Bashir woke up early, to surprise of his mother Afroza.....she did not comment but smiled...
"Must be a cricket match..." she told her husband Tahir while pouring tea for him.
Tahir, looking at his mobile phone casually said....
"Hmmm...good, at least he will do some physical activity.....and be happy...."
She was humming as
Bashir came down from his room in whites..bat in his hand and a white Captain's cap hung on a loop of his trousers... he rushed outside speedily.
"... At least have something to eat..." Afroza shouted lovingly...
Bashir was not listening....he had to hurry to the village playground.
He felt a surge of adrenaline as he entered the ground...he saw his team warming up.......
On the far end of the ground was the rival team of Gund Village...
It was the semifinals.....
Bashir's friends had even managed to sit together under a Chinar tree and were already shouting in favour of his team....
Together, the team prayed for their victory.....
The crowd roared as the third ball itself resulted the Captain of the Gund team getting caught behind the wicket......Bashir was the bowler....
He was ecstatic as he hugged Mansoor, the wicket keeper.
Excitement was building up....many more spectators were trickling in and the euphoria was palpable.
At this stage, both Captains were called to the corner of the ground by some village elders.....
The Captains came back into the ground after sometime and then people could see the two teams standing in two different groups and discussing some issue.
The match did not recommence.....some players sat on the ground, some went for refreshments.....the spectators too started to move around....the organizers perplexed....
Finally...the people saw both teams gathering their stuff and leaving....
By this time the news had spread.... a dictat had been passed that no matches will be conducted....no names...no details....no reasons.....just a dictat..conveyed to village elders by unidentified men....reinforced by a warning on an A4 sized paper near the mosque....PERIOD !!
The younger lot in the spectators started to use their mobile phones....the older lot went and sat in front of the shops and the dejected players headed home.... all normal ...all quiet....no issues...no questions...no stone pelting .....no slogans...no gesticulating....no bandh....no posters...no graffiti...no social media messages....nothing intelligent from the intelligentsia....all hunky dory.....!
Afroza and Tahir were relieved to see Bashir back home.
Again, no discussion....no teenage tantrums...no family debate...no sulking....no pacifying...no slamming of the doors...no dirty looks....no "I will not eat food stunts"... no "please understand" gimmicks...no fatherly pearls of wisdom...no motherly pacifications....all hunky dory... all well ..... all understood...
And another day in paradise.
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