Short
story
The Last Game
... M.K.Raina
Their’s
was called the ‘Gang of Six’. Eldest among them was Lalji and he was 14
years old. All of them lived close to one another in the densely populated
locality of Maniyar.
The name was not given to
them for nothing. It was coined by Sama Kakh, a retired police officer of the
locality, after giving due consideration to the boys’ life style and
activities. The six, Sama Kakh said, had, as per his knowledge, broken all
records of being in one another’s close company for such a long time. Frankly
speaking, the boys were seen together right from the day they were enrolled in a
near-by primary school, eight years back. Their meeting point was the shadowy
space under a big Mulbery tree, in the middle of their mohalla, which they had
cleaned and converted into a nice sitting place. They were there, except during
rains & snow, every evening, doing their home work, discussing the issues
they thought were important to them, planning their picnic trips and eating
Shahtul (a large reddish-black, acidic and deliciously flavoured fruit), by
climbing up the tree, one branch reserved for each boy. And they had the
exclusive right to the fruit by virtue of having engraved their names with a
knife, on the trunk of the tree. During heavy snow fall in winter, they would
invariably mould a Snowman by rolling snow, placing it vertically up at a fixed
spot, resting it against the tree, and shaping it well like a fat man’s torso.
They would then place on it, a spherical head made up of snow again and also
attach the limbs. It was the duty of Ramji, the youngest among them, to
engrave and mark with soft charcoal, the Snowman’s ears, eyes, nose and mouth.
An old Kangri (Kashmiri Fire-pot) was also placed near by, to give a colourful
touch to the artefact. And this Snowman was there to represent the ‘Gang’
till early spring when it would melt and vanish.
All this was till Lalji got a
transistor radio as gift from his Delhi based cousin, with the added information
that India-England Cricket Series was about to commence in England and they
could hear the running commentary live on it. This changed their schedules
altogether.
It was not
that they had not seen or listened to a radio earlier. In fact, two of them have
had radio sets in thier homes, but they were of no use to them. Their parents
would switch on the radios only for the news, being least interested in the
games. Now, this transistor radio gave them the immense pleasure of listening to
what they wanted, at their own will.
Lalji was now busy,
collecting information about the cricket matches to be played at various places
in various countries. He got a new notebook and kept each and every information
handy. Before the India-England Series got underway, Lalji had maintained record
of all matches to be played over a period of one year. He would now occasionally
be seen absent from the ‘Gang’. Others were least worried, knowing fully
that he was on the ‘job’.
None of the boys ever played
cricket, or even watched a match before. But they had heard about it from their
senior schoolmates. Lalji’s cousin had informed them that the game was so
tough that even the big powers like America, Soviet Union and Japan were scared
of indulging in this deadly game. This however did not diminish the boys’
interest in cricket. They waited anxiously for the first match between the two
countries, commentary of which really came live on the little transistor radio
during late evening hours. There was some confusion initially, in understanding
the words and phrases used by commentators which they overcame at the end of the
first match spanning 5 days of play. All through the match, they were seen
sitting beneath the Mulbery tree till midnight when under tremendous pressure
from their elders, they had to disperse to their homes to have dinner and sleep.
This new development gave
Lalji an added responsibility. Being senior, it was his duty to know more about
the game. So, every day he would put lot of questions to his seniors and
teachers and share the information with his mates. He would also give his
comments, to impress others that he was picking up the game fast. After
conclusion of the first match, the boys had known a lot about the game, or
atleast they thought so.
By end of the test series of
five matches, Lalji and his team had a fairly good knowledge of the game. They
were now aware of most of the rules. At times, they would also analyse the
comments of a commentator and pronounce their judgement. And in the heart
of hearts, they thought they were perfect players as well. “We are ready to
prove our mettle, only if a team from other locality was ready to play with
us”, Lalji announced. Others cheered.
They needed eleven people to
form a team and they were only six. But this did not pose any problem. The
barbed wire fenced plot of land, half a mile away from their home, which was
recently purchased by one of their neighbours to construct his new house, was
too small to accommodate eleven persons to field. Moreover, they thought they
could always invite a couple of boys from the gathering to field for them on a
bigger ground, if need be. And to bat, they decided that during a match with a
rival team, five of them would bat twice.
So, on an auspicious day, the
boys finally announced launch of their cricket team. They arranged four stumps,
three for the batting end and one for the runners end, in the shape of small
lengths of mulbery branches. A new bat was available in the market at rupees ten
which they could not afford. After pooling all their pocket money and the
additional grant, which one of them received from his parents, they were able to
make four rupees. Lalji, who was the natural choice for the captainship because
of his age, volunteered to get a selected piece of willow firewood from his
home. This piece of wood was given to a carpenter, who got it beautifully
transformed into a bat. Knowing that they had no more than four rupees on their
body, the carpenter charged them only that amount and also gifted them a wooden
ball. Boys were all thrilled. Now they thought, they were in a position to
challenge any team. But Lalji’s views were different. He thought it was wise
to practice for at least a couple of days, before they challenge any body.
Next Sunday, they went to the
‘play ground’ fully equipped and took along a dozen of children much less
than their age to watch them play and clap. They decided the batting order by
drawing lots. Lalji was overwhelmed with joy as he was to bat first, and Kundan,
the last man to bat, was to bowl first. Lalji gave some useful instructions to
Kundan. ‘How to bowl a fast ball and how to deliver a spin?’ Kundan nodded
his head, confirming his grasp of the things. Lalji took charge as opener and
looked around in a manner of a great batsman looking out for weakly defended
territories. He was set to receive the first ball but wanted to receive a trial
one first to gain confidence. He took the stance and signalled Kundan to bowl.
Kundan delivered a fast ball, which took some time to reach Lalji. Lalji hit the
ball forcefully. But it was dead before it could reach back to the bowler.
Children clapped.
Now was the time to deliver
first ‘official’ ball of the hour. Kundan came running from quite some
distance and threw the ball. Lalji took a step forward to make it bigger this
time, and in a flash, he was clean bowled, the middle stump thrown two yards
away licking dust. Lalji’s bat was still in the air. Children behind him
clapped again as Lalji stood motionless with his cheeks red.
It was the turn of Raghu now.
He was two years younger to Lalji but had robust health and wide chest. Kundan
was spinning the ball in his hands. Having sent the first ball very ‘fast’,
he made up his mind to send a ‘spin’ this time. As soon as he delivered the
ball, which was anything but spin, Raghu moved to his left and hit the ball high
in the air, and through a large glass window right into the attic of a bungalow
at the boundary. Glass panes came crashing down. Raghu was terror-stricken. A
baldy, his eyes red with anger, peeped out of the window and yelled. Before the
boys could assess the situation, a servant came running from the bungalow and
caught Raghu by neck. Soon after came the baldy with the wooden ball, his white
shirt miserably splashed with tea. He slapped Raghu hard on his face. Raghu fell
on the ground. Baldy was mad. He continued to thrash Raghu with his fist and
foot. Lalji, as leader of the team, intervened and pleaded for mercy, only to
get a hard slap from the servant. This provocated Kundan. He came running from
his position and caught servant’s raised hand, and in a moment, Kundan was
thrown away by the baldy with a kick. Children sitting at the fence were now
crying and weeping and abusing the baldy and his servant. The baldy
‘captured’ Raghu and Lalji and would not leave them unless they pay for two
glass panes, a china clay cup and laundry charges for the shirt. All this
amounted to rupees eight. Boys did not have a penny and the baldy would not let
them go. All the boys were weeping and wailing. A passer-by intervened. He
pleaded with the baldy to lower his costs. Baldy, taking a lenient view, offered
a two-rupee discount on the cost of damages, but the boys had nothing. The
passer-by mediated a deal. Boys were asked to part with their bat and the ball,
which according to their own confession, was valued at rupees four. Making sure
that they had no money to pay the balance, and seeing them in tears, the baldy
was further moved. He let them go with the promise that they would pay the
balance next morning.
The baldy was gone and so
were his servant and the passer-by. The boys started towards their home in a
perfect line, Lalji at their head and the children at the tail. All of them had
their heads down. Lalji, Raghu and Kundan were still rubbing their body parts to
eliminate pain. There was no weight to be carried back home. Stumps were not
removed from the ground. They were kept standing there as a token of the
Gang’s entry into the game of cricket. They decided, and also persuaded
children, not to reveal this episode to anybody in their mohalla.
The boys’ dreams were
shattered and next day, they took an oath not to play cricket again. Lest the
running commentary tempt them to play again, Lalji wrapped up his transistor
radio with a piece of cloth and placed it under the heap of old books in a large
wooden box in his home. And for a full year, no one from the Gang took the route
alongside that bungalow, lest the baldy spots them and demands two rupees. This,
inspite of the fact that they had to traverse a long distance around to reach
thier school everyday.
As far the boys’ permanent
spot under the tree, it remained an abandoned place thereafter, as the
boys were scared to think of being sighted and ‘arrested’ by the baldy. Came
winter and with that a heavy snowfall. But there was no snowman under the tree
this time. Everything around was frozen. The branches of the tree were hanging
low, drops of water trickling down their leaves, perhaps mourning the
disintegration of the ‘Gang’. ?