Resolutions

Whats a new year without a resolution anyway? Usually my resolutions centre around studying harder than the previous year, but since I wont be studying around the year this time I think a different flavour is in order this time around. This year my resolution is to lose 10 kgs at the minimum within this month. And guess what? There's a motivation behind it. I want to play cricket this time, that too with my own team. Already named it Third quadrant - nerdy as you might think the name is, its actually not. There is a team called Zeroes which has postioned themselves as the worst team in the league and is out to sabotage other teams chances of making it to the semis. Third Quadrant in mathematics is a place where everything is negative ( by that I mean all functions- sin, cos, tan, cosec, sec and cot- its a feat I remembered all six). So we are challenging their positioning as the worst team in the tournament.

I have already recruited or rather poached 3 members from last years team- namely Vikas the giant who gained 25 kgs after gorging on food at BIM, Abhik and Jiten. I would have called myself the biggest poach having played a game for the third ranked team from last year's tournament but then since I am the poacher-in-chief, I cant exactly call myself a poach. We need a few more and hence we are actively poaching. Only thing I fear is the other recruits might not be as good poachers as I am. 

So here's the best part- I get to lose weight and play cricket. Cricket has always been a passion hasnt it? It was always my dream to become a cricketer but then dreams arent something that are nurtured from the kind of background I come from and rightly so- one cant afford to see me try and fail as someone better off could have done.

A few memories come back- especially the famous straight drive that I perfected in my Para-cricket. You see there werent any other shots to play but then I could play it text book style, something that would have pleased the Rahul Dravids. The first shot that used to go for a straight boundary infuriated the bowlers who bowled even more faster fuelled by their anger, the fun part was the faster they bowled the easier was my task and the faster the ball travelled off the bat. As long as I didnt miss the ball, a boundary was an assured return. There are few things that bring joy in life, bisecting two to three fielders, standing almost in a straight line behind the bowler is one such thing. At first bowlers would be furious, then they would be awestruck but before anything else could happen either the sun would have set or the overs would have run out.

Another incident is my auditioning for a place in the team in class 11. I just had one pad on- on my left leg, since that is the front leg for a right hand bat. Its not to say I am foreign to wearing pads. my grandad bought me the entire cricket set around class 7 and since then, whenever I got a break from studies, I'd put on my gear and watch a match in progress. Coming back to the selection, I remember my being frightened, as I padded up to face the first Deuce ball ever from a fast bowler- that too he was non-bengali so were the rest of the team as we were supposed to play only for house teams- what a pity! 

One thing was assured- there would be no mercy. I was happily the last person to audition. I watched with anxious eyes as players got hit or hit bowlers out of the square. So I finally took my stance, the bowler took an unusually long run up- all that I thought about was not breaking a bone- somehow I would have to put bat to ball. I had not done well in my attempt to secure a place in the team as a bowler so this was my only hope but then I didnt want to break a bone even if it meant leaving a place on the team.

So the bowler steamed in and I just prayed, what more could I have done? With malice the bowler delivered, I put my bat down- then all I knew was that everyone was looking behind the bowler. I too looked. Was it a miracle? For as far as I could see a red speck was disappearing faster and faster into nothingness! It was a boundary- a straight drive to perfection. Then the same story- bowler gets furious, bowls faster, I repeat the process- the ball goes for a boundary every time. Different bowlers, same result. In their malice and hatred of seeing a non-bengali underrated player play well, they forgot there could have been other deliveries- they just tried to bowl faster. It started raining and my glasses obscured my view, so all that I could do next was guess where the ball would be. But then blinded by hate, all the deliveries were in the same place and I could only oblige.

Only then towards the fag end when everyone was desperate to get me out, a tiny bowler bowled a delivery that didnt bounce. It went under my bat and I was cleaned up. I got selected- didnt end up playng due to politics though. As for last years cricket, I didnt play well, pulled a muscle before my over and ended up conceding twenty odd runs.

So here's to the new year- its a flat tummy I want a flat tummy in twenty odd days!