Lessons of Life learnt on a Cricket Field

A day passes leaving behind flavors that would need to be absorbed, each microbe, valuable lessons learnt and corrective steps taken. Today was yet another beautiful day and I thought of sharing the essence with each one of you my dearest readers.

It was a nervous Tuesday to begin with. A son who gets to play his first ever cricket match, an anxious father. The gates are thrown open in the distance. I fiddle around with a cricket ball just to relax those tense nerves. I look at the pitch, sometimes doing a mock pitch report. Imagine myself in front of lakhs of spectators, all cheering for the son of the soil.

In the distance I notice the familiar sight of the Fortuner, a lone warrior glides it in, the sight of a favorite cricketer. He remains inside but I know that his thoughts are with me. One day his father would have gone through the same kind of emotions. The windows glide down. I approach the warrior. He asks me if a father is here to see his son play. I nod my head in affirmation.

Small words exchanged, for the warrior it is a time wrap as he goes back in time recollecting those days when father and son moved to the ground, kit in hand and in the protective shadow of his father. Today the warrior is a master of all he surveys and this perhaps for him is an emotional moment for him as it is for today's father.

The son gets his cap, a call of honour, a moment of pride. For the Father it is indeed an emotional moment, there are tears of joy to see the son mark his debut in the arena. Some day he shall be the warrior. Some Day He shall be the Fortuner all of which the father wishes to see. Father could never make it to this level. Junior shall fulfill his dreams. Through  his son his father shall play.

The ball rolls, there is a frantic rush of runs, young exuberance is so good to see. The ball soars in the sky and the little warrior makes a valiant dive, just falls short of glory. He makes a few good saves but this time good is never good enough. He keeps running quite unmindful of the piercing sun. The sun rises and along with several such sons and warriors.

He dons the armoury, ready to do battle. He wants to fight it out in the middle. The battle is shortlived, guess the battle is lost in the mind. Father walks up to the son, a tad bit disappointed, however says that there will always be another time. There are crestfallen shoulders all around. The battle was never lost on the ground, it was lost in the mind. No problem children there will always be another time and occasion when the battlefield shall beckon. Father checks the tenacity of the son. "It was quite bad today son" Do you wish to do battle again. " Of course I will" says the son, promising to come back another day with the shrug of the cap that dons his head.

Valuable Lessons Learnt: From these sons there will rise many a warrior to do battle. Never give up hope, keep fighting it out and one day success shall embrace you, the biggest takeaway being, battles are lost and won, sometimes on skill and most of the time in the mind.