Sports week

7/7/06
Sports unifies us! Anyone who doesn't believe in that is in a miserable quandary, he can be in. From a barren land it was before the sports week, the campus has transformed to place full of activity, laughter, excitement, fun, noise! Everyone seems to be in such a jovial mood! We've gotten LIFE or Life's gotten us! But whatever be the case I'm loving it! And I don't want to miss even a bit of the fun!

Today was a long awaited day. Boys volleyball match 2002 vs 2003. To make things simpler for you our seniors vs us. Strategies were planned, decisions made, speculations in the air and the tension overloading on the spectators and the players of course! Was history going to repeat itself or it was time for the tables to turn? Countdown began much before D day. With so many emotions attached, this wasn't going to be just another match. It was a matter of Life and death for some, I hear.

CM tutorial! Ahaas the tension was elevating almost reaching sky level. Before the roll call even reaching 63 we were off like hooligans... bag of beans just been opened. ENT class was cancelled. What could have been more important than a match between the tigers(seniors) and lions(us)!!! Well these names aren't self assumed, but rather have been continuing since the last cricket match! Well, let me not talk about the cricket match for everyone has their own versions of it. And because I didn't get the privilege or probably the misfortune to attend it I can't comment. Here I would mention that I'm more a appreciator of the game rather than being emotional about it ( this is applicable only when I'm not playing). So the last years result was, our batch won the cricket match, but we lost the volleyball finals to our seniors. So, now maybe you can place your self in the scenario and realize how controversial things were.
BLACK! Was our colour! Players and most of us spectators stood tall in black. But the wait now was for the rival team. And Cheers heralded their entry! With the commencement of the game started the wave of hooting. Bottles were arranged. All sorts of mouth organs made way. Even the scorching sun couldn't bring our spirits down. First set went in our favour. I cursed myself for being so apprehensive about wining the game, when our guys so convincingly and effortlessly won the set. There wasn't even a single player you could call naive. Each one seemed to be better than the other. And all seemed to be getting better. There were a few hiccups but situation was in control.

Second set, seniors were advancing. They finally became unstoppable when the score reached 20-15 in their favour! Slogans were being chanted. “East or west Tigers/ Lions are the best!” “Jeetega bhai jeetega lions/ tigers jeetega” . “Gali gali mein saap hai, tiger lion ka baap hai.” One of my friend rightly describes it as an arena of the award winning movie Gladiator, where the emotionally blinded mob is cheering the gladiators to go for the kill. Both our gladiators and mob had something to say for the other. It was beginning to be a fight of words now but everything became standstill when the seniors took us in the second set. Last set was the decisive one now.

Everyone was geared up. Tension among the players was building up. You could see it on their faces. Silence took over & was only broken when either of the team scored. We shouted, screamed, bucked them up not worrying about the laryngeal oedema we could have had as a consequence. Not a single pair of vocal cord was spared. Cross words were exchanged between the players but the situation was well controlled. Our poor referee from Roudrigue was at bay.

Finally, in the third set we advanced 20-11 but it wasn't that easy for our players, it took many dives, falls, kicks, jumps, smashes, serves and tremendous amount of cheering from us-- spectators to perform such a herculean task and that too against the Tigers.... whose captain was a state level player. And believe me he was just too good.

A superb serve ended the game and with that everyone flooded the court. Congratulating,applauding, celebrating, embracing! Photos were clicked, slogans were shouted but above all, the Batch was unified!!

But I guess the winners of the game were the supporters of both the team who brought the game ALIVE! Thanks guys ,for all the good times....this is also one time of the year that I wait for! Hope your winning spree continues....