Tulasi
Bar.. The Bar and restaurant near Nitte was the first place where I took a sip of wisky in my life. The year
was 2001 and I have just finished 5th
Semester exam, first in mechanical specialization. I used to drink beer at times
before, but this party ended up drinking both and thereafter omitting fully on
the road on my way to paid room by walk. There were a group of 10 including
seniors helped to in this accomplishment..
I
started with an odd incident, but sweet memories of my young life are still
lingering now.
Playing
sport was my hobby. Unlike my brother James who is very much focused on sports
activities, I was playing for fun after learning the game. The dedication and
focus to improve my game was not in my agenda.
The first game learnt was obviously Cricket being in a cricket loving
country.
The
two months holidays during high school tenure made my cricket fundamentals
strong and I was a kind of valuable player in my team. I became famous in the
Village cricket for my typical leg spin bowling. It was very hard for me to get
control on the leg spin. I was following Shane Warne style of bowling. But when
I was given to bowl, I never used to try leg spin in matches in the fear of
uncontrolled release of the ball from my
hand which end up in wides. This fear
came to an end when I chose to bowl when opponent team was about to win. If I remember
well, they were in need of less than 10 runs from 3 overs. On that day, I
turned the game for my team, taking a fantastic hatrick and changing the game.
The batsmen never faced a quality spin till then were in no clue when they were
getting out.. Since then, I used to bowl leg spin quite consistently and
successfully. But I could not keep the same consistency when I left to Dubai in
2003. As far as the batting was concerned, I was aggressive but inconsistent.
We
had different locations of playing cricket throughout the year at Kaikamba and every
location was meant to suit each season. The “ Abutam Stadium Salmara” was the
first place where our group of youth
started playing in 1995-1996. This ground itself was split into two playing
modes. Fullground and halfground. The
decision to play full ground or the half ground was done based on the number of
people. Usually Manu used to take the lead in decision making. This ground was
used between March to May till the monsoon arrives. We used to play at Church
ground. There are total four different places we played cricket at church premises.
During
Monsoons, the number of guys will be
less, specially during the week days. So, The cricket was played in front of
the Church bell structure with a funny rules determined by Manu.Myself,James,
Manu,Naveen, James Pinto, Ozzy, Goddy,Santhu, Roshan were among regular players.
The
second location was in front of the church itself. We used to play at this
place usually on Sundays when number of people is more. Cemetary in front of
the ground was termed boundary for Six.But the ball hits the roof of the school at the right side, will be
termed as out. If the ball lands in to garden in front of school, it was a 2-
declared. Another six point was PYC
Rangmanch at the far right end. If the ball reaches Convent, it is termed out.
And if the ball falls onto the solar
panel on the Convent, then it was out +permanent ban on playing.!!
PYC
stage was another place to play when there were 5-6 people. Can you imagine a
cricket match on a dais of 16 X 16 ft. It was lot of fun because of the
peculiar rules again created by Manu. If
the ball does not get connected 3
times, then it is out. It will be termed out also when the ball hits on
a particular painting on the wall. If the ball slides down the ground 3 times
when you are playing, it is out. Some time, even one bounce catch will be given
out…The rules were plenty and they were
funny as well. We had once requested Manu to note down all the rules for the
younger boys to play in the future.
The
same group of people had the chance enter to swimming pool at Kajila at Richy mam house. In a particular monsoon
season, we went to learn swimming and all learned the art of swimming in a
matter of 2-4 days. Once we learnt, it was fun to have competition and also to have a shower at the Kajila falls. Whenever there was an
opportunity, even there were 2-3 people, we
used to go and swim.Naveen’s Hero Pook
two wheeler has served us for this short travel.
During
Monsoons, we also kept a habit of playing cards inside the club’s room. The
famous game “ Donkey” was getting played with full of fun. Most of the time, we
used to fix the looser and arrange the play accordingly. Thevart of match
fixing was learnt!.
As I
grew up, my interest and involvement
in youth activities increased. I became
a founder president of young Christian students of our parish in 1997. I did not do much as a
president due to the new church building
construction during my tenure. The activities were limited and the focus was
for completion of new church building. Later Pompei Youngsters Club provided me
the platform in terms of public speaking, writing, even organizing, Master of ceremony
and in leadership.