Run...run...run towards your left...can't you see the ball is going in that direction? And, he drops the catch. Allah miyan, what is wrong with you kid? It was an easy catch. I can't see his face properly, but his shoulders have drooped. Opponent teach is cheering. Aah...playground lights are on. Now, I can see that kid. Oh...boy...tears...for dropping a catch? Buck up, kid. You will get another chance. And, here is another sixer. The boy at the crease has makings of Arjun Tendulkar. That reminds me, when is he retiring?
I silently laughed at my own thoughts.
Really? Seedha Arjun Tendulkar se comparison...and that's a catch. Now, other team is cheering. I feel my eyes going wide to take in the scene before me. The kid , who had tears few minutes back for dropping a catch, is cheering the loudest as his teammate has caught the ball. Kids will be kids. I watch for some more time and then get back in my car. I play cricket, but not on a dusty playground. I and Dadi go to an orphanage to make donations few times a year. I play with kids over there. We donated some money to get a cricket pitch done. I like to play there.
"Rafiq, AC jara tez karo." Mujhe garmi kuchh jyada hi lagti hain. Dadi says that is because of my New York roots. Maybe. I sink in the plush leather of car seats and listen to an old gazal playing on the music system.
"Kabhi kisiso muquammal jahan nahi milta,
Kabhi zameen, Kabhi aasman nahi milta,
Tere jahan main aisa nahi ke pyaar na ho,
Jahan umeed ho iski, wahan nahi milta."
My eyes are closed and I am whistling the tune. I feel completely relaxed. My relaxed state of mind didn't last long, as we passed a particular place. No, no...there is nothing personally significant about the place. Just that today morning something had happened there. Soon after we left home, I saw a girl about my age waiting at a bus stop. And, we don't see many of them now, but there standing was a road-romeo teasing the girl. There was no one else at the bus stop and the girl kept squirming. I had asked driver to stop the car. I waited for a minute, but finally I had to step out. "What is this girl expecting? Some knight in shining armour coming to her rescue..." I walked towards the bus stop. The romeo's back was facing the road and he couldn't see me approaching. I had firmly tapped on his shoulder and he turned around. I had folded my hands standing next to the girl. "Problem?" I had asked looking at him up and down. I know karate. I am a black belt champion, but why create a scene, when my words and the look in my eyes was enough. And, then it was his time to squirm.
"Main to sirf behanji ko agli bus ka time pooch raha tha?"
"Pooch liya?"
"Jee."
"Jaana hain?"
"Kahan?"
"Bus main..."
"Main Auto le loonga..."
"Good...go..." And, he actually left.
The girl started thanking me, smiling at me, but I couldn't smile back. I took out my pepper spray and jammed it in her hands. "This is called Pepper spray. Learn to use it, and learn to use some common sense as well." I had turned around and drove away without looking back.
Now, in the evening, I look back at the bus stop. It is empty. I concentrate back on the lyrics of the gazal. Soon we are home.
"Aa gaya mera, baccha?" Dadi greets me.
"Yes, Dadi. Good evening." And, I greet her with a dimpled smile.
"Good evening, beta. How was your day?"
"Usual...," I pour myself a glass of water.
Dadi talks about this and that shuffling around the kitchen. She walks slowly but steadily. She is talking about maid, some TV show, some relatives in US, .etc and I am drinking water and at the same time wiping a drop of water on the table with a paper napkin.
"Tum fresh ho jaao. Main khana lagati hoon."
"Dadi..." Dadi knows my this face too well.
"Phir se?"
I just nod.
"Okay. Go and change."
After changing, I lie down on my fluffy white bed and turn on music. Dido's haunting voice fills my room in the clouds.
"If I rise one more chance all our dreams more than this
O'you're taller now I've found
Hold your fire course
O'you're fallen out, go and sow your courses."
"Zo...," Dilshaad stopped herself. "Zooni...tumhara Pizza aa gaya." She shouted. "Kya karoon, Zooni apni Ammi jaisi jo dikhti hain." She talked with herself, as she set a plate on dining table.
"Coming, Dadi..."
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