A short story-4

Dilemma
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"I love you Divya", Raj said placing the red rose he held in Divya's hand. She was blushing and was happily grabbing the rose from his hand. Instead of feeling joyous, Raj was having mixed feelings, for Divya knew nothing about what he once felt for Shruti. He could not imagine what'd happen if she came to know later on that he hid this from her. Anyways, it wasn't a big thing that demanded a certain mention before proposing his love to Divya or so he felt...he knew that she could easily feel otherwise. She was a very sensitive and possessive girl. He hated himself for this premature proposal. Right then, he half-heard the "love you too" when he realized that Divya was in his arms. He hugged her tightly, more out of fear than out of affection, out of the fear of losing Divya's love...Divya's too.

Shruti and Raj were very good friends...are as well. There was a time when they just couldn't live without each other's company. Months and years rolled by and the friendship grew strong. Shruti knew everything about Raj. Raj knew most things about Shruti...more than most of her other friends. One fine day, he knew not why or how, he realized that he loved Shruti. He knew that his life will not be complete without her. She was everything he needed to survive. She wasn't the most beautiful of girls around but for his eyes and he was sure he did not love her for any one particular thing...it was everything put together that attracted him, made him go mad in love for her. He proposed his love to her the same night, the night that will remain in his memory forever.

He entered her house with a red rose. She was alone and welcomed him with a smile. He held the rose in front of her.
Saying, "Shruti, I love you", he smiled. She smiled back and accepted the rose. He could not control his emotions. He was blushing, smiling, laughing and crying all at the same time. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or if it was really happening!
"Raj. I don't deserve you", she said. He now felt sure that he was dreaming.
"What?", there was only one emotion this time and she was wiping the tears away from his cheeks.
"Yes Raj. You are a nice guy. You certainly deserve a better girl and you'll find one too, pretty soon. Now, stop crying."
"But why, Shruti? Is there something I need to know", he had stopped crying- but his thoughts were wandering in all possible directions.
"No, nothing. I know about me very well and I know you better than what you know about you. Now take my word when I say that you deserve a better girl", she was patting his back. He knew that he will not be able to push her any further and that she knew it better than anyone else.
"All I know is that I'll never be able to love another girl the way i loved you, ever", he sounded helpless.
She was genuinely concerned, but managed to joke, "Am sure there are a lot of hot babes around who'll get you in no time. Now, let's have dinner".
He stayed there well past midnight, lying down after dinner, resting his head on her lap for a couple of hours, trying not to think about what had happened. She handled it very well, talking about Aishwarya Rai and Formula One and other stuff he loved. That was the only time she assumed the role of his mother. It was him playing the dad in general, and in that way, it was a night he could never forget.

Raj was happy to hear that Shruti was engaged, to the son of her dad's friend. Shruti held a special place in his heart, as a friend. Once in a while, he'd think about the night he had proposed to her. But, he knew for sure that he felt nothing more than friendship for her then. Somehow, the thought made him feel happy. He could not tell how, what once seemed to be the only thing he'd live and die for, wasnt so anymore. Yet he gladly accepted this fact. Their bond as friends never slackened and he knew that it'd have been impossible with any other girl but for Shruti. His feeling towards her had evolved into one of respect. She'd always be the best girl he had ever met in his life.

Then came Divya. The fire was almost immediate. Both of them were madly in love with each other. They were not the most open of friends around, but it did not seem to matter. Divya knew that Shruti was Raj's best friend and the feeling of jealousy was quite evident. Raj was always in a dilemma as to whether he should tell her everything or not. He decided against it. If she truly loved his present, she'd not mind this past of his-if she ever comes to know of it, he felt. He asked Shruti for her opinion and she said he'd be a fool to tell Divya about the past, she said it was not even worth a mention and that Divya would laugh right on his face, if he said this to her! This was Shruti's way of making him do what she thought was the right thing and he sure couldn't do anything against what she had said.

"Raj. Thanks for making this easy for me...Are you listening?...", Divya shook Raj. Reality stared at his face.
"No. There's no dilemma", he blurted out.
"What? What dilemma?", she looked puzzled.
"No. nothing. Want icecream?", he smiled wickedly.
"Sure", she winked.
They walked hand in hand to the icecream shop...

Midwest, Game 6

It was an away game against Eastern Kentucky University CC and also happened to be a must-win game. Our captain lost the toss and we were asked to bat first. We'd have batted first anyways and so there were no complaints there. Not one out of the 22 players present there would have predicted what followed. It was a run fe(a)st. We scored 303 runs in the allotted 35 overs losing 7 wickets and my contribution towards the total was a 1 not out- yes, at last i got to bat this season! Everybody had a good time out in the middle scoring runs at will, well aided by a plethora of extra deliveries bowled by EKUDCC. Full marks to our batsmen considering the fact that the temperature was in the high 90s throughout our innings. It was like watching the Indian team batting a test match where runs were scored mostly in boundaries and extras.
The total was overwhelming and we knew all along that there was no way we could have lost the game. We had to boost our net run rate and so started out a little defensive. I was asked to share the new ball owing more to the lacklustre performance of J in the previous games than for my own bowling having been lethal. I was happy to have earned it, though. I gave the first breakthrough, making their opener to mishit a good length ball to mid-off where C took a brilliant one handed catch well over his head. Once we got their top 3 batsmen, we took some liberty and tried various bowling options- maybe overdid it a bit because it took us 32.1 overs to get them all out. I was not required to bowl again in the game and thus finished with a spell of four overs costing 16 runs for the solitary wicket. We won the game by 132 runs in the end. It could have been by a lot more but for their biased umpiring. A lot of plumb in front lbw appeals were turned down and a lot of wide balls that weren't wide enough were called.
We have one game to go and it happens to be another must-win game. Practically, the playoffs have begun for UCCC and we've started off well. Hope we win the next game and get into the actual playoffs- something that UCCC has never failed to do in over 15 years of having played in this league.
Here's the scorecard...

Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza participated in the Cincinnati WTA Tour. She managed to win the first two rounds and lost to the Japanese, Moregami, in the third round in straight sets on July 22nd. I was there at the court watching her lose! This was the first time ever that i was watching a tennis match in a stadium(or whatever!), and the experience was good. It'd have been sweet had she managed to win. After seeing the way she lost, i couldn't help but feel that her laziness was the major factor against her. She has a lot of scope to improve her backhand game and in rushing to the net to take the opponent's drop shots. She has power and I guess with a lot of practice and seriousness, she should be able to break into the top 25 ranks within a year or so.
Goodluck Sania!

The Ashes begins in about 5 hours

London, July 21 (UNI): Second-placed England goes into the Ashes needing to win all five Test matches to knock Australia from the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship.

Australia’s lead at the top of the official table has been over 20 points since August 2004 and it holds a 21 point advantage over its closest rival going into this series, an ICC release revealed.

England has a very good opportunity to close this gap as even a one-Test margin of victory would see the gap reduced to eight points while a drawn series would lift England’s rating to 117 - 13 points behind Australia, it said.

Australia’s dominance of Test cricket over recent years is such that it must win by a three-Test margin to extend its lead over England.

i love to think against the odds(things which are not in my hands, i mean)...not this time though. Goodluck to all those Brit supporters. Hope the luck ensures a "no whitewash", atleast!

Manmohan proud of Indian muslims

Washington, July 21 (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said he was proud that Muslims in India were patriots and "not one" of them had joined the ranks of terrorist outfits like Al Qaeda.

"We have 150 million citizens who practice the faith of Islam. And I say it with some pride about their patriotism that not one of them has joined the ranks of these gangs like the Al Qaeda or other terrorist activities", Singh told mediapersons at the National Press Club here.

Says a lot about how stupid and offending some generalizations can be. Jai Hind!

Autograph

Am delighted today. One of my favorite movies made in 2004 has won 3 national awards and i think all 3, deservedly. Firstly, the film itself has won the “Most popular film providing wholesome entertainment” award. Secondly, Chitra won the award for best female playback singer for the song "Ovvoru Pookkalumae" and thirdly, Pa Vijay, the lyricist bagged the award for the lyrics of that song.
Cheran earned my respect straightaway after i watched "Autograph". His acting was impeccable...very very realistic and his direction was amazing. The best, in my opinion, was the screenplay- simply flawless. The story might not be the best and i dont think it applies totally to this generation...but that can be just an opinion. Anybody who has lived and experienced life in India must like this movie. If they dont, then something's seriously wrong!
Chitra is my alltime favorite female playback singer. The feelings and emotions that voice brings into any song is unparalleled, in my opinion. She has the best voice of them all and in this particular song, did not have a tough job to do, thanks to the lyricist, director and Sneha, who made Chitra's job a lot easier. kudos to her for bagging the national award for the sixth time! Remarkable...
I dont follow any lyricist other than Vairamuthu closely, but i must admit that this particular song surprised me when i noticed that it wasnt Vairamuthu who had penned it after all. Great job by Pa Vijay. "muyaRchi yendRa ondRai mattum moochu pola swasippoam"...superb. If this song doesnt inspire you when you are down, i doubt if any other song would...

Great job guys. You've done proud to the tamil film industry and am really happy for u guys. Wishing u many many more awards in the future...

Midwest, Game 5

Game against Kentucky Cricket Club(KCC). It was a day filled with twists and turns and we deservedly lost the game. Not many teams get away after dropping an opening batsman, who ends up being 78 not out in a 35 over game, five times! We did not either. It was the most pathetic catching display by UC ever, in my memory. There was another catch dropped of the number 10 batsman in the penultimate over taking the tally to 6 dropped catches!
Batting first, we scored exactly 200 in the allotted 35 overs. Our number 4 batsman who was unbeaten on 39 was ridiculously asked to retire hurt by our captain, since he had a batsman capable of hitting better than him or so he thought, since the batsman who replaced him got out for 6. There were some blown-up egos DURING the game which made the captain not ask the retired batsman to pad up again! Infact, no one was padded up when the last 2 balls of our innings were bowled! Had a wicket fallen then, it would have been utter shame. The captain was completely out of sorts...and i was not surprised.
They started the chase in a good fashion scoring 35 in the first 6 overs losing an opener. Their second wicket partnership was worth about 100 runs and that kind of sealed the match before we started dropping every single catch that came our way. Luckily, none of them came my way! I had a good outing personally bowling 7 overs for 27 runs and picking a wicket. One of our new ball bowlers also bowled very very well finishing with a 5-for. Unfortunately, both of our spells were over with 6 more overs to go and KCC needing 47 more runs with 3 wickets in hand! I still cannot believe we lost the game from there. Our captain gave away 11 runs in the 30th over making it 36 from 5 overs. Then the other new ball bowler, J, gave 8 in the 31st making it 28 from 4 overs. In my and many others' humble opinion, the captain should have taken himself out of the attack. But he came back for the 32nd over and gave 10 runs making it a run-a-ball contest. Meanwhile, we ran a batsman out leaving them with just 2 wickets. 7 runs were scored off the 33rd over bowled by J making the equation 11 from 12. The captain bowled himself again! 6 runs were scored off the over and another tailender's wicket fell, the opening batsman going along nicely, courtesy our catching, at the other end. The number 11 was on strike and the first ball of the last over was whacked into the "unprotected" midwicket fence for four! Despite advice from me and a few others, the captain decided to keep that zone open, because the bowler, with all due respect for his talent, who has no brains, did not want a fielder there! It was an unpardonable error and we paid dearly for it. The bowler did a great job to follow it up with 4 dot balls, making the equation 1 from 1, with the opener standing helpless at the non-striker's end. Another error in field placement made them take an easy single. The square leg fielder was not in a single saving position and surprisingly it missed the captain's attention or he did not bother! They won off the last ball of the game. What should have been a 50 run victory or so, ended up being this way.
We had a team meeting after the game and a lot of holes in the team were discussed, the major one being the captain's potential as a player and more so, as a captain. The unethical issue of retiring the batsman was condemned by most of us. It was a very very long day yesterday and i slept for 10 full hours after the game.
We have two more games to go(both are away games) and winning both of them should ensure a place in the knockers. Losing one "might" be fine if we start working out the permutations and combinations...but at this point, we'd only like to think about winning both the games, the next one in particular. I'll post a link to the scorecard in a few days.

EDIT(17th july, 6:30pm):::::: scorecard's here