A special sunday

Sunday the word by itself enlightens lot of people bringing a big grin to their face no matter how wrinkled it is due to the hardships they encounter in their mundane life. We look forward for the Sundays when we are a kid to play in the streets with our friends, to watch that special program that gets telecasted only on Sunday, to have special lunch made by mom. When we grow up a bit and get into the college Sunday is something that brings a breather of fresh air. People with girl friends and boy friends venture out to movies and hideouts while people who are with friends check out special joints and people like me spend most of the day relaxing and sleeping. If we could wash the cloths by Saturday itself then Sunday becomes even more special. Later when we grow up and start earning the bread we look forward to Sunday so eagerly to get a break from the gruesome routine. Later when we get married and get settled with our kids, Sunday will be the only day of the week that we wish to have in the calendar for that will be the only day that blesses us the time with our loved ones. As we grow old and Sunday will be special for then our children and grandchildren gives us a visit.
Except in those parts of the world where Sunday is a working day, Sunday is adored, worshiped, played, gorged, viewed, waited, slept, pampered and what not. I love Sunday too and I am not sure about my ideas of a perfect Sunday. But this Sunday (3rd may 2009) was special for the mere reason that drives the Indian subcontinent crazy, cricket. Cricket is one reason that drives me home during the weekends I go. Unlike the actual sport the cricket we play is between the two compounds and with lot of restrictions and rules flexed to suit the ambience. One pitch catch and that to be caught using in one hand without the ball coming in contact with any other part of the body is one such rule for your understanding. We have lot of such decrees to play this game.
Babu is a fierce competitor and he never plays to lose and this gives me all the more pleasure to play against him. I learnt from him how to play with passion and how to play to win. He brings out the best of his potential delivering cent percent commitment to pull off a victory. As babu works in Bangalore and me in Chennai we have to plan in before hand the weekend that we have to visit our respective family in coimbatore. This game we play is not played for money, neither for monetary rewards nor for any trophies but for the passion of the game and the taste of victory that lures with every game.
This weekend was one such weekend where we both were in our hometown and what better time can it be to start the game than a Sunday morning. The game started by 8:30 am and went till 12:30 pm. My brother who has been sharing the same passion for this game for a while now joined babu in his team and I opted for his friend who seemed to hit the ball well while warming up. Jayabal who lives in coimbatore is a lively character when it comes to cricket and NO is the last thing you can hear him say if you call him for a game of cricket. He joined babu and I went for dinesh who is yet to be out of the school. Dinesh has talent but lacks focus and application. With some tweaking and chiding I think this guy should get better than all the oldies of the lot.
Each team has now three players and so three overs to face which makes one over for each player which completes one game. Scoring can be done only in fours and sixes as it is a very small place. There is a demarcation in the compound at knee height and if the ball hits directly beneath it’s a six and the batsmen is considered out if it hits above the demarcation directly. Similarly fours are scored when the ball hits the ground first before it gets in contact with the compound wall. If the ball goes above the compound wall then the batsman is considered to be out again. These form the part of the rules of the game we play. Ufffffffff
Five games form a series and the winner of the series is the best of five games. Like the player who wins the most in five games is the champion. The game began and it was all a closely fought battle. All the games went for the fifth game which means that the equilibrium wasn’t one sided. We played seven or eight series of which most of the series ended with a 3-2 result. There were lots of dives from babu and smart saves from jayabal and usual bloopers from dinesh. Babu even bruised his side back while diving to stop a four. That was the intensity of the game. I was really timing the ball well and scored in every other game. When I failed arvind, my brother’s friend contributed. When both of them failed there was this mystic scoring from dinesh that would give something for us to defend or to save the game. For babu’s dismay batting hardly clicked for his team as jayabal’s attempt to score at least a single four went in vain. It was a battle of preservation and perseverance and we came on top on all the occasions. Not a series lost to the opponent its only victory that I tasted that Sunday which made it very special.

This idea of putting this in blog bobbed up this morning when I was riding my way to office. The triumphant feeling hasn’t sunk in yet. I was in the middle of preparing a travelogue of the trip I made to ooty via mysore. It seemed to take lot of time than I expected. So I thought of chipping in with this post in a way celebrating the victorious Sunday. I believe this post will infuriate babu charging him up next when we encounter. He will definitely make sure that I don’t have another such post in the future.