Today, with the rainy season ushering in and cooling the land and my mind, with the beautiful wet soil fragrance around and the earlier-than-usual darkening outside, I feel I have the correct mood to blog.
Things were not going as expected. In fact, as expected but not as I wished. I didn't convert any of my IIM calls. I was quite depressed. Also, we lost our football ground. Forget the IIM part, no IIM-MBA discussions till the next season begins (somewhere in July-Aug for me). Today, I want to write about the strange relationship I share with my passion - football.
Rewinding back in time......
VJTI Mumbai.
"All the football stars of the class are playing for the biggies. We need two more players. Anyone will do....anyone....as long as they are humans. Siddhesh...how about you. ??" And I used to reply "Me ? NO. Not interested. Have to study for the tuts tomorrow."
I knew I loved the game, but was too apprehensive to join in. Reason: I always gave importance to studies. After all, that's what I was there for.
But, sadly college days were over. There was no football freak in VJTI who liked football as much as I did but had stayed away from the game. Now, I realized what had I missed, what had I said "NO" to. Whom should I play with? Where should I play? I want to play. I want to learn.
Luck struck, a door opened. Pratik forwarded me the mail to join the football mailer in Cisco. Great....some hope....I thought.
Then I started playing occasionally. Playing ??..no....I just used to run here and there shouting for the ball. I had never played, I was a complete illiterate on that field. But I thought persistence would pay off one day. I made sure that I attended every time we played. Tuesdays and Thursdays were decided to be the regular days. But determination is not just being regular, it means to hit the end and move beyond the dead end.
All of a sudden one day a mail on the football mailer read "Ground no more.". My hopes were shattered. Hopes of learning the game...hopes of calling myself a footballer....n hopes of not just dreaming of good and expensive studs but having a need to buy them. More than a month past. No football. It seemed like one of the many one sided stories in my life I have been a part of. And that made me feel sad....really sad. Because none of those stories had a happy ending for me. I did not want football to be one of them.
But there was light at the end of the tunnel. I realized that this was not an end.....just a new beginning. I researched, used my contacts to find new grounds, posted them on the mailer and bingo....it paid off....we found a ground. All of my football friends were happy to wear their boots again. There was a new enthusiasm on the new field. And as far as I was concerned, I was back to life.
Going good so far....touch wood. I still don't know to play....honestly. On field I am only good at one thing....being at the correct position to give the finishing touch to score. That's all I know as of now. And yeah, I am good at shouting for the ball....:). Just like "Empty vessel makes the most noise.".
But yeah, I am learning. I am still not good enough to call myself a footballer, may be I will never be in this birth, but yeah I can say "I PLAY FOOTBALL.....EVERY TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS..". I hope one day I will fulfill my dream - the dream to have a jersey number of my own, the dream to call myself a FOOTBALLER and the dream to make myself worth my football boots.
