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April 27, 2008
IPL – Indian ‘porkhel’ League
Due to limited time the match overs were reduced to 5. The toss was put. They didn’t have a coin, and hence the ‘in or out’ method was used. (I never knew this particular system still existed after nearly 2 decades I stopped playing cricket. We would place a small stone in our hand, close it and whirl the hand and either keep the stone inside or let it go. The other team should say whether the stone is in or out). They won the toss, and like any other team elected to bat first. There were 4 members in one team, and 4 on the opposite already and I happened to be the 9th person. So the boys decided to make me play double sided – meaning I will bowl, bat and field from both the sides!
The first team scored 30 runs in 5 overs, out of which I had hit a six. And the second team got out scoring just 10 runs, leaving me as the last man. The rules were the same – no runs behind the stumps, you are out if the ball goes into others’ compound wall, you can hit 4 & 6 only straight, and there was no ‘current’ run outs. I hit 1 six and 3 fours, and got bowled when the score was 28, hence we lost the match by 2 runs. The boys were happy with my performance, and at end of the match they said, “ellarum sendu uncle ku oru ‘O’ podunge. (Meaning three cheers to uncle).
Well this match happened just yesterday. Out of the guys only I was 33 years old, and rest of the boys were less than 15 or just 15 years old!
This match reminded me of a thought-provoking lesson we had in our Marathi syllabus during our school days. The name of the lesson was ‘Porkhel’ - which means (por) Kid’s (Khel) Play. It was a beautiful lesson where the author while coming back from office, instead of going home directly, stops to watch a street cricket match. He gets so engrossed in the match that he is left clueless about who spat chewed pan on his shirt! He feels a lot confused, and starts thinking whether what he did was right or wrong. He explains how important ‘porkhel’ is in human life sighting few interesting examples too.
We are so busy in our jobs that we hardly have the time to play. We have become stern, tight and lifeless. We work all through the week to rest at home on weekends. We take huge home loans – and never stay there. We have credit cards, and half the times worry about repayments. We have investments in insurance plans – which comes back only to pay our hospital bills in oldage.
The rich are members of elite clubs and play all through the day, as they have others who work for them. The poor have their own way of enjoying life. The sufferers are the poor middleclass who aspire to become rich – someday, and in the process MISS the life completely!
When young I had energy, people and place to play – but never had the money to buy cricket accessories. Today I have the energy, place to place and also the money for accessories – but there are no people around to play. And tomorrow – I will have people around to play, I will have the money for accessories, I might have place to play also – but no energy to play!
So let us team up, and at least play on weekends to start with!
Posted by Kenni at April 27, 2008 05:59 AM
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