Chess Olympiad from my eyes

The fortyfifth edition of the biennial chess olympiad came to an end in Budapest yesterday. India won both the open and women's section making calculations for the Gaprindishvili (or however it is spelled) cup unnecessary.
It was only on the day of the opening ceremony that I realized the Olympiad was already so near. Otherwise, maybe I could have planned a visit to Europe to coincide with the Olympiad. Well, I didn't even go to Chennai when the Olympiad was held there last time. Something or another always comes up.
I have always wanted to play in a Chess Olympiad. But I haven't played in any chess tournament or hardly studied any chess for five years. I got a bit too busy with other things.
I stepped into tournament chess without really being ready in 2010 at the age of 28. I kept improving slowly and steadily for several years. I had high ambitions but I definitely couldn't work hard enough. I only have myself to blame for all that.
I had read some news about the chess olympiads that our compatriots had been playing in even before I started playing myself. I also got to meet and know all the players in our country during the tournaments that I played in. I have played a few games that I really like and I made a number of stupid moves which are unmatchable. It has been a nice experience.
I haven't played any tournaments for five years now. But I haven't retired. I am looking forward to making a comeback and I am still hopeful of participating in an Olympiad and getting to meet or at least see the top players in the world.
My game has definitely not improved because I haven't worked on it at all. But I think I should start taking baby steps in the direction of improving. I should stop having any high hopes. I should just enjoy studying and playing the game which I probably don't love as much as I thought. But I definitely like the game enough to give some time to it. I may not get enough return on the investment I have made in chess but I think it will be worth it if I keep going at it slowly.
I had been following the last few Olympiads live quite diligently. This time, I am more occupied with work. I am also not that much into chess. Internet here isn't that good. My national team was not there because they didn't get a visa.
When I realized that the chess olympiad was starting, I searched for the list of Nepali players taking part and sent each one of them a message wishing them all the best. I didn't know that they were going through hell having had their visa applications rejected. I unsent those messages on the next day. There wasn't as much excitement following the proceedings because of that.
The dominance of the Indians specially in the open section was not unexpected. I have played a few tournaments in India. The strength of chess in India from the grassroots level is evident. Many grandmaster commentators have been commentating on it for years.
I would like to congratulate the players who won. I have seen many of them during a few tournaments that I got to play in India. They motivate me to keep working hard and maybe have another go at chess. I have hardly followed any game from this Olympiad. I haven't been playing any games recently. But I am playing nine correspondence games on lichess at a time. I think I will maintain that for a long time now.
I think I will not play antichess again. I will not try to spend too much time or energy on chess. But I will keep playing these correspondence games and I will try to keep enjoying and improving at chess.
A few days after writing this I quadrupled the number of correspondence games I play at once.