restaurants and cafés, Levantine is Atlantis' strictly 'Lebanese affair'. With a panoramic show kitchen and an elegant vibe, the restaurant is distinctively Middle Eastern and infused with an explosion of colours and Oriental influences. If you’re craving Arabic food in Dubai, this is a great choice. Though fairly pricey, the relaxed ambiance with its live Lebanese music and dramatic belly dancing makes for a wonderful evening.

Dubai Diaries - Part 1

"The most beautiful thing in the world, is of course, the world itself." I am a self-confessed travel junkie and foodie. But the life of a professional swimmer is gruelling and involves a lot of sacrifices in the interest of training. For the better part of my 20 year career in competitive swimming, holidays and travel were determined by locations that had a pool I could train in through the vacation, or destinations around the world where swim meets happened. Now that I've switched to Golf, my travel is as often guided by locations with the best golf courses to play on. Dubai has always been very special to me; I've raced in important meets here with memorable performances. Today I train with coach Justin Parsons at the Butch Harmon School of Golf, in Dubai, and get to the city quite often. And Atlantis the Palm, in Dubai, where I stayed on my most recent visit, is a jewel that really must be discovered by everyone who visits this city.

With its enviable position atop the crescent of The Palm, the resort spans 46 hectares with 17 hectares of water themed amusement at Aquaventure Waterpark, an open-air marine habitat featuring extensive fresh and salt-water pools, all located on a long stretch of beach and a delectable choice of restaurants. Each dimension of the resort offers a taste of Arabia, as well as a playful nod to the ocean and the myth of Atlantis-from sun-kissing spires and Moorish archways to a sunken city filled with exotic sea creatures and suites with a fish eye's view into an underwater haven.

I've always had a special connect with water and that's probably one of the reasons I love this hotel so much. You can get up close and personal with the most lovable of sea creatures from feeding the Eagle, Leopard and Cownose Rays to petting Sea Lions or just view some exotic marine life from a distance by visiting the Atlantis themed aquarium - The Lost Chambers.

Every swim race, once you hit the water, begins with a powerful up and down kick with your feet together. This kick is used to propel forward building on the momentum from your dive or push off the wall. It’s probably the fastest you'll ever go in the pool and it's called the dolphin kick. The reason is that fish swim moving their tails side to side, while the dolphin moves its tail up and down. Of course a dolphin will do a 100-meter dash 4 times as fast as the fastest human! But these are just some of the fun facts you’ll learn in the interaction with these lovely mammals at the Dolphin Bay in Atlantis.

I enjoyed this dolphin interaction so much that I decided to try the "Ultimate Snorkel", which allowed me to get into their massive aquarium with over 60,000 fish, including reef sharks, a hammerhead, a number of rays and was a truly unique experience. I've always watched fish swim and tried to move with the same rhythm for my swimming, but being one with the fish, both the lethal and pretty ones, is a memory I'll never lose!


WHERE TO EAT:
Atlantis has 20 bars, restaurants and cafes. Here's my review of a few that I tried and liked that you might want to give a shot to on your next visit!

Entrepreneurship Lessons from an Olympic Swimmer - Part 2

This is the second in series of articles on lessons for success learnt from a lifetime in sport by Olympic Swimmer Rehan Poncha.

In my last blog, I wrote about two character traits in my approach to sport that seem especially relevant in the context of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The first was having dreams, sometimes so seemingly impossible, that even I doubted I could live them. And the second was being stupid enough to just not accept defeat when it stared me in the face. Today, I want to elaborate on one more lesson that has stood me in good stead as part of my learning from a lifetime in sport. It's about setting priorities and valuing time.

A Stitch in time saves nine

As a swimmer you know every second counts. In fact even a fraction of a second is so crucial when it comes to a race. And as swimmers we work so hard on our stroke, that turn, the kick, that pull, wear suffocating bodysuits and so much more, all with this one goal of getting more efficient and saving time! As an athlete you learn to value time. The time you take to race measured by the clock, the time you spend training to make your dreams come true, the time you have in between to get all the other chores ticked off on your to-do list, and the precious few hours you have free for everything else.