Thursday, August 21, 2008

In the Line of Fire !!!


It was a sunny day during the first week of September, 2001. The week wherein terror struck in USA’s twin tower. Back home here we were spending our weekend in the usual fashion, a game of cricket. It was a match against the IIT students, whom we had assumed, will be too busy buried in their books throughout the year to have even the slightest idea of how to face a outswinger or read the googly from the bowler’s arm.We expected it to be a game to be won hands down by us since we were the amateurs (or budding professionals) and they were a bunch of guys playing cricket for recreation. However we were in for a surprise or rather subject to a state of embarrassment. The opponents batted first and thrashed us to all parts of the ground and imposed an almost impossible target for us to chase. That was when I walked onto the field to try and prolong the defeat as much. As always, I opted not to wear a helmet. The visor of the helmet obstructed or rather diverted the focus on the ball. Hence I had always felt uncomfortable inside it.

Things went on fine until that bowler came onto have a spell. He was a short guy, who, during the earlier innings had shown his prowess with the bat. It was his first spell for the day and he gave an impression of a gentle medium pacer. He started his run-up and me was watching him charge towards the stump. The moment the ball pitched short I realized that it was a bouncer, however I managed to tactfully dodge the same and the ball safely proceeded to be pouched by the keeper. “Better wear a helmet da” the bowler quipped to me as he was turning back from his follow through. “That’s OK, I can manage, not a problem” I said. Although I was a bit shaken up by the previous delivery, didn’t want to show that to the bowler. The bowler was ready for the next ball. As he started the run-up, this time I wanted to ensure that am not in the line of fire. The bowler was charging towards the wicket and me was getting ready to shuffle onto the backfoot and counter the ball. As he hurled the ball towards me, I saw it landing halfway onto the pitch and straight it started its journey towards my face. (I can still rewind that video and slow it down to every millisecond !!!!) As I swiveled to attempt a pull shot, I saw the red cherry growing enormously in front of me. The ball looked like a meteorite shooting its way towards the target. With every passing millisecond I could see the ball growing larger, larger and larger as it approached me. I realized that it was too fast for me to pull the ball, however the realization was too late ??.. The ball was now so close to me that nothing else could I see but the ball !!!! With great force it thudded onto the target, My nose ofcourse !!!!.

It felt like a huge boulder being thrown on me and I could feel the pain raising to my head. Such was the jolt and force with which it hit. The next second all I saw was blue skies and I realized that I was collapsing. Just when I was about to fall I saw the three stumps were on my way. Landing on them would mean that am out. Who cared a damn, I thought. When my survival on the earth itself was at stake I wasn’t too bothered about avoiding the stump to be a not out batsman. Straight down I went, taking along with me all the three stumps to the ground.

As I got up to start my walk back to the pavilion, I could sense the oozing of blood from my nose . I was too shaken up to even feel the pain. Just as my friends were shouldering me towards the pavilion, the bowler walked up near to me and said “Sorry yaar. It was not intentional”…………… “Its OK…... all in the game” I replied (huh !! sangoodhara vayasula sangeeeeetha). As I was lying down trying to minimize the blood ooze, when I looked around I could see the next two batsman wearing a helmet and hoping that they will not be required to bat (till then they were roaming around wearing a cap) I couldn't help but have a chuckle at their terror stricken faces. After a few minutes my friends took me to the nearest hospital for a first aid and was later shifted to Malar hospital. The doctors confirmed that the nose bone had crumbled and it will require a surgery and a long bed rest for the same to heal. If at all I had paid heed to the bowlers words when he warned me to wear a helmet I would have saved myself a painful nose and a few thousand bucks for my parents. However, as has always been the case with me, I learnt the lesson the hard way. (But I still try to justify it by saying ‘Lessons learnt the hard way always stays on forever’. Don’t argue back asking ‘Lesson at what cost’, I will have to surrender then).

A few months later - “Machi, this weekend we have a match against the IIT guys da. Are you coming” my friend called up and queried. “Kit bag la helmet irukkaa” I asked :-))

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha....... Good writing... I check ur blog everyday...(By the way, did you check the comment I had given for ur previous post???) Was awaiting for ur post.... Finally "I made my day"! Got to read one today! Have you heard about "2+2=5 (For extremely large values of 2") ???? I am reminded of this after reading ur blog....

With Love,
Ur Friend

Srikumar said...

Good to see that someone else other than me logging onto my blog everyday. Yeah, I saw your comment for my earlier blog. Do you still need to remain anonymous ?? Will be glad and keen to know who the person is, who has the patience to read through my scribblings...

Anonymous said...

I would like to remain 'Anonymous' till you guess who I am. Give it a try.. Come on Guess!

Srikumar said...

Am totally blank on who it might be.. anyways i have patience enough to wait until you break the suspense.. however, will be glad if the waiting period is shorter :-)

RB said...

Hi da, i thing all these you should club it and get published as your experiences on earth... probably not a important one but can be a interesting one...try to do some creative works on you thoughts/exp. so it will add much more interest... anyway i enjoyed see u in next blog...

Anonymous said...

u have got a good sense for writting(which is not so common...!!!)......... keep going....... all the best... Mathew.

koushick said...

Sri.... i too have have two similar experiences with regards to the same sub "In The Line of Fire " but on both occasions i carried immense pain..." U HAVE REMINDED ME "
:(

1) when i went out to bat against SBOA Under16 school tournament chasing a good total without a helmet in spite of few advices.The bowler who hit me was I varun(st.John's special)who had joined SBOA then.Lucky enough was i to get my elbow in between my head & the fast & swinging ball. Thud !! en elbow la ball sizela konjam veengi irunthuchu ... aporam enga batting aadradhu.. ulla vandhu ukkarnthu .saw my team losing the match by 20 runs. well played guys solli matcha mudichom.
2 ) my school team opener and good friend who by then has not played any matches for 3 months came and faced me in the nets.i asked him to wear a helmet & he dint mind it either and got hit the third ball i bowled in his forehead just above the eyes and had an opening as similar to his eye.Looking at your close friends blood and taking him to hospital & home and explaining that you were responsible for it when his blood is ozzzing out of the body is one of the painful moments one can handle or be in.feeling very bad till date for that incident.

ur blog reminded me these after years it had happened....... :(