This was started with (now they are not a part) - I was told a few days back that my writing has lost the 'spice'.. I didn't understand what they were looking for, so no special care goes in here... Writing pleases me!
11. Clay court stories
Clay basketball court, BSRKV... This court was the reason I got those unending oral recitations from my mother (my white shirts used to end being close to saffron). This court was one of the reasons I was given the special treatment on the last day in school (Ms.Nagamani promised me that she would ensure that I don't get the hall-ticket for board exams... I can tell you, the last day couldn't be more memorable. That fear still manages to pain me sometimes, though I claim to have become "numb"). This court was the reason I had to lie to my mother innumerable times saying that I had some special class. This court was the reason I hated Uday & Vijay (I liked them otherwise)... :P. This court was the reason people could bet I would fail.
Getting back to school... I sometimes feel my "soul-searching" would end somewhere around the clay basketball court of our school. I guess I have enough reasons to hate this place enough not to go there again! If I was ever asked to name the best places on earth... this will be among the first 2 or 3. The good times out-number the bad-ones by a convincing margin. Here are a few highlights the players wouldn't have missed...
- The biggest complaint - bench-mates, team-mates and what not - Uday and Vijju, the two people whom I hated most in the ground - they never played against each other or should I say, they never played without each other... that more or less decided three fourths of the team. As the days passed the teams did become a tradition like in football!
- The biggest asset - Everyone of us would take pride in the fact that we never discussed rules. They were there, not to argue, not to be written down. Three boxes on the pillar are the wickets, a measurement (which only Vijju knew!) was the pitch length, some idiotic shapeless stone was the bowler's end stump, over arm throw, speed objection, the kho-kho court the boundary etc. etc. One very funny thing was the no off-side runs... and more over they were given out.. :P
- Cricket is a gentleman's game... no one would disagree. There were these "jingli" Purri, Sastry and sometimes Arvind... who wouldn't play anything other than football. But they were forced to play cricket.. (no one played football then.. they had no other go) and what was interesting was the Purri - Sastry fight for the deep square-leg fielding place.. (where they thought the ball would be least frequently.. thanks to Uday and Naveen they proved it wrong). Purri was a lost character in that world... neither did he bowl nor did he bat but he came for the comedy of Sastry. The aspiring mafia don Arvind proved he was worthy of it.. hit and scare.. and what not!
- Our un-invited guest when we were in 9th and 10th was Mr.Madhubhaskar who had once vowed to kill all of us for torturing him when he was our maths teacher a year before. He was a great sportsman and used to treat as his equalls on ground. Now-a-days when we talk of him, I feel sorry for him.. one thing that pains me
- Hot-spots... Ramu was always the wicket-keeper, he used to run till half of the first ground to collect the ball.. and a throw from there would invariably hit the board and bounce back and everyone used to shout!! Uday and Naveen always in deep mid-wicket, Buddi always in long-on, Uppi and Vijju, the strategy GODs, always at mid-wicket. The most sought after place was the 'dressing room' under the trees.. a boulder to accommodate two.. the commentary and jokes flew from that corner.
- Action.. It was never shot off! Vijju's awkward bowling action.. don't know where he mastered it, Uday's mastery in batting, Naveen's long long sixes.. I used to run and run to get the ball.. Hutch copied that 'dog' idea from here, Nili's lefty 'off-break'... never really turned actually, Ramu's bowling straight and fast... and an action as if it was base-ball, Buddi's innocent bowling which surely had the most expensive as well as the most economic figures, running for water to Avvi's house or college campus, Vijju's running between the wickets tactics... always ensured to get strike at the end of the over... well this is an unending list! But the best action was celebrating a wicket or victory... show your fists and yell... killer instinct, we learnt it here. There were skills we leant.. I guess we mastered.. sledging, cheating, and slogging.
- Infrastructure... Uday's bat and ball.. the brand was Wills (made for each other.. how true!).. sometime Tija's ball took the place... others came in and went.. these stayed.. and will be played with till the very end..
- Repent... there are a few things I would always feel bad for... I never ever hit a six there (I was hit for three). There were matches I scored most of the team score (57 runs out of 65), there were matches I was duck.. I had every experience.. but never that of a six... May be the next match... I will make amends! There was one match I was out in Uday's bowling after blasting him in two earlier matches... he came to me and showed me his fist... SHIT! I thought he would kill me right there... I gave away my wicket.. it won't be that easy this time..
There were matches we won with 20 runs to defend, matches we lost with 70 runs to defend... but we always won the entertainment and the desire to play again and prove a point.. we were the "B-section"... we grew up there, we fought there... that muddy court, surely the place to be...
I am still hanging around there somewhere... I guess we all are..
--buddi
--buddi
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18 - 07 - 2009
