5. The late-night game
It's a beautiful weather outside. After the dinner everyone is gone to sleep. Satya steps out of the classroom, and gazes the open sky.With the bright moonlight, the nightsky looks beautiful and romantice She walks around the college campus remembering a lot of things from her past. After walking for a while, she reaches the basketball stadium. She stops staring at it and she enters inside. She finds the switch board and flashes the stadium with bright lights. She looks around the empty space which was filled with people few hours ago. She walks to one of the courts and picks a ball. Tomorrow she'll be back to her routine back in Bangalore.😃
Satya starts dribbling and slowly warming up, she runs towards the basket, jumps and puts the ball into the basket perfectly. Picking on the game, she becomes actively engaged thus not noticing the footsteps coming towards her.😳
"That's wonderful" He says and claps😉
Satya abruptly stops in her place, a little taken aback by an unexpected sound and turns around to find Prasanna there
"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you" His apology is very genuine and he even chides himself mentally for scaring her in the middle of the night.
"No problem. I wasn't expecting guests at this hour" She says smiling😃
He is lost in her charm and stares at her for long making her conscious touching her face to find something strange. He blinks just then and shies away😳. To avoid further embarrassment he raises his hands and looks at the ball in her hand
"May I?" He asks and she throws the ball to him
They just casually start with the game while talking. Slowly the passion in them pick up, getting aggressive in their game.
Both are projecting their skills in equal capacity. They become very competitive and play with childlike enthusiasm.
Blocking, stealing, tipping, fouling everything that the sport has they covered it all proudly showcasing their talents. Finally with none ready to give up, they both fall down tired and sweating.
They stare at each other and laugh at their own childish act
"So what's your story?" Satya is the one to break the ice
"So you have one too?"
"A question to my question? You go first"
"Ladies first"
"Old school manners?"
"Mayyybe... I AM old" He winks
"Mayyybe... Your wink isn't as old as you"
"Mayyybe... Grows young as per the sight in front of it"😉
Satya is surprised to see herself flirting with the man from few encounters. Same goes with Prasanna.
Just then the lights go off in the stadium. Through the glass windows of the indoor stadium, they could see twinkling lights outside..
"Fireflies" Both utter at the same time
"Mayyybe... a magical connection!" He says
"Mayyybe... The weather's effect" She says
"Mayyybe... The college effect" Both say together and burst into laughter😆
They both go silent suddenly. By now their eyes are little adapted to the darkness and with the little light from the outside they are able to see each other's silhouette. The silence between them is very comfortable and soothing to each other. They feel at peace like someone feels the ease in understanding without being told anything
Prasanna looks at the outline of Satya sitting in front of him. He tries hard to control the urge to touch her face which is seen through the moon light from outside..
"The power and politics in sports spoiled it all for me" He abruptly starts with his story in order to divert himself from doing something stupid out of his newfound feelings. Satya too is in a mixed of emotions not knowing why, but she sure knows that he needs some comfort.
She waits for him to continue without interruption of the moment.
Prasanna as a little boy in school, was a super active and wonderfully fun filled kid. His first love was his basketball. He was always busy with his basketball games. Anytime day or night, he never said no to any game, even forgetting his food and sleep. His aim was to be selected for the Indian Basketball team. His parents too supported his ambition.
As he grew up his dedication for the sport only increased with more love and passion. He was full of life as well. Not just about himself, he cares for others too and anyone in his company can never go tired of life. He was enjoying and celebrating everything about life with friends, family and basketball.
He was preparing himself with the lessons and practices for the sport, as he was driving towards his dream wholeheartedly. His tireless efforts made him the eligible and very much capable player in every way. After all he was one of the best shooters and a very aceful pivot player from the state.
Prasanna was part of many training camps and national tournaments. He was in Delhi taking part in the selection tournament which he had been waiting for years. He was eagerly awaiting his match when the coach came and told him that he will be the substitute and will be allowed to play only if needed. Prasanna couldn't believe his ears. He saw his dreams shattering in front his eyes. He couldn't feel the ground underneath.
He fainted only to wake up in the wellness centre of the camp. His coach expressed his sorry state and told the how power and politics played its game in the backstage.
For Prasanna, sports was simple. He went to games. Played games. Had fun. And was entertained and encouraged. But that day he realized that sports was so much more. He understood the harsh reality that every level of sports had become big business that generated big money and big influence. Powerful people blatantly used their power to get what they wanted, and very often they succeeded too.
For one year, Prasanna didn't get back to normal self. He thought his life had ended that day and he was just pushing his days. With his family's support slowly he at least tried to be a little normal. Sports news and articles became his addiction. He then decided to not let anybody else's dream crush like his. He studied everything about the business behind the sport. He created his own contacts and network to understand the influences behind the whole association.
He started his career as a coach and joined different institutions trying to find the talent. In the initial 5 years he managed to get good opportunities for his talented students. He established himself as a very disciplined, serious, strict and no-nonsense coach. Every student of his has one way or the other felt the pressure under his coaching but managed to learn for their own betterment. Not everyone made it big but they reached various levels of success under his guidance.
Prasanna closes his flashback story and looks at Satya...
"That's all to my story.. Now your turn.."😉
Satya is filled with empathy for the little boy whose dreams were killed by some money minded people. Her emotions are mixed with anger for some unknown faces and tears for the innocent face in front of her. She struggles to held back herself from reaching out to him to comfort him for whatever had happened long ago but she very well knows that the scar from those days will never fade in him. And she also understands that there is more to his story which he hasn't opened upon. His passion for the game is only limited and she has seen how indifferent he goes, at times, even for the game that he loves passionately. She smiles at the remembrance of his slumberboy form during the Christ girls' match.
"I know it must be hard. Even after years I'm sure it hurt s for not being able to achieve your dreams. That too because of some random people's selfishness."
He stays quiet and it's evident that he's hiding his emotion and trying not to fallback into the past
"Mayyybe, destiny wants me to have your autograph sitting so close to you"😆
He chuckles at her timely humor giving a positive outlook to an otherwise awkward .😎
"Nice try. And I'm glad to have met a fan who is equally passionate about the sport"😉
"Let's start a mutual admiration club" She says🤣
Both laugh and find how easy they are to talk to each other
"So where's my bedtime story?"
"No way I am gonna allow you to sleep without hearing my story properly"
He laughs out loudly and she finds him very adorable when he laughs wholeheartedly. He looks a child who's happy even with small things.
He sits comfortably resting on the pole as if ready for a long night.😳
Edited by Push-pull - 6 years ago
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