Fighter

I’m not as social as anyone in my family.

When I was a kid, I was referred as Balakrishnan’s son in the neighborhood. A little later it became Jayanthi’s brother. When I got married and moved to Coimbatore, it was Leela’s husband. Now a days, it’s either Arjun’s father or Aravind’s father. All my life, in the neighborhood, I was nobody’s nobody.

Arjun said he is going to participate in the apartment’s shuttlecock tournament this year. The apartment association conducts it every year for adults and kids. I didn’t realize Arjun was good enough to play in tournaments. I never saw him play.

“Are you sure baby? Why don’t you get trained for some more time and participate next year?” I was worried for him.

“Appa, I’m already a good player. I just cannot win Sai and Monish but I can easily win the others”, he had his bat on the back of his t-shirt and desperate to go out for playing.

I always felt he is often over-confident but did not want to stop him. Sai’s father, Ganesh anna, was coaching Arjun and several other kids. He is a player himself.

“Ok Arjun, you can play but don’t be over-confident. Do your best and don’t bother about the results, okay?”

“Appa, I will easily win everyone. You wait and see”, he showed his typical i-can-do-all attitude.

“Deiii”, I started to lecture but his friends – Sai, Neyan, Sidharth, Monish and a few others came into the house to pick him up.

“I’m telling you, this over-confident will land you in serious worries someday”, I shouted as he went on with his friends to the shuttlecock court.

“Okay, Okay. I will take care”, he shouted back, with the same attitude.

I asked Leela, “Do you know if is good enough to participate in the tournament? I mean, there are a lot of kids, including Sai. I don’t want him to feel humiliated”

“I don”t know”, she said. Typical of her.

Arjun is a carefree and tough kid who hates homework, pathetic in handwriting and drawing, work out daily and has a lot of friends. He does not get along with girls and says them as complaint box. I asked him once, “What would you do when a girl says I love you to you?”. He replied that he would say, “Hey Heyy.. don’t you know how to behave to murattu single? Just get lost!” I laughed out loud but also told him that girls will like such persons. This time he got shy and smiled with his missing front-tooth.

Aravind is a kind-hearted kid who loves art, sincere in homework and school, and has comparatively less friends. He is very affectionate to her mother. He does anything Leela asks of. He prefers to get along with girls and thinks they are charming. I asked him the same question, “What would you do when a girl says I love you to you?”. He replied that he would say, “I love you too”, and asked me if girls will like persons like him. “Of course. You will take good care of all girls in your life and they sure will”, I said.

Arjun and Aravind are quite opposite in nature. It’s fine, opposite poles attract.

When it comes to their academics, I’m a poor and arrogant teacher. Therefore, I don’t prefer helping them in their homework. I only insist them to read daily and I guess they are fine with it. I think I may be a good teacher, at least in Maths and English, when they reach grade 6.

The tournament date came. Leela was at her native with Aravind. Arjun insisted that I must come and watch him play. I went. The hall was in-door having 2 courts.

There were 12 kids and two groups were made having 6 kids each. The league matches were planned such that every kid will be playing against the others in their group. At the end of all the league matches, top 2 from each group will be qualified for the semi-finals and the winners will be qualified for the finals. The hall was crowded with kids and parents, and everybody was excited. Me too.

I sat on the floor on one side of the court. Arjun was with his friends on the other side. I was looking at him to cheer up. I felt bad for not coming to his practice or any matches. I went to Arjun, and told everyone near him that no matter who wins or loses, I will take them all to Boomerang and get ice-creams. “Yayyyyy”, they shouted happily.

I got close to Arjun and said, “Arjun, trying your best is always you should focus. Never mind the results, okay?”

He nodded me and was relaxing muscles. “Appa, this shuttle bat is in not in good condition. Look at this, one of the string is even lose. All of them have good bats. You buy me one if I win this game, okay?” he said.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me this before? We could have bought a new one yesterday itself”, I yelled at him but felt bad immediately. “I will get you one even if you lose. For now, get Sai’s bat when he is not playing, okay?”

He nodded again practicing shots in the air.

The matches started. Sai’s dad, Ganesh anna, was one of the referee. He put his effort for so many days to train all these kids. He told me, “Thambi, Arjun has bright chance of getting into finals. He plays with power and control”. I felt embarrassed to even thank him.

It was great to see kids playing the game. They were all enthusiastic and excited. The reactions were hilarious. The match winning kids punched fist in the air, and the lost ones raised their head with frustration. Kids who lost the match did not go away. They stayed back and watched their friends play. I think many adults would not stand this failure.

I watched Arjun play. He was good. He was winning. More than all, it was a pleasure seeing him running in the court, serving shots and flying bat in the air. Any parent would love to see their kid play. If you did not had such experience so-far, please create one.

During the game, I often called him and said, “do this.. do that..” as if I was his coach. He nodded to me all the time but played his own game. Arjun won in the league matches, and got qualified for the semi-finals.

He was cool. I was not.

His semi-final was with Neyan. I told Arjun to be calm, relaxed and do his best. I took his bat and looked at the lose string. “Are you going to play with this?”, I asked. “Yes appa. Sai is going to play his semi-final in the other court. I can’t ask his bat”, he said in low voice.

“Okay. Don’t think about your bat’s condition. Just focus on the ball and the game.”, I said.

“Will you surely take us all to Boomerang after the game?”, he asked me. “Of course baby”, I assured.

“Yayyyyyy.. Ice-cream, Ice-cream”, shouted Sidharth who couldn’t make it for the semi-finals.

Arjun played hard in the semi-final match. In a few minutes, while running for a reply shot, he got his ankle twisted. He came towards me limping. Ganesh anna saw it, announced a 5 mins break and ran to us. We made Arjun sit on the floor, remove his shoe and look at his ankle. It looked okay. Ganesh anna asked him to walk casually and observed if there was any pain. Arjun walked a few steps and said, “There is only very little pain uncle. I can manage”.

“Are you sure Arjun? It may start to swell if you continue to play”, Ganesh anna told.

“Yes uncle. I’m sure”, he was desperate to go back to the game. Ganesh anna made him do leg exercises and told me he would be fine. I said, “Arjun, you can go back to the game but if you feel any swelling or pain, you must inform us. You understand?”

“Yes appa”, he put on his shoes and went back. I could see him bending his body one sided when he walked. “Arjun, don’t play too hard. You hear me?”, I shouted.

He continued the game. It went on for 15 more minutes and the points were very close. I was observing his leg. He was limping. All the time. I decided to take him back home after this match. I was worried if he will insist on playing the finals if he wins this one. A part of mine even wished him to lose this match.

The game went on till game-point. Neyan served the ball, and the game went on and on. Both the kids played more than 20 non-stop hits; most of them challenging and demanding. They both were running around the court in all directions. It was heart pounding. After a few non-stop hits, we even started to shout out of curiosity. At last, Arjun ran all the way to the other end of his court, hit the ball so hard but fell off on the floor. Neyan couldn’t pick it up and Arjun won.

The crowd cheered for the way the kids fought hard. I took Arjun on my arms, made him sit on a corner, ran to Neyan and said, “You played great. We loved your game”.

I ran back to Arjun and said, “That’s enough. You played well and proved yourself. I mean, look at the crowd cheering for you. Let’s stop before your leg starts hurting more. Your leg has already started to look swollen”, I insisted.

“Ok appa but it doesn’t hurt much”, he was looking at me.

“But why Arjun? Why do you want to? Don’t be so obsessed with winning. It is not good”, I raised my voice hard and harsh.

“Appa, I will be okay even if I lose. Please appa”, he was sweating all over. He looked worried and I was confused.

I did not coach him. I did not watch him play before. Is it fair only to be a caring father? I think he is not over-confident; just talks like one to be funny. “It was all fighting. Even this ankle pain”, I thought.

On the other game, Sai won as expected and was ready to play for the finals. Arjun and Sai are best friends. He was with us when I was asking Arjun not to play.

“Dei Arjun, are you okay da?”, he asked more than a couple of times. “Uncle, we will play uncle. If Arjun feels any pain, we will stop the match uncle”, he said to me.

“Let me see him walking first”, I said. Arjun stood up and walked properly. But I felt he was trying hard for it.

“Okay Arjun, go but be very very careful; this is just a game and your leg has a whole life time. You understand me?”, I was applying spray on his injured ankle. Ganesh anna looked at the swelling and doubted if it was okay to play. “Let’s give a try?”, he asked. I nodded.

I was surprised to see both Arjun and Sai got equally happy and excited to play against each other.

The final match started. The entire crowd was focused on them. They both played beautifully. The points were always close. I often asked Arjun if he’s okay. He nodded his head but was not looking at me.

“Focus Arjun! Focus!!”, I thought I’m encouraging. If my grandpa was in the room, he would have said, “He is focusing, you idiot. Just shut up and let him play”.

Again, the match reached at game point. Not once. Not twice. But thrice. I would have panicked and easily made mistakes if I was in either of those kids’ position. They fought hard.

At the end of the third game point, the match came to an end. The crowd cheered loud. The lost kid cried but came and hugged the one who won.

Now do you ask me who lost and who won? I think the right answer is, “does it matter?”

We went to Boomerang, had ice creams, chatted on how good the tournament was, and so on. I saw Arjun and said, “If I must say one thing I’m proud of you, it’s that you are a real fighter. You don’t quit”.

“Appa, these things are nothing for me. If I can get this much with limping leg and below average bat, imagine what I can do if all is well”, he said. The devil is back, I thought.