yeh maara chakka!!!!

Rikki was at the crease, our last good batsman. we still have 150 runs to make, otherwise this game haar jayenge.
we didnt expect the other team to have such good bowlers. Raju, Iqbal,Jonny and Satish... all.. out for scores less than 10!!!!
Anwar came in for the next delivery.. and oh fish!!! Rikki's also gone.. clean bowled!

im next... but what can i do? everybody knows im the 'kaccha limbu' of batting...no chance that i will be able to score enough runs to help our team win.
maybe.. just maybe.. the new bat papa bought me yesterday.. which i dutifully kept in the puja room all of last night.. so tat god will bless it.. and give me some super powers to hit a four or a six tday...
i can see Raj and Mani from the other team smiling at seeing me walk out to bat..bloody dogs...tday i will show them!!

Anwar came in.. in his usual fast balling style.. and i closed my eyes and just swung my bat..."phataaaak"....
"bhaag rahul... bhaag... run nikaaal!"...
i opened my eyes.. unblivable..! the ball was actually high up in the air... heading for the boundary...i forgot i was supposed to run.. i just kept standing.. starin at the ball..six!!!!!

And with that began what was to become one of the most memorable innings of my life.
Unbelievable.. yet true.. the bat in my hand seemed to have a mind of its own...
square drives.. flicks..lofty swings..straight..cover..it was a textbook demonstration of how to demolish the bowling attack!

but bad luck to dekho..! just as i cruised into my 90's.. it started to get dark.. and the umpire Gullu called the end of today's play...( Gullu...tereko baadmein dekh lunga!!!).. for now.. i was just too excited and very very happy..i had to rush home n tell every1 abt this..

Papa had just come back from work, and i immediately launched into my second recital of that day.. of how Rahul had scored a flawless 93 runs.. and was well on his way to not only helping his team win tom's match.. but also set a new record for fastest 100!!!!
Ma had listened to it all earlier today, and had only nodded her head.
After dinner Ma reminded me to finish off homework for tday so that i would be able to go off to play tomorow too..

but all nite..all i cud think of was tom's game.. how i would finish it in style.. with a six.. straight over the bowler's head...and then enjoy the defeated look on raj n mani's and everybody's faces from the other team...tom would be the day the whole colony would talk of their new hero... me.. Rahul!

i woke up early next day.. and cleaned my bat,gloves and pad... and was waiting for it to be 9 o'clock..
at 8:45.. i ran out of bedroom and was about to open the door.. when Ma pulled me back and asked me abt my homework..
i explained how i was unable to do it because i was not able to concentrate only.. i had to finish my game.. i had to win!!!
Ma just looked in her strict style..and with a finger pointed towards my room.
"finish your homework first.. and then your game"..
i felt like taking my bat and hittin Ma with it.. why cant she understand? i had to go.. i had to!!!
i went back to my room.. angry... very very angry!!!
i sat with my book open in front of me.. but i could not even read anything.. i was only thinking of the match!
If Papa would have been there.. he would have let me go.. but this Ma.. she doesnt understand how important this match is...why is she always so strict and stupid?

i went to the window and looked out at the field outside.. most of my friends had already come..they must be wondering why i havent come..my best friend Rikki was walkin towards my building.."Rahul..oye..come fast.. match is going to start..!"
i ran back into the kitchen.. "Ma, pls.. i promise to do my hw after i come back.. i have to go.. pls!"..
Ma once again just said one thing.." finish your hw.. and then you can go to play!"..
why was Ma behaving like this.. what did i do for her to behave so strict with me..?

Luckily for me, just then it started to rain and the game was postponed for the evening..
i ran back into my room with every intention of finishing my HW.. honest to god!! But, what to do!?? i couldnt help thinking of the game.. and how much it meant to me.Why couldnt ma understand that??!! It was the biggest game of my life.. i was playing like sachin tendulkar!!! i was already being looked upon as the new cricket hero of Victorian haven co-op housing society!!!and this Ma just keeps me locked at home doing my HW!!!

and thats when a brilliant plan came into my head!!! i knew Ma goes to sleep every afternoon after lunch. I decided to put some sleeping tablets into her glass of favorite orange juice and give her after lunch to make sure she sleeps. And then i will be free!!!
Lunch time was very very tense for me. i was feeling so scared that i couldnt even eat properly.
after lunch i tiptoed into her bedroom and quietly took her bottle of sleeping tablets. and went into the kitchen to get her orange juice.i carefully crushed 2 tablets and put it into the juice..

soon it was 4pm...and I heard Rikki calling out again. i slowly walked into mom's room to check. SHE WAS FAST ASLEEP!!
i ran out as fast as i could with THE bat. i raced to the ground and was so happy to be out there in the middle of the pitch again.
Mani was to bowl the next over. We needed 23 runs to win, off 2 overs.
with me on strike, all eyes were on me. Mani came into bowl, and once again the bat moved like it was possessed. a beautiful cover drive, speeding like a bullet, all the way to the boundary!!!

and before i knew it, the next 5 balls were the end of the match! With me getting my century in style and my team winning!!!! with 1 whole over to spare!
Rikki and all my team came running upto me and picked me up and shouted cries of vistory...

after the match, while we were having the celebration ka ice-lolly at manu uncle's shop,rikki says" rahul saale, you were damn lucky tday haan...thank god it rained in the morning.otherwise we would have lost the match. why dint you come in the morning yaar??"
i told him abt my HW and my stupid Ma, and how i gave her some sleeping tablets. I was a little scared now of going back home, im guessin Ma must have woken up by now and will royally thrash me for disobeying her.
rikki said" yaar, tere mein solid guts hai.. all the best boss!! aaj ekdum jhakaas batting kiya!! lekin ek baat bata, how did you know which was the sleeping pill?? you dont even know to read english properly yet!"

i told him" simple yaar. Ma keeps her sleeping pill ka box hidden in her cabinet. when i opened it, there was only 1 box inside. with one scary looking skull and some bones on it. samajhne ki baat hai nah.. wohi hoga sleeping pills!!!"

note: the above is completely fictitious and all credits for this story belong to me.