1. 40 balls. 8 hits on target.

2. Read newspaper on app. Strangely: all news in this town and around is either about accidents or Lodhi community. And accident signboard has an exclamation mark, like my posts do. Not just one post. It’s entire journalism community of Dainik Bhaskar mocking the prevention of accidents, pedestrians getting killed by bikers. Can it be published selectively? Yes. Can events be executed selectively? You will be surprised.

3. I recalled my match with Abhishek Rajput when we were in school. He used to blackmail me as I had told him my secret. The secret was my fondness for one of my classmates. She was also fond of me for a while she stayed. It wasn’t one sided. I was a nerd. Four or five of them took an oath but then they broke it. He kept using me for assignments and so on. Then one day Abhishek Narayana Sinha went to principal’s office to free me. I don’t know if he really did. He returned with the word from principal’s office:

” Everyone is god’s child, love each other!”

It was a relief.

It all occured in classes between fourth and fifth. We were nine or ten years old.

It was the same school where we used to take this pledge every morning:

“India is my country and all indians are my brothers and sisters.”

All of them married to their sisters and brothers. So will Abhishek. We are all incestuous since the beginning of Adam and Eve.

Once he challenged me for a one-on-one match and I began chanting mantras as I had heard my father chanting. When the match happened: you know who won. It was me. Then again it happened with Mayank Shukla.

The same trait was present in Ankur Tripathi. I was fond of Sanat Jayasurya. He was an explosive opener after 1996 world cup. We were both watching a match when he began beating Shrinath and Prasad: Ankur entered pooja room in his house with rosary beads and the result was Jayasurya getting out on his leg side by Prasad. I called him out of the room. We were fanatics. Hero worship.

It came to my mind as I was bowling this morning. Abhishek went on to become the most educated person in our batch. Despite all odds. I understood value of a post doctoral thesis only after coming in contact with Devika and company. Prior to that I used to consider doctorates to be awarded as favor by college authorities.

Dravid said in an interview that he wanted to pursue doctoral thesis. Later he was conferred those honorifics by some university and it seemed he veered away from his initial goals. Don’t we all?

4. The poha stall guy went for getting change for 500 rupees. The girl disappeared soon. The boys came to check if samose were hot. Old thread with samose. I was doing my job and they were doing theirs. It was Arya, the poster girl outside Ratan Palace yesterday. I recalled it later. She must have put earnest work to reach where she’s. Like Dhaniram who came with another getup and fancy dress. He came the way I had imagined him : once he met me on way with calendars in his hands. It’s second time he asked for poha. He took only a bit.

5. There were people running inside stadium. The stadium is locked. Even girls were allowed. This is the country where Truth wins in the end! Happy Shabbath! Gesture by bikers outside NCC office.