As is with other oddities, comments / remarks / jokes / nudges etc etc, have come my way. Ranging from ‘do you want to buy up the building’ to ‘its bad for health’ to ‘you must be plain nuts’.
Well, everyday afternoon the sun tests my ability to withstand the heat. And i try and test the sun to beat me down. In under 10 minutes, the sun overwhelms me. In no time, beads of sweat form on the forehead, the shirt is drenched, the skin burns.
When all of the the above happens, i know that it is time to turn around. I feel like a local college champion, overwhelmed by the likes of a Roger Federer , just by his showing up! In no time, I rush back to the cool climes of controlled temperature of the office.
Today too, that’s the scene. The sun is at the top his bent. The March madness rules. I walk. In some time, beads of sweat are beginning to form on the forehead. Very soon, the skin sends a SOS beep to the brain, warning of the threshold level heat being crossed. The legs involuntarily turn around to head back.
And just then, the eye spots them.
Four boys. Sitting under the open sun. Not a tree or shade in sight. On the edge of the road. Two of them on a stool. Two on what appears to be brick, propped up by a broken down computer monitor. An inverted vessel holds a carrom board. And there is a game that is on.
I stare in disbelief. I look up to check if it is the same sun.
I watch for about 3 minutes. I don’t have to pinch myself. The sun does it for me. I lose today’s battle with the sun. Too. Soon, I head back to office.
I keep turning around to look if boys and their carrom game are done. The carrom game is on, till the last, the eye can see. The Sun doesn’t seem to be winning this battle.
That image of those four boys in mid day sun stays in my mind. In some time, i head to a meeting. And make my grand pronouncement : “You win some. You lose some. Even if you are the sun !”.
Others in the room look at each other. They smile a weak understanding smile. They know me by now. They know March. They know the Sun. And i guess, they think they have an understanding of the first signs of madness.
Ofcouse, I know too : Give me a carrom board. Three other blokes. An inverted run down monitor. And one huge brick. And ofcourse, the sun !
Hope you got some deo in the office! 😛
First signs of madness? Haha!
I dunno why the others poke fun at somebody who wants to beat the sun:) The story of the blokes with the inverted monitor warms up the heart somehow, kudos again! Btw, did any one of’em have a green vein?;)
Living with basics of life makes a person tough. kabhi kisaan ko dekha hai ?
Amazing written!!
The people who are in the road has much higher level of tolerance, confidence and patience …
Kavi- Those of us who have the luxury of fans/ air conditioning are like potted plants that are so delicate. The boys you saw are like the cactus- hardy enough to thrive in the blistering heat!
Roshni : you bet !
Naperville Mom : Green veins…grrr ! I will look. I will look. Ok ? 🙂
Hobo : Kabhi Kisaan ko dekha hai ? Well, in close range. Uncles. Grandfathers. Cousins. But none play carrom under the sun.
Swatantra : Thank you ! You are very right !
Manju : What an analogy Madamji !! What an analogy ! So true ! And they survive while we with all sophistication end up in hospital so very often !
🙂
We accessorize. They innovate.
Reminds me of someone who searched and searched for a specific brand of tracksuit, and then was too tired to jog.
And also about a lady who did a slow jog (due to age) in a 9 yard saree ….
Caromwalas, Jai ho.
Summer is THE TIME OF THE YEAR for Mad Hatters and March Hares, whether they are in boardrooms or out in the sun playing carrom. It is all about the degree of madness, I guess.
I wish that Roger Federer could still be regarded as invincible as the sun. If only…
Caught up on your previous posts as well. Loved the one about your great-grandmother. And completely empathised about the reginal number-plate problem. I have missed so many buses in Mumbai simply because I cannot understand the number written in front. By the time the side view in English comes, the bus is sometimes out of reach.
I think so there excitement defeats sun heat. I could relate it with leaving kites from terrace at mid sun heat, the thing that kept us stable for long is excitement of leaving kites. for some living under sun, it doesn’t bother much as life goes along with it.
…and all those kids who would play cricket in the blazing sun for hours, their moms going crazy and eventually giving up even trying to stop them, yet never get affected by the heat.
Ah…those were the days when i was one of them!
Not so long ago now ,though to me it seems ages, a few young lads used to get routinely baked in the april/may sun, some playing basketball, some cricket and an elite few even tennis. The writer of this blog being one of them. Who’s this chap who gets beaten by the sun? From where emerges this stranger?
I stare in disbelief. I look up to check if it is the same sun.
That’s awesome.A way of writing – Kavi style. In this year’s heat – the next time you will seethe carrom board coins pop up like pop corn.
Carrom coins have that hypnotic effect on you, the focus is all on the striker and the coins and the intense desire to laugh in the face of the these two goofballs sitting to the left and right of you!
I LOVE carrom, and its not very common here in the US, BUT when I was in school a few friends decided that if carrom was to be played, carrom was to be played so we drudged to the Indian store and picked a set and spent ($75) at that time which was considerable amount for students, and went back home a happy bunch. Hmm that makes me wonder, where is that board???