Two Twenty

“TWO TWENTY “

There was a faint but sharp stream of light coming through the folds of the red curtain’s on the opposite large window. The light mixing with the air gave a smoky feeling of a small hut within the higher mountains where the chulha was lit to prepare early morning team. There was also faint smell of tea in the air, probably coming from beneath, blending with the smell of Sampige and raw mangoes. One could also hear a faint howling sound and a persistent barking of a dog from somewhere far away amidst the whistling sound created by the branches of the surrounding trees. The surrounding faintness of light, sound, smell soon receded further to blankness everywhere.

Sandeep came running home, out of breath, helter skelter as if a dog was chasing him. His gumboots had already splashed enough water , mud along the pathway because of the previous day rains. The heavybag with books had slowed his entry into the house. It was beginning of monsoon and Sandeep was getting worried and anxious about the match in the evening.  He was hungry but his mind was focused on the evening match rather than the food. He quickly changed his white and navy blue uniform to a sober brown T shirt and a black track pant that he had purchased few days back. His mother was still sleeping but his plate was neatly kept on the dining table and couple of covered vessels. He would normally wake up his mother but he decided otherwise and quickly put some rice, dal and a potato vegetable in the plate and gobbled up the food. Food was tasty but his mind was somewhere else. In no time, he ate the food. He went to his room and quickly glanced at the new fishcover bat. It was not brand new but new enough and still had the shine that emanated from the bat because of the oiling that he had done few days back in order to provide more strength to the bat , himself and in turn his team too, because most of the players would be playing with this bat. His father had got it few days back from a sports shop and incidentally it had turned out that the owner happened to be known to his father from ages. There was no haggling on the price that day. The owner had served hot tea to both Sandeep and his father. Sandeep , not a tea drinker, however had drank the tea as a gesture of thanks to the sports shop owner. That night he had a disturbed sleep with visions of the new bat hitting the new ball amidst the sweet sounds of the cork ball hitting the bat. He had also remembered the Two Twenty ( 2.20 ) written across the blackboard in the school.

Sandeep had seen the clock three times in the last five minutes and was desperately waiting for the small hand to be on the edge of 4 and the long hand on 9. He quickly got ready to go but not before dipping his hands into his piggy banks to gather couple of 10 Paise coins. One would be his share and another would serve as backup share for possibly one of his friends. It would take five minutes for him to ride on his black cycle with the bat and the stumps lodged on the back carrier to the nearby quarters where most of his friends lived. He had also a spare front carrier to carry another bat, whenever required or to carry the stumps when someone else would sit in the back carrier holding the bat. Sandeep could still not reach the ground on both the feet from this bicycle, since it was taller for his age. Neverthless, the regular trips from his home every evening had made his cycling perfect. It would take ten – fifteen minutes in the two three houses to gather his friends from the grasp of their parents. It was always easier for Sandeep to get his friends himself rather than waiting long for them to reach the ground, since all his friends could not escape every evening on account of the study pressure. Sandeep was always accorded a warm welcome by the parents and few minutes of regular school conversation through intelligent probing of their son and sandeep’s friends. These conversations were unavoidable else his friends would probably miss the playful evenings. Sandeep would not mind few minutes of banter at each of the homes , which could finally result in his eleven. He could not afford to miss anyone of them else it would imbalance the side against the mighty team composed of the seniors from his school.

The troupe hurried through the roads on few bicycles , mostly double-riding chatting away on the strategy for the match. The animated discussions revolved around the opening batsmen, bowlers and the wicket-keeper. Sandeep would try to moderate the discussions when he sensed that they were digressing from the objective. He would also have the final say and mostly the team would abide by the decision. Sandeep , himself was not chatting as much during this sojourn to the ground, instead immersing himself in deep thoughts towards the match. The thoughts were revolving towards the opposition team,  his team and how best to utilize the team as well as keep everyone happy. As a captain, he needed to be fair to all the players and everyone should get to play their share of the game either as a batsman, bowler or wicketkeeper. There was always a clamor for being part of the opening pair amongst his friends, including his own wish to be the one. Apart from the match, his thoughts were also swayed by the weather. He was checking towards the clouds for the likelihood of heavy rains. The light rains would normally not disrupt the matches but he was worried about the heavy downpour that could play spoilsport.  However, the accompanying winds were drawing the clouds farther and this provided the kindling hope and joy in his mind. The team was almost there at the venue and he could already see the other team already there with the three stumps on one side of the track.

There was sense of joy and excitement in the air as the team descended from the bicycles and quickly gathered the stumps, which needed to be put on the other side of the track. Before they would do that, almost as programmed, the whole team got their hands into their pockets and handed over the 10 paise coins to Sandeep. However, Sanjay was scratching his head and his wavy hair was further getting disheveled. Sandeep , quickly with a nod, as if he knew about the fact that Sanjay had forgotten his share, dug through his pocket and got two coins instead of the one and provided the much required support for Sanjay, who heaved a sigh of relief. Sanjay, in order to make up for his mistake, quickly got the stumps from the bicycle and ran towards the track to dig and root the stumps. Sandeep nudged Rajneesh to collect a can of water from the nearby tap and to help Sanjay, which he obliged.

With eleven 10 paise coins in his right hand and the new fishcover bat in the left hand, Sandeep along with the whole team marched towards the track to meet the senior team, whom they would soon be playing against. As they neared the track, twenty two members automatically got divided into four halves. The first two halves consisted of the captains, vice captains from each team, who were now towards the center of the wicket. The rest of the players were behind them in their respective halves, waiting anxiously for the proceedings, which would be beginning to unfold in a short while. Sandeep, along with Rajesh, met the other captain and vice captain, whom they had talked a week back to schedule this match. Sandeep, quickly opened up his right palm and counted the coins infront of the other captain and who in turn did the same. It was twenty two 10 paisa coins altogether , adding up to Two rupees Twenty Paise, which was the stakes for the match and the winning team would take away the prize ! All the coins were put in a small cloth pouch and handed over to the neutral umpire , who was a common friend and another senior, who had volunteered to assist for the match. He removed one of the coins from the pouch to use the same for the toss. The much anticipated moment was coming near and near. Sandeep was given the coin to toss. He tossed the coin in the air and waited for the other captain to call and yes, the other captain called ‘ HEAD’ in a crisp voice. He sounded very confident on the call as well towards the proceedings about the match, while Sandeep and Rajesh were slightly nervous given their own team composition as well as considering that the other team was the mighty team of his seniors in school. The coin landed on the ground and made small noise asfter striking the small pebble and it slowly rolled out. All the five people surrounded the coin to have a look at the verdict. ‘Head’ it was ..

The faint light through the curtain now was getting brighter and some persisting familiar sound in the last few minutes was disturbing Sandeep. It was the sound of the messages on his smartphone that had woken him up. There was also the familiar sound of the commentary coming from downstairs on the IPL twenty twenty match. Sandeep, while slowly opening is eyes, was still wondering about the coincidence of ‘ Two Twenty’ match and the ‘Twenty Twenty’ match that was going to be unfolding.