“Shit. Shit.Shit. I cannot afford to lose this
client too. The presentation should be ready in half an hour for me to review
and tell the guys to wrap it up as quickly as possible ANDDDD what I need RIGHT
NOW is coffee”, he spoke without pausing for a breath.
“Sir..coffee? Sir”
“Yes. Coffee. Black. Please tell
Rana to get it right now. I have a splitting headache”
“Sir Rana has gone out”
“What about the machine?”
“Sir..uh.. umm.. it is yet to be
serviced..”
“This place is a mess, filled
with people who are unfit to do ANYTHING! Including the coffee machine and
myself” He yelled and fell back in his chair.
He signalled his secretary to go
who stood there blinking, unsure of how to react.
He felt as if his head was
bursting. Just then he saw Rana hurrying inside the office with a bag of
groceries.
“Rana..”
“Sir..Black coffee sir..In a
minute sir” He rushed to the pantry.
Vinit always felt restless
without Rana by his side. Rana was a lanky 18 year old, who has been with him
for over three years and took care of everything in the office. Vinit finally
felt a sense of relief as soon as he saw Rana. He told himself, “Rana is here.
Coffee would be here soon too. Everything is going to be alright”
He was going over his files, when
his mobile screen lit up with the smiling face of his 13 year old son, Arjun.
“Pa! I’m waiting near the gate”
he almost squeaked at the other end.
“Gate? Which gate? Why?”
“PAPAAA! Near your office gate.
You said you’ll drop me today for my cricket coaching class. We have to leave
now.. Pa I have taken my new bat too.. Pa.. also I..”
“Uh..Oh shit. Aju.. I’ll call you
in a minute, just wait right there”
He didn’t even listen to what his
son was saying. He disconnected the call and dialled his ex-wife’s number.
“Listen. Can you drop Aju today?”
“What? Today is your turn. Do you
think I’m sitting jobless here? What will Aju think? You can’t even...”
He was not in the mood for this.
Not today. Not now. He cut her off and dialled his son’s number again.
“Aju. Stay right there. I’ll send
Rana to drop you. So sorry. I really wanted to come Aju. Papa has a meeting
now. I’ll come next week, I promise”
There was a restless one minute
long silence, filled with Aju’s disappointment and Vinit’s guilt.
“Aju?”
“Ya”
“I’m sorry”
“Papa. You know what.. it’s ok.
You are very busy. In fact let Rana drop me every week. You’ll come for the
match though, won’t you?”
“Oh! Of course! How will I miss
your first match?”
“Al right papa. Bye”
As Rana left office to drop
Arjun, Vinit went back to work, sipping his black coffee.
“You know I thought Pa will come
at least today”
“It’s ok. I can come every week
with you”
“Ya.. Ok”
Arjun was sulking. He just kept
staring at the vehicles pass by. Rana wasn’t sure what to talk either, and
finally after a lot of thought, said, “Hey! You got a new bat?”
“yaaa.. See? MRF”, Arjun’s face
gleamed with pride. His mood changed in a jiffy.
“Wow! Just like Sachin”
“Yes yes. Wish I could hit some
reverse sweeps with this one”, Aju swung his bat in air.
Rana sat in the ground the entire
evening, till the practice session got over. He dropped Arjun back to his
mother’s place and came back to Vinit’s office. People were just leaving. He
washed the tea cups in the pantry, switched off the lights, locked the office
and went back to his house.
Rana continued accompanying Aju
for the following weeks. His match day was nearing.
Aju walked back from the pitch
and fell on the ground near Rana.
“You timed it wrongly”, Rana
said.
“Ya I know. Wasn’t it an easy
catch? Shit”
“It’s ok. You are getting better.
You ran better today”
“I thought so too. At least I
wasn’t run out like last week”
“You have improved a lot”
“Coach thinks I’m more of a
bowler. He says I’m not a hitter”
“Your coach knows nothing”, Rana
waved his hand in the air.
They both laughed out loud, and
started walking towards the car.
The session was interrupted next
week, due to rain. Rana and Aju sat inside the indoor auditorium.
“Hey do you want to practice with
me?”
“Me?” Rana laughed
“Ya. Come on”
Aju bowled to Rana. He swung his
bat all around and fell on the ground. The boys laughed.
“I can only watch cricket. I can’t
play” Rana defended himself. Aju laughed.
“Ok try one more”
As he ran to bowl again, he
slipped and fell down. Rana ran over to him.
“Are you ok?”
“I think I’ve sprained my ankle”,
Aju said wincing with pain.
“These shoes..see they aren’t
meant for indoors” Rana took off Aju’s shoes and started examining them. “Don’t
worry... you’ll be fine. Come let’s go home”
It was a week before the match.
“How did I play today?”, Aju said
wiping his face. His shirt was drenched with sweat and mud.
“Decent strike rate. Good running
between the wickets. And what a nicely timed boundary in the 3rd
over!!”
“Ya. But only one”
“But it was the best of all the
shots played today”
“Do you think they’ll let me
open?”
“I thought the guy with the weird
hairstyle was good. Isn’t he?”
“Who? Sri? So even you think only
he is good enough to open?!” Aju looked cross.
Rana laughed out loud. “I was
kidding. I hope they let you open too”
“Al right. Come let’s go. Hey!
Will you come for the match?”
“I don’t know”
“Ok. Papa said he’ll come for
sure”
“I’m sure he will”
It was the day of the match. A
very busy day, as usual at Vinit’s office. There were meetings, phone calls,
clients, along with the usual black coffee served by Rana.
“Rana? Can you get me those old
files which we have stacked in the store?”
Rana turned and started walking
towards the store room without a word, like a robot.
“Rana?”
“Sir”
“Are you not well?”
“Yes sir, fever. I was wondering
if I can take the day off”
“Oh.. But this needs to be done
today at any cost. You can take off tomorrow morning”
Rana continued with his work in
the store room and Vinit went back to his. It was around 6pm, when his ex-wife called.
“I did not want to call you but I
want you to face Aju and his disappointed face. The match will be over in ten
minutes. I called to tell you that, you just missed your son’s special evening,
in which he needed you the most” She spoke sternly without a pause and
disconnected the call.
He felt horrible. He threw his
phone, as he was so angry with himself for being so careless and forgetful. He
took his car keys and rushed to the stadium. He would’ve almost killed many
people and dogs on the way.
The presentation ceremony was
going on and just as he entered, he heard the lines , “...and the for the
brilliant match saving knock of 65 runs and for fetching 3 wickets, the man of
the match award goes to Arjun”, followed by a loud cheer and a thundering
applause from the crowd.
Vinit was trying to meet Aju’s
eyes after the ceremony. He couldn’t. He finally knelt before him in the
parking lot.
“Papa is really sorry. I don’t
have any excuse. I’m really sorry Aju”
“Ok”
“You know papa has so many
meetings..and..”
“Papa, it’s ok. Let’s go home”
“Shall we go to Dominos? We
should celebrate! Huh Man of the match?”, Vinit tried to cheer him up after
they reached home.
“No I’m sleepy. Good night pa”,
Aju walked into his room and fell on his bed.
Aju did not speak to Vinit for
almost a week. Vinit was very depressed and filled with guilt. He was unable to
concentrate in his work. People at work started talking about Vinit and his unusual
behaviour.
It was practice session again
from the next week and as usual Rana went to pick up Aju. Neither of them spoke
on the way. Rana broke the silence.
“So how was the match? Won’t you
tell?”
“It was ok”
“Just ok?”
“Ya”
“I’m sorry. I know you are still upset
about your father not coming for the match. But you should know that he is feeling
very bad and sorry about it. He is not himself at work. He looks very sad all
the time. Won’t you forgive him? Won’t you talk with him?”
“Rana! Noooo.. I know papa won’t
come for the match. But why didn’t YOU?”
There was a brief moment of
silence between them. Rana’s face changed from concerned to surprise to a
delighted smile, in those few seconds. Rana
stopped the car and turned around to face Aju, and told him in a whisper.
“You know I lied that I had fever
and tried taking the day off”, he giggled, and then continued apologetically, “but,
your father didn’t let me.. i’m sorry.. please tell me everything about the
match”
“I was the man of the match can
you believe?? You should have been there you know! And guess what? I hit a
reverse sweep just like Sachin, in Bala’s over”
“Wow! In Bala’s over?!”
“yaaa .. he was shocked too .. he
thought he was too good for me..aha.. and andddd I took 3 wickets... You know
that Rohan? He was clean bowled in my first ball.. Rana you should have seen it”
“Hahaa.. See I’m getting
goosepimples.. Wish I had seen it live”
“Ya.. you missed it”
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