I have finally been able to dry out my hankies but I don’t know
if the huge void in my heart can ever be filled. After all I have grown up watching
Sach… I mean GOD play cricket. Er .. um … that is not exactly true. He is just
a few months older than me but you get the picture, right?
Yes I have grown old and bald and am now serial drying
hankies because He has retired. In fact life seems not worth living at all. All
I want to do now is to lock myself in a room with a TV and give myself up to
viewing the 24 hour blanket coverage on God. I just wish that the media acted a
bit more responsibly and did not cover minor little things like that Pailin
thingy that will apparently cause some rain in Odisha and parts of bifurcation
ravaged Andhra Pradesh. I mean, how can God’s retirement not be the lead story from
now on to eternity? Is this the kind of gratitude that we have toward him after
all that he has done for us? It shows us in very poor light indeed.
Anyway, seeing my plight someone suggested that I re-read God’s
resignation letter. I did. And voila into my desolate life there has crept a
tiny bit of hope. I quote the relevant portion.
“I look forward to playing my 200th Test Match on home
soil, as I call it a day.”
And this was the ray of sunshine that my tormented soul was
seeking. India will play a two-match Test series against West Indies scheduled
to be played from 6th November to 18th November.
Now what if, just what if, GOD is injured while practicing at
the MIG Club or picks up a stomach bug after eating in some over-priced
underwhelming Narang restaurant or whatever and cannot play in the series? Does
it not mean that we might get to see GOD in action at a later date too? After all
he did not call time to his career after the West Indies series, he has called time
to his career or rather he said he will call time to his career AFTER he plays his
200th test match. Now isn’t this a ray of hope to hang on to? Not in the best
possible manner but surely we will have him around for some more time. After all
it has been such a ridiculously short period of time that he has been holding
up our dreams and aspirations in what is routinely described as our Religion.
Hey hey hey… another thought just struck me. Is this the
doing of the SeeMent Man to ward off the evil eyes of the Media and the general
public from looking too closely into his affairs? Damn the thought. No No No No
GOD can never ever be a part of this kind of shady diversionary tactic. That he
did not speak out earlier was simply because it was not his job to do so and he
was busy carrying the hopes and aspirations of a billion Indians, including those
who might not even have heard of our state religion – Cricket.
Damn this digression and to hell with this thought. Let me get
back to my ray of sunshine and hold onto it. Because that is when GOD will be in
his whites still playing for Team BCCI and all will be well on earth.
