From the diary of a cricketer

Here's something i wrote a couple of years ago when i had to take a break from playing because of my 12th class board exams... I stare at my books… Try to read… ‘Supply is directly proportional to the price of a commodity’… It doesn’t register. I continue to read… ‘Law of supply states the relationship…’- it still doesn’t register. I shake myself, jump around and sit down again, hoping it made a difference, but knowing deep down that nothing can change the way I feel. “Give it one more shot”, I tell myself. For the twenty-third time I open my Economics book hoping I will finally understand ‘the law of supply’ and all that’s related to it, and for the twenty-third time in a row, I fail. “Why?” I ask myself. “Why can’t you concentrate? Even for five minutes.” “You’re disturbed”, my mind tells me, “and you know that.” Finally I give in. I accept defeat. Yes, I am disturbed, but it’s just because and essential part of my life seems to be missing. “SEEMS to be?” I question angrily...

Like most Indian children, I grew up in a household where cricket was one of the most talked about subjects-- this though, only after i was 7! Till then I had been locked away in the cricket-free country of the United States of America. I spent four years in that country, playing almost all the sports it had to offer, but never hearing the word "cricket" (apart from the insect, of course). Almost as soon as we returned to India, the wave of euphoria surrounding the sport hit me unawares. As a 7 year old, who had no idea that a sport could become a religion in a country as large as India, it was rather scary. I took a while to adjust to it, but like most other Indians, I took to the game quickly. With a lot of help from my grandfather ('Thatha'- my mother's father), i picked up on the various rules of the sport and before I knew it, cricket had become an important part of my life. I started off playing on the terrace with my father and a tennis ball. We had the ...