so the update is here , sorry for late ones but i even have a deadline to complete as of zoya's and i really dont wanted to give it any break soon till the end. The updates will be more regular than this. thanks for all the love and hope you like it more and more
Riya :Yeah...heh, heh, pretty nice, huh?
That evebnung we went to a programme arranged for promotionof ZING WITH JUN, where we saw nearly 15,000 kids, some of them with bats andballs and pads, all of them with Zing! bottles in their han
Riya : where are these bachchas from?
I asked chotu as he came in and collapsed on a chair next tome.
Chotu : From all over the asia, they are thirty-five in all.
Neelo: What did they have to do to win, dude?Some of themlook really small. Itne chote bache kya kar saktha ha
It was an under-the-crown-cap scheme, the event managementguy explained. They all got to have a Q and A session with Rawthe, and one ofthem(the first Indian kid to have found the A SODA WITH RAWTHE crown cap) wouldget to read out a special message that he wrote himself (well, with a littlehelp from his dad or his elocution teacher or whatever) for the Indian team. Hepointed out the winner kid to us, very small and brown, but with spiky hair andeyes as bright as buttons. He was wearing a shiny suit with a ready-made tie onan elastic band and had a very purposeful expression on his face. He held athick sheaf of papers in his hand.
Karan: Rawthe had better watch , dude!'
Riya: Where's he, anyway?
I asked, hopingRawthe wouldn't be starry and show up late or not at all and fully break thechildren's hearts.
Chotu: He's here, riyaji!Look, he's walking in now
Sure enough, Arjun had just emerged from behind the stage ina blue Zing! tee shirt and grey tracks, grinning happily, waving with bothhands.
The kids all jumped up and cheered, 'Rawthe! Rawthe!Rawthe!'
It is as infectious. I found I'd leapt up too, clapping madly.
Rawthe pulled the mike out of the upright stand, walkedforward casually, collapsed cross-legged right at the edge of the stage andstarted talking to the kids in a babble of English, Hindi and broken Bangla.They asked him a million questions on training, muscle building, diet, strokeplay, team management and strategy, all of which he answered solemnly andwithout a hint of being patronizing. The kids were nodding seriously and someeven took notes (which Neelo found hysterically funny for some reason).
And then it was the little winner's moment in the sun. Hisname was announced with a flourish of trumpets. A spotlight followed his smallfigure as he strutted forward, plucked the mike from Rawthe's hands and waitedfor silence with quiet confidence. There was a little whispering and shushingand Rawthe had to put his finger to his lips and glare at the kidsmock-threateningly a couple of times, but finally silence fell and the littledude started to speak.
His voice was in that just-about-to-break,sometimes-hoarse-sometimes-girlish rine, but confident, with just a tinybetraying quiver to it.
Little kid : It was sunny days in thee jungal,(he beganimpressively.)
Neelo : Oh cool, the lateral approach!
Little boy : It was sunny days in thee jungal,Guru Dronawasgiving his dissy-pills an arching lesson. Thee guru strung up aclay...a...uh...a clay-birdd on a tree and baded the princes to come forwardand aim on it, one by one. As each prince stood before him, closing one eye,thee guru asked ki "Whatcanyousee, O prince?" And each prince said,"Thee birdd, O teacher, thee tree, a little piss of sky and thee jungal'sbehind." And the guru was very much waxed and bid them to move on. Till itwas Arjun's turn. “Whatcanyousee O prince?" "The eye of the birdd, Oteacher," little Arjun replied. "What else?" asked teacher craftily."Canyounot see thee tree, a little piss of sky and thee jungal'sbehind?" But little Arjun said stud-fastly, "The eye of the birdd isall I see O teacher." Much happy, Drona bid him shoot, shoot! and littleArjun's arrow flied straight and pierced the eye of the birdd, falling it tothee ground.' The little boy stopped here for a sip ofZing! and looked Rawthestraight in the eye. 'I am sure, Mr Arjun Rawthe,' (he said, very man to man,)'thatyou are knowing this story.'
Arjun inclined his head gravely and said that yes, he didknow it.
Little kid: I am no Drona-achaar, (the little fellow saidshaking his head modestly.) Australia (he gave a light laugh), is not a tree,and the ICC World Cup is not a birdd, but is a cup!
He raised onedramatic finger to the sky,
Little boy : A cup-birrd! And if you want to win it youmust' –( he turned and bored his burning eyes into Rawthe's face) - 'see onlythee eye of thee cupboard, Mr Arjun RawtheHe swung around to face all of us, speaking in ringingaccents,
Little kid: See only thee eye of thee cup-birrd, Team India!See only
He concluded the little thespian, his voice dropping to awhisper that could be heard in every corner of the hall,
Little kid: only...only thee eye of theecupboard
Huge applause rang out from every corner of the hall. Karanand Neelo got to their feet whistling enthusiastically. I blinked back tearsand blew my nose vigorously as I watched the upright little figure accept thestanding ovation with a grave bow.
And then it was arjun’s turn to speak.
Arjun: That was an excellent speech, sir,( he sounded likehe meant it.) You're absolutely right. Just like when the exams come around youmust focus totally and concentrate only on your studies and nothing else, inthe same way when you wear the blue uniform you must stop thinking aboutinternal politics, or personal records or Zing! ads or(paused)
this with a rueful grin that made all thelittle boys laugh out loud –
arjun(continued): girls, and see only the eye of the bird. Ipromise you guys today, that till the ICC World Cup is over, I will see onlytheeye of the cupboard. Only the eye of the cupboard. Thank you.
What a cheerful little gang we were at breakfast the nextday. The boys looked disgustingly triumphant about getting me to stay. It wasSam's birthday and everybody was congratulating him on turning forty. Wes,Laakhi and Arjun looked pretty upbeat at their end of the table too.
Shivee: Wait and see, Riya,We'll fix those Aussies good -you are our secret weapon!
Riya : Isn't that totally insulting to all the talent onthis team, Shivee, Matlab, according to you, if I eat breakfast with monkeyseven they can go out and beat the best team in the world
Laakhi: Riya, these fellows are also monkeys only!
Laakhi boomed downthe table atme, his big shoulders shaking as he laughed.
The 'monkeys', instead of being offended, looked mightytickled. Sam even went as far as to scratch his armpits. Really, what had gotinto that
Arjun: It’s's nerves,
Rawthe said to me as I walked back to the buffet to pick upmore papaya. He was there, shovelling all the watermelon the Sonargaon had tooffer onto his plate.
Arjun: They'll be fine once we're on the field.
Riya: Best of luck.
And then felt prettystupid. He'd probably think I was being oversmart or playful or something..Buthe didn't seem to mind.
Arjun (simply): Thanks!
Back at the table the boys were planning a little partyafterwards for Sam. (Obviously, Arjun hadn't told them about seeing only theeeye of theecupboard yet.) Navneet's Miss India-Universe had shown up to watchthe semis with some hot southern actresses in tow and the boys wanted to letdown their hair a bit
Shree: The three of you must come too, Riyaji, We'll dosomething cool
I said OK , thinkinghow pathetically grateful Neelo and Karan would be. Hot southern actresses werereally their thing. But only after my shoot with these two was over. I pointedat Shiv and Sam who appeared to have made miraculous recoveries,
Riya (smirk): Groins feeling good, guys?
Shivee and sam together: Yes, Dieter-sir is a miracleworker. He has massaged us personally all night?
Dieter looked up startled, but said nothing (he never did),and then Wes looked up and said they had to board their team bus now.
Riya: Give 'em hell, boys.
I wished them as they leaved the place feeling a bit likeBharat Mata Incarnate. And in spite of the casual matey way in which theytreated me, I had an uncomfortable feeling that's how they perceived me. Imean, Shree even asked me to give him my blessings! I felt so dumb - like Ishould have said 'Vijayee Bhava' the way Durga Khote does in the old movies.Instead, I just leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
I didn't have the stomach to watch the match in the stands.Though my Standing-in-thee-Society had moved up a lot since the last match(VVIPenclosure passes lay on my dressing table now!) I didn't fancy seeing myLucky Charm status being ground to dust live in the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.
Commentors: Australia is by far the stronger side and theirbest boys are playing today.
So, what I did was, I got into the Miss India-Universe'sroom (her name was Ayesha Kapoor, andshe was heart-stoppingly beautiful: glossy ironed hair, high cheekbones andall) and watched it there with her. She was nervous as hell too
Ayesha: I never see Nivi playing live,It makes me hysteric.
I did kind of wonder why she'd risked her life and flownBiman Air to Dhaka then. But she said her hot actress friends were keen to seethe cricketers close up. Besides, she liked being with him when the match wasover.
Ayesha: Because it's another whole trip when he comes backto me all sweaty and flushed with victory,I feel like a prize then.
And then Sam and Shivee walked on, stretching and hopping,and the match began.
It moved pretty slowly in the beginning, so we put the TV onmute and chatted and stuff. Ayesha pulled out a deep purple nail varnish for me and said it would go wellwith my 'kohl girl' look. She also laid out lots of sexy black halters, sayingI could wear them with my jeans and black cork-soled clogs. I went into the looto try them on and was fluffing out my hair and pouting vampishly into themirror in what I fondly believed was a Ayesha -Kapoor-ish way when she screamedloudly.
I came out to see that the Aussies had struck not once buttwice and that Laakhi and Rawthe were the new men in. They steadied things up alittle. The score didn't move much for a while, but that was okay, because theopeners had been doing full maar-dhaarh when they got out. We were 79 for 2 in15 overs when the drinks came on. I looked at the drinks trolley critically. Itwas a design Neelo and the studio guys had slaved over last month. A giantZing! two-litre bottle (we were pushing large packs this year) mounted on atiny Dhaka-style autorickshaw. It toot-tooted on to the pitch happily and thenan ad break came on.
When the match came back on, I started feeling pretty damnsick. Especially when the Aussies jumped up and appealed manically and the redlight flashed and Laakhi walked. Ayesha went a delicate shade of green when Navneet came out to bat. He seemedcool and was chatting easily with Rawthe, nodding repeatedly and tapping thepitch with the end of his bat. Thensome Aussie dude with sunscreen slatheredall over his face raced down the pitch towards him and..
Ayesha: I can't watch, Let's go out
So we went to the hotel parlour for a full body massage,shampoo and blow dry. I sneaked a peek at the TV from under the blower and sawwe were 220 for 7 in 40 overs and felt fully deflated. Because even though Iknew it was idiotic I had been getting a bit of a cheap thrill out of maybebeing a lucky charm. Still, it was good I hadn't said anything to Karan andNeelo. I could quietly leave Dhaka and forget this had ever happened....
By the time we got out of the parlour the Indian inningswere over. We'd finished at a decent 267 for 9 – Shree had come in and hit somebig ones and Rawthe had carried his bat right through - but the commentatorswere saying we were still short by some thirty runs and didn't have much of achance. Still, they did say we couldn't be ruled out altogether, cricket beinga game of glorious uncertainties, and all that usual crap.
Ayesha looked alittle chirpier now that Navneet's part in the game was mostly over. She walkedthrough the lobby, hair swinging, looking every bit the beauty queen she was.
Ayesha P: See you in the evening, Ri,
She beamed at me suddenly and vanished into her room. Inodded, went to my room and crashed.
I don't know how much later it was when the phone woke meup. It was Neelo –
Neelo (shouting) : Put on the TV, Riya,' he yelled. 'We'regoing to win, Shree's on a hat trick!
I turned on the TV and saw Shree streaking down the pitch,long locks flying. He looked like a young god - the crowd was screaming - therewas a thrilling thwacckk! and I saw the ball making contact with the stumps andthe bales flying, and then the cockney-accented commentator was yelling:
Shree: And he's done it! The bengali Express has derailedthe opposition! The young India team has won and what a win...!
Simran: Congratulations...what an innings...fabulous.... Howdo you feel?'
Rawthe: Good,We started well but then we lost a couple ofwickets but then we steadiedand Shree played a very useful knock and then wemanaged to restrict them and it all worked out in the end...the boys did great.
Simran( as tricky as possible): Was there some point where youlost the faith at all, ? Or were you confident right through?
Arjun: Well, I didstart to worry in the last five overs because it was so very close but then wechanged the field around and Shree did a great job and the boys took someincredible catches.
Simran: I was wondering, why did you play only Shree inthose last four overs? Because Bala and Thind had a couple of overs still intheir kitty too. And Shree didn't seem to be doing too well against theminitially.
Rawthe : Well, he was a little expensive at first but I felthe was the right guy tothose wickets - it was close, too close for comfort, butit did end well.
The commentator turned to Shree.
Simran: And how do you feel, Shree? Thirty-three runs, fivewickets and a hat trick, you've had a big day.
Shree: Yes,It was all a team effort and God has blessed megreatly and also I was just really really lucky
One of the commentor: That's really modest of you,you weregreat out there today. You've made a record, by the way, all that can't just beluck.
Chotu bustled about in the background while we shot,tripping over the cables and wires, taking calls from Corporates who wanted tosign up Shree immediately.
Chotu: Thee price just went up, Riyaji!
he said chucklingfatly, his face ashine with sweat and happiness.
Chotu: You people got him cheap!'
By ten o' clock I was back in my room. I'd messaged Sandythe moment we clicked the last shot and now I was in the mood to party.Ayesha had phoned a while ago.
Ayesha: Meet you in the lobby in twenty, Ri,Or d'you want meto come fix your make-up?
I assured her that I was fine and then got all nervous aboutthe evening. Because the truth of the matter was that I didn't have too muchexperience in going to clubs with international-level cricketers.
I showered quickly, then sunk onto the bed and slathered onhuge amounts of moisturizer. Then I combed out my hair (always a long painfulprocess) and got it semi-dry with the hairdryer in the loo. I'd sent my jeansto be washed and ironed and so I dialled Housekeeping and asked them to hurryit up. I was just worrying about getting late and gettingleft behind by thebeautiful people when the doorbell rang and I ran to get it, tripping over thestupid extra large Sonargaon bathroom robe. 'About time!' I said. I put onehand out for the laundry and then frozen
Arjun Rawthe was standing in the doorway, looking sombre.
Arjun: Can I come in?
I somehow managed to say sure, like cricket captains calledon me on a regular basis.
He came into the room and then just stood around silentlyfor a bit while I eyed him, totally amazed. What was he doing here? Had he cometo thank me or something?
Arjun: I hope you're leaving tomorrow,
Slightly taken aback at this unfriendly tone (he'd been sonice to mein the elevator), all I could come up with was a puzzled.He raisedhis voice a little and said, like he was talking to an idiot.
Arjun: You're leaving tomorrow?'
I was. Of course I was. But he was being so mean, I didn'tfeel like saying so. What I felt like saying, and so what I said was.
Riya: Why?
Arjun(shrugged) : Because it's better that way.'
Feeling a little monosyllabic, I repeated, 'Why?'
Arjun: Because the boys' attention is very flattering andyou must be feeling very important and you've probably decided to stay on andwin the series for us but, here's the thing I won't let you.
I opened my mouth to answer, but hedidn't give me thechance.
Arjun: The only reason we're winning is because we've alltrained with single-minded determination for the last six months. This team isslowly learning to have faith in itself. I can't have them putting that new-foundfaith in you instead.
He was doing it again.Talking like a Nike ad. But, hello,did the guy have amnesia, or something ,I said, as reasonably as I could,
Riya: But you only asked me to stay, arjun-sir. I would havebeen happy to leave that day itself. You said it was a good idea to stay andsupport the team against Australia.
He made a little impatient gesture with his hand and I had a sudden flash of insight into his twisted mind.
Riya: You thought we'd lose today, didn't you?' I demanded.
Arjun: Are you allowed to think like that? I'm a realist. But we won. A fact I'm proud of. And it wasn't because of you.
God, what an insecure guy he was. Running up here and goingMine! Mine! Mine! The victory is only mine. And to think I'd liked him!
Riya: So it was because of you?
I asked as neutrally as I could. He nodded doggedly,
Arjun: Yes. And because of Shree, and because we won thetoss and everybody kept their heads.
Then Rawthe said, clearly proving he thought I was all ofthe above.
Arjun: So I don't want you to start believing you hadanything to do with it, okay?Because there's no way you're going to get anymileage out of it!
That's when I saw red. I'd been holding myself in, thinkingabout my job and how much I loved it, about how he was such a famous guy, and acaptain and everything, but now I couldn't help myself.
Riya: Mileage?
I said, in what I'd intended to be a mature, dry voice, butwhat may have just come out sounding like an outraged squeak.
Riya: Mileage? Thatis so uncool! You know, not to be rude or anything, but I don't even likecricket! The last thing in the world I would want to do is become some kind ofglorified cricket-groupie!
That surprised him. I guess his trio of Bollyood starletsdidn't talk back to him like that. But then he came back at me with a reallynasty one.
ARJUN: Really? You seemed to be enjoying yourself so much thismorning. A gracious kiss on the cheek, that got us a world record? What haveyou got planned to win us the World Cup, Riya? How far are you willing to gofor your country
I felt my cheeks go red hot with embarrassment at what hewas implying. But I played it pretty cool.
Riya: Oh, I might just have to go all the way...It'sprobably the only thing that could win us the World Cup with a clown like youin charge.'
His eyes blazed.
Arjun: You're pretty cocky for a Lucky Charm who's onlythree matches old!
Riya:And you're pretty cocky for a skipper who's lost everyfinal he's ever played,
I said and shut the door in his face, already appalled atthe mess I was in.
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
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