The name of the game is Cricket

We are merely one day away from the final cricket match between England and India for the NATWEST trophy. Irrespective of what the outcome is, this one-day Cricket series has been the most fascinating and entertaining one I have seen in a long long time.

I am from the dying breed of cricket aficionados though I have only ever followed and played one sport religiously; Cricket. But for the last one year or so I have consciously contributed to the fast declining viewership of this sport. I would not want to get into the factors that have contributed to this change but instead talk here about the beauty of this on-going series, slated for a beautiful end.

For starters, it has finally been a battle of the ‘equals’. And this I say with all the pun intended. The two cricket teams have matched each other equally in this series. In terms of spirit, exuberance and performances. Both teams have come back to win the game from an almost lost ground and have also been supremely on the top for an arguably even number of times. A million nails have been sacrificed to the anxious heart across the oceans. A million lips have received that rare full stretch. And of course, thousands have been witness to the toothpaste deprived individuals; or should I say Gentlemen ;)

I don’t remember having seen so many runs scored behind the wickets in one series. And I have also not seen Tendulkar exude this kind of confidence and aggression in a fairly long time. He, for me, has been the second highlight of this series. It’s been a comeback of dominance. Period.

I heard crackers punctuating the end of a cricket game again. The night sky was alive with the radiant smiles from people beneath. I saw so many strangers on the road, huddle together outside a TV shop once again; making enough to room every time to accommodate that one extra joinee to their private mini stadium where all you need to enter is not a ticket, but simply the desire and passion for the game. On a regular day or should I say on a cricket-less moment, the same junta would have jumped at the opportunity to beat up the very guy they made that extra room for; and that too for a trifle. That’s what this sport does to the country. Unites us like nothing else does. Its like the Indian DNA.

But just when I thought that we were losing this sole binding force to reckon with in India, other than a world war may be, this series has made me think again. And for this I am indebted to it.

A walk back home

I feel torn on my walk back home,

Disturbingly comfortable being alone,

A thought suddenly crosses my trampled mind,

Have I exchanged my soul for the corporate find?

The leaves on the trees receive no stares,

The pouring rain has none to care.

Did the birds fly back to their nests today?

Or was I too busy making my day???

The shadow of death has fallen on me,

My cold face not even glaring at me!

Was I not breathing a moment ago?

Then how have I fallen to be remembered no more?

The zipping traffic has crowded my mind,

It’s black, it’s gray, it’s not my way.

But if everyone is walking I must walk too,

For the end must be near and in this direction too.

The pied piper has done it again,

Look at us merry, look at us unaware!

The gleeful faces will soon be a memory,

Of the sedan days and corporate glory!

The shroud has fallen on the face of life,

The priest is reciting in his pious voice.

The requiem is humming through the blaring horns,

The world seems like the Trojan horse

Jobless Worker

Man, boredom is such a difficult thing to deal with. I would rather deal with a wailing baby than this state of joblessness. Since my boss is working out of office today and I have, for a change, completed my work for the day, I am feeling chokingly bored. I feel like I could suffocate to death any moment if not assigned on to some occupation other than random thinking. Aaaaaaargh!!!

Let me see what attempts have I made so far to free my soul from this curse of working under someone. I have gone through all the pretty faces I have ever seen in my life. I couldn’t have missed a single one man. From my first sub-conscious crush to my first conscious crush; from that truly eternal (read-ungettable) beauties to the ones who make you rethink your want for the status of ‘committed’; I have gone through them all. And not just faces, mind you!

But it only left me feeling more irritable - and bored - and frustrated!

Suddenly then, I thought I must log on to the internet and chat up with a few friends. So I logged on to Gmail and was delighted at seeing so many of them online. I quickly messaged a couple of them and patiently waited for their reply. A minute passed. Then another…and then another minute passed followed by another minute. I was red in face, with ire. I had already pinged 10 people. 6 chose not to reply at all. 2 logged out. And the remaining two politely wrote – “busy at work dude”.

Any guesses what I would have felt like at that moment???

A Loser! A god-damn worm dying to get into any crack on the ground!

Disappointed, I went back to my excel sheet that I have been preparing for 3 months now. I would come to office everyday and dedicate myself to preparing this sheet. And now that I have finally prepared it there is no one to look at it. Otherwise, everyday at least a couple of unwanted people passing by my cubicle would drop in and take a look at the work I was doing and give me that corporate smirk. Today I wonder where they have all disappeared. Grrr…

So, left in solitude I started playing a game, which should preferably be played between two people. But given my circumstances I changed the rules to suit my needs. It’s a game that my other jobless friend and I had concocted on our collective jobless days.

Now you see, if at least you have company on such occasions it doesn’t feel so bad.

So I was talking about the game. Well, it is not a very intelligent game. I know that’s anyone’s guess considering the people who invented it. But it is great entertainment.

This is how it is played.

Two people take turns to reach the end of an excel sheet by any means you can choose. The person getting to the end of it in a lesser time is the winner. And to accommodate our individual emotions we would never stop till both of us had won an equal number of times. Look, now we obviously din’t want to lose each other to the results of this highly competitive game. Our company was all we got for killing boredom. More often than not the scores were always 0-0

Now my current task was to get the second player. So I decided to use both my hands as two different players. Right was me and left was my friend. After a minute I realized I was betraying my friend by giving him the weaker hand. So I swapped players and went on with the game. I loved the way the virtual lines on the sheet disappeared like fading memories. It is a sight that never ceases to hypnotize me. I loved my new found job. In excitement I used both my hands and when I realized it I was disappointed at having wasted so much time.

At this moment, I went back to my dejection.

What you are reading is a result of my final and successful attempt. Its time I packed up for the day

Adios!