"Dei short leg la vaada ..." Anto screamed from deep square leg wherever that is.
Year : May 2003
Venue : KK nagar corporation ground
Time : 1.49 pm ( ya it blazed allright)
I always looked up to Anto, not because he set such fairplay standards;
measuring 6ft at 16, he was comfortably taller than the rest of us.
At 5 ft 3, I was comfortably short.
I looked with chinese eyes at him as he marshalled the field, not as if we had many,
but Anto liked those kind of methodical intrusions.
One particular bunny was Bose, Anto gave him a torrid time. Bose ran from
off side to on side, from mid off to mid on, he ran at first ; then walked and then
crawled.
Just when he was about to fall Anto howled and froze him. Bose ended up somewhere
between long leg and a wailing baby which was disappointed with the swing.
Now,this was Chennai, and Chennai during May afternoons was the layman's equivalent
to Arizonian Terrain or other such hell on earth.
But we, strapping 16 year old's just finished the so called first of life's great
obstacles : the Xth Boards, and entering long holiday, didn't mind it much. We
just shook of the dust, swatted away starved flies and pouring sweat, gave a smile to
the blinding sun and played on anyway. Heat dust and muck yes, but we were happy.
Arun was batting and was in some kind of vvs laxman zone ; he did not hit it, he
caressed and we raised our hands not to appeal or catch but to clap, but restrained
realizing we were opponents.
I stood in the covers and one such caress approached towards me rather than me
approaching towards it. I bent down , with both hands close to ground and as the ball
approached and " Dei aadi pudidaa .....".
"If you see the sales figures for January ..." Suren drawled on on pointing stupidly
at the complicated sales graph.
Year : May 2009
Conference room : Pearson Office : Chennai
Time : 1.49 pm( freezing courtesy : O General Split AC)
The graph said nothing more than what Senthil, the man at the
distributors said to me, but in a much more complex and incomprehensible way, just to
sound more intelligent and prove the managers that Suren did worked his ass off and
found earth shattering insights.
Suren, our immediate supervisor stood awkwardly in front of the legacy
projector/screen and picked and chose words.
The ASM(area sales manager) and ZSM(Zonal sales managers), the two dons sat opposite
each other skeptically looking at the sales figures and giving us, the new sheep,
dirty looks. Managers love looking down upon young interns and pretending that they
are 3 days expired burgers.
I,the graduate, fresh out of college, high flying, bathed cleaned and suited,
optimism brewing and backslapping self for landing the dream corporate job, sat
clueless under the comfortable AC, glancing at the window as the rest of the city
toiled in the hot sun.
I pursed my lips tight, (interns aren't supposed to smile,look excited and do what
normal humans do) and looked serious even though I couldn't understand what bull
was happening in front of me. Suren drawled on and on, Bala the other intern kept
giving so called acknowledging smiles to the Managers, hoping to score some brownie
points even though he looked more clueless than the rest of us put together.
Here I was, wearing Louis Phillipe and Raymond, wearing Swatch, sitting in the
conference hall of the world's largest publisher. AC's , swanky furniture, loaded
accounts et al.. But I couldn't smile. I felt out of place spreading fake smiles and
false understandings. The plastic comfort was too comforting. And...
"Mr. Aditya, what is your view on the January Sales Insights, cmon you young turk,
give us a target figure" the ZSM fired a yorker towards me coated with his oily
smile.
" Yes sir" I started to mentally pile up jargon " For me the TOMA of consumers..."
" Dei Aadi naale run dhanda, nee dhan last batsman paathu aadu, cmon aadi"
Srikrishna wailed as I took guard.
Year : May 2009
KK nagar corporation ground Chennai
Time : 6.49 pm
We were playing our toughest match till date,against the corporation/govt school guys.
Denied of all fattening comforts us private school guys get for fun, the govt school
urchins were as raw as it could get. They were the pioneers of modern day IPL. Their
only shot : the Heave. Their only ball : the fast rising face breaker. And they
randomly hit stumps just to see it break, even though the batsman reached the crease
yesterday.
They were express paced, mind u this was corporation ground with a 12 yard pitch and
each ball zoomed past like pslv. They were untrained and raw but the pace was
donald/jeff thomson standards .This was the closest we cud get to real cricket. We
were shit scared yes, but were excited by the challenge.
The first ball came and left me before I could say "W***a". I gulped, swatted my
sweat and at once felt pity for Sachin Tendulkar, how much I wouldve abused him and
his struggle with donald. My opponent was mgr nagar pandi and I couldn't touch him.
The next four balls were not worth describing, I somehow managed not to get out as
ball did trapeze tricks and swung like the stock market. Pandi ran hard for the last
ball.
I went into semi comatose state and he heaved himself along with the ball. My frens
blurred, their voices were an incomprehensible din, I went into the zone and saw the
ball hurl dust as it thudded into the pitch and raced towards my face. In a flash, I
arched front and then back and thwacked the ball, pulling it into the boundary. We
had won. That was my first pull shot ever.
What followed after that was stuff of schooltime legends, jumping and howling,
pouring and emptying water packets over each other as 7 of my best pals fell on top
of me. We danced and ran all the way with the least care for such things as hygiene,
composure or etiquette. We were clueless but yes We were happy.
"Aadi sir, lighta anachitu poidunga" ( aadi sir, switch off the lights and go)
Kumar the office assistant said before he left.
Year : May 2003
Pearson Office - Chennai
Time : 6.49 pm
My day started at 7 am and never seemed to end as I counted each minute. Mechanically
i arranged my sales bag as I was about to leave for the day. I closed my cabin and
got down and walked towards my bike. In a moment I was in the signal near my office,
another flash I was near home. My life flashed in front of me as I drove zig zag
without thought. Where am I, What am I doing? My branded watch flashed 7.30 pm, my
shirt shone in the streetlight, extra lite and comfort series, the salesman promised.
I reached home and parked my bike as I received 3 smses.
ASM : Pls send me today's sales report along with your expense vouchers before 8 pm
and also start to Pondicherry post Midnight - Get some sleep in the bus.
Girlfriend : You are not the person I loved, are we even still together ?
ICICI : Your account has been credited with Rs 44500. Thank you.
I frowned and looked up to the stars, looking at them after years, searching for
myself, my life and my smile.
Where am I ? ?
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