Silence please. Players are ready.

After a baffling 6 months on the fence, the ball is finally in the other court.

After years, I have a worthy player against me. Well, I understand that that statement reeks of pompousness. But I didn’t intend it to. Quite the contrary actually. After years, I have someone worth going to all the trouble for. After a lifetime, I have someone worth winning over. And, probably for the very first time, I know it right from the beginning. This isn’t a game. This is many games in one.

With hands cold as death and a chill down my spine, I restlessly shift my enormous weight from one groaning leg to the other. Waiting. Sweating. Contemplating. The sunshine of optimism isn’t helping today. It’s there alright, but there isn’t enough of it to go around.

My eyes nervously follow the ball as my resplendent opponent (there should be a better word to describe her) evaluates it. She has been dribbling it for many heart-stopping moments now. But she isn’t done yet. Hmmm, I’m glad. I’m hoping she’s taking her time because she considers me worth considering. I need to be more patient, I think to myself.

Pregnant with millions of possibilities, entertaining some very strange thoughts, busy considering countless endings to this story, my mind competes with my heart. My racket imitates them both as it flips between extremes, in my hands.

Will she surprise me with an ace? Will she simply hand it back to me, politely? Will she walk away? Will she pocket it as a souvenir or, worse, a curio? Will she return it to the nearest waste receptacle, the first chance she gets?

How I wish she played the ball back to me. Then again, if she did, will it make it safely over the net(tles)? No, I will not let that bother me really. I’ll scale the net if the need be. I'll walk over it. I’ll tear through it just for that pseudo, hindi-movie-romantic effect.

You need some craziness in your life. You need to do insane things like that sometimes. 'It would be fun to act a little looney', I convince myself. 'It would be very me.'

The score, right now, is LOVE – 1.

Interestingly, I’ll win when the score becomes LOVE - LOVE.


(First published on Bhéjaa Fry. Read comments by readers here.)