Cheeku,
As the teams ran into the basketball Court on St. Xavier grounds, the cheer was muted. It seemed that the boys finals of Anirudh Mayaram St. Xavier Basketball Tournament between Seedling and St.Xavier teams would be a tame affair. Fr. Augustine (remember he had admitted you in Class VII?) and Fr. Jose Phillip, your Principal, were there. And then Kashyap, Sunny, Soumya, Bhandia, Abhinav, Chota Guarav…Suchi Bua, Veenu aunty, DB uncle….Kashyap’s parents, Sunny’s father….so many more…they all were there to witness the teams sweat it out on the Courts you had always dominated with your spirit of the game and the sense of fun you infused everyone with.
As the whistle blew, the ball was thrown in the air and within a few second Xavier had the first basket. Cheer went up. Then another…and it seemed Seedling will go down quickly…but then Seedlings returned the courtesy with two quick baskets…4-4, 6-6, 18-18, 30-30…it was one basket here and another there…pulses were racing by now, the crowd had become animated, there was cheering on both sides…
Then the Seedlings team, with a couple of brilliant moves, got itself upfront and the score board was reading 49-41…the last quarter was being played and it seemed the host team would go down fighting valiantly. Then all of a sudden, with Hari sir, shouting and fretting and fuming on the sidelines, the Xavier team burst forth with renewed energy. Two three-pointers and the score was 47-49…the see-saw went on with both sides working hard to win…then with a determined push, and brilliant shooting, the Xavier team raced ahead and won the game!!
It was such a heart stopping pulse racing game…the best seen on the Courts in last many years.
And as Fr. Augustine spoke and said “Anirudh is alive in our hearts and our love”, I could see you laughing your head off with your friends…you had once again bunked and had not been caught…
I looked up at the sky…it had started drizzling…I could see you laughing and telling me…”Dad, I am right here…on these courts, in the crowd, next to you…in you!”
And I knew in that moment that you were right…
Dad