Thursday, March 10, 2011

My Kingdom for a Catch!

Posted by A Great Liar

I watched her rolling the cigarette on the table in front, sneezing and puffy eyed, hoping that she would have it her way and go in the slumber she so badly needed, and leave me with the disappointments of the evening all by myself. 

Her face like a once lovely bouquet now gone dry by the prolonged intimations with the stuffed cigarette. But after having witnessed what she just did, how could I blame her for resorting to such toxic measures.

Because tonight the tranquility of any cricket lover lay in that magic cigarette. Somebody needed to put the proverbial humpty dumpty back together again, and it possibly couldn’t be one of those eleven green men in the field, each of whom now looked older beyond their years.

But I decided to interrupt her anyway. “Ammo. That stuff will do no good.”

She looked up as if from a dream. “No?”

“No.” I replied. “Definitely not. And besides it is just a cricket match.”

“Perhaps so.” She said. Paused. “But I am having it anyway.”

“I admit.” I replied. “What happened tonight was pretty devastating. My grandma would have gloved one of those… I mean even after she was dead.”

“Yes.” She replied. “Let’s just face it; he is terribly hopeless, or hopelessly terrible. Or whichever way the damn thing works. He is just … you know what.”

“A schmuck perhaps?” I asked. “Totally. Some people are apparently engineered that way, to be at their lowest in the moment of potential triumph.” Paused. “Ambition is a dangerous thing, especially for mediocrites.” 

“Ambition?” She asked. “What ambition has got to do with it? Those catches were bloody dollies, for crow’s sake.”

“Yes.” I replied. “They were. And how often a man does what is the right and convenient thing to do, I wonder. Not often. Because the hardest thing in life to do is the one easily available at his disposable … or dollies as you call them.”

“Lev.” She said. “Of all things in the world, you can’t possibly philosophize this one. This one has nothing to do with your outlandish notions about life and everything else.” 

“No.” I replied. “And hence you shouldn’t be so worked up over something so insignificant. After all, it’s just a meaningless sporting ritual that we burn the precious moments of our lives with, screeching and crawling and begging for divine providence out of some misplaced sense of patriotism that most of us never realize we possess and those who do, never try to understand why it’s there in the first place and carry it about their sunken shoulders like a boulder and walk about the mother earth as self appointment reps of Great God Himself.” I smiled. “I mean, why so serious then, my dear?”

“Because.” She replied, her voice growing bitter. “It is your own country playing and you have to support it. I mean, there is a certain human dignity about it which I do not expect you to understand.”

“Country!” I chuckled. “Apparently country is no good with gloves on.”

“I didn’t mean it to be funny, Lev.” She replied.

“Oh, come now, Ammo.” I replied. “There is more to life besides supporting a country that can’t take its own catches. I mean it is not fair.”

“Not fair?” She replied. “Lemme tell you what’s fair, that is standing up for what you believe in. And I do believe in my identity, a proud citizen of this country.” Paused. “Did you ever believe in anything or anyone, I mean for real, Lev?”

“Yes.” I replied. “And no.”

“Ha!” She replied. “There you are again with your vague responses to every challenge posed upon you. Hiding behind the curtains of obscure ranting, for how long do you think you will survive there, soon you would be lonely and miserable, because you never had anything to stand up for.”

“Oh yes.” I replied. “That would be me. And while I still have few years of limelight left, let me explain to you what I was trying to imply. I mean why believe in anything when there is nothing to believe in. There are no facts, only ideas, and that makes it all too dangerous. People will go to either extremes driven by an idea, ranging from people going to bed together to shooting each other’s head off, it all boils down to an idea.”

“Well, I do agree there.” She replied. “Violence of any kind is wrong.”

“Yes.” I replied. “But only if it is done in the name of an idea, or call it an opinion shall we. Same goes for two merry souls signing up for a shaking bedpost session if influenced by an idea.”

“Ahan.” She replied. “You mean it’s all right otherwise. Murder for the sake of murder, or any action for the sake of it.”

“Yes.” I replied. “In principle it is, perhaps not always in practice.”

“Well, you have lost me there.” She replied. “Obscure as always, weaving words that only sound enigmatic and carry absolutely no weight.”  

“Perhaps so.” I agreed, now relieved to see her at ease, apparently the cigarette was beginning to weave its magic wand upon her. “But I meant to say, in simpler words, why not all the good and evil be done for the sake of it. Why justify everything with an opinion or an idea, to be like a prisoner that is.”

She pretended not to hear my last sentence. “Oh, silly us. Didn’t it all started with couple of drop catches and a match lost, and look where it got us.” Apparently she had nothing more to say.

“Oh, but it is perfectly all right, Ammo.” I replied. “I am sure we aren’t the only ones who got a bit carried by what happened tonight. I am sure by tomorrow and in the next few days; the whole country would be crying my kingdom for a catch.” Paused. “And in more ways than one.”

She had nothing to say in return. Her’s was now a wandering mind, searching for greener pastures, roamed by silly men who never contradicted her in return, and hence would lie to her in every word. Because that is the best thing about being drugged, that if given a choice between what’s real and what is a mere dream, one would always prefer a dream.

[Do leave a comment, it matters..., And if enjoyed what you just read, do follow the blog, it matters just as much]

22 comments:

  1. why u r writing like this? what is the purpose?

    but one thing is sure you have exceptionally good writing skills,surely you can write anything.,fictions.

    very good

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  2. indeed you are so smart., greatliar, but you tell truth.keep blogging.

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  3. beyond awesome. u really know how to keep a reader hooked. i love how every post, every conversation between these two connects to recent happenings and with such differing, thought-provoking perspectives. I usually dont comment, i feel too intimidated to even think about it but i really hope you would compile all of this into a novel. something about ur writing reminds me of the book, moth smoke. cant wait for the next post.

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  4. ha ha ha..

    People really are so sickishly optimistic.
    A game is a game.
    The audience has to praise the better team.

    There's no been a Pakistani or not about it.
    And yea,
    "apparently the country is no good at all with gloves on..!"


    BTW
    You are cool,you know?

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  5. if given a choice between what’s real and what is a mere dream, one would always prefer a dream.

    woah. nice post.
    aaand no i stopped using think10 after sometime. my posts would get deleted after 24hrs =/

    btw i was reading you novel. wetlands isnt it? why arent you posting anymore over there?

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  6. I almost never quote parts of blogs I comment on, but this one struck home:

    “Ha!” She replied. “There you are again with your vague responses to every challenge posed upon you. Hiding behind the curtains of obscure ranting, for how long do you think you will survive there, soon you would be lonely and miserable, because you never had anything to stand up for.”


    'Vague responses to every challenge'- sounds all too familiar to me. *sigh*

    If I had a dime for every time I heard a vague response to every challenge...well you know the rest.


    Why are people, or rather, I feel,more commonly men, like this?

    Is it weakness? (Weakness being an excuse to escape standing up to something) or is it something else entirely?

    And just look at me, this being the thing that frustrates me the most is what also draws me here to this blog to read it as well.

    We are all so screwed up.

    :)

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  7. Its not the first time that he has dropped precious catches... so probably we should get used to it by now. But yea I was really heart-broken when the team lost.It just doesnt feel good.

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  8. hehe.... i really dislike d name 'ammo' very much *bcos dats d name of a side artist in a famous indian soap opera n all d woman ever does is eat, eat n eat*, bt i mus say i concur wid her completely in dis conversation.
    men who argue too much, more often dan not, tend to get annoying if not boring :P

    oh n cricket is not jus a game!. its S.E.R.I.O.U.S!!!!!!!

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  9. @salma: Writing like? If you mean like some one ranting obscurely and pulling out arguments that sound enigmatic and carry little weight, than my answer will be, do you think I have a choice? All writing comes from a certain impulse to do so, the choice isnt about whether we would like to write, but whether can we afford not to?

    Thank you so much :)


    @Aabi: Thank you so much Aabi. And do try to comment, if it is not too convenient, writers just love feedbacks.


    @Hamza Bin Ladin: Thank you Hamza. And yes sickishly optimistic is the way to go, like I said. Ppl always prefer a dream.

    (Oh btw, thanks for the compliment, you are pretty awesome urself :)).


    @KWP: Thanks for the comment, KWP. And actually whats happening with your posts at Thinking Ten is that you are probably not following the daily prompt, like they have prompts for each day around the week.If your post is in accordance with the prompt, Blake will never delete it.

    Why dont you give 6s(sixsentences.ning.com/), this one has more crowd, and there is always a hustle bustle over there.

    I will try to post something on the 'Wetland' blog soon. Problem is I am currently working on this other novel, and its nearly impossible to work simultaneously on two different projects of this magnitude.

    (And hey, have you close down the blog you used to have?)


    @Smokey_Cat: Thank you so much. And I am afraid men are like that because most of them are either not men enough or simply spoiled brats who want everything easy in life without any strings attached.

    We surely are screwed up,... indeed! So much so that we now fail to remember how it all started in the first place.

    Well, if you have enough dimes by now, how about a cup of coffee sometime? :)


    @Kiran Ashraf: Yea, me too. Actually I was a bobcat on a hot tin roof, and I just refused to jump down!


    @Sadiya Merchant: Thanks a lot. And hey, its not 'Ammo' as pronounced in urdu/hindi, which sounds like 'Amoo'. Actually it is Ammo, as in Ammunition.

    Cricket is serious for sure, and for reasons I am yet to fathom.

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  10. very well penned...
    and yaa we do prefer to be in dreams.........

    Best wishes,
    irfan.

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  11. exceptionally good fiction story,. first time here.keep writing,.

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  12. My grandma would have gloved one of those… I mean even after she was dead.”

    Hahahahahaah.

    And i totally agree with you every bit. About our mis-placed patriotism etc :)

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  13. Lev: so like we cant post anything we like over there? we have to follow the daily prompt?
    hmm thats the reason i do not want to use 6s. i got confused over there, too much of hustle bustle.
    oh so you do not have it posted in Microsoft word. i did that when i was working on my novel :p i cant totally understand your feelings. novel writing is hard..

    ya i closed down it. that was only used by me. but this one is used by me and my friend. like K stands for me. W stands for him. but i have copied some posts from the last blog to this one.

    hmm okay i will wait for your next post. the first time i read that blog, i was like "woah! who IS this guy?"

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  14. @Thinking: Well?

    @Harman: Thanks a lot :)

    @IRFANUDDIN: Thank you sir, so good to have you here. :)

    @poonam: Thank you so much :)

    @AL: Thank you AL, encouraging as always.

    @KWP: Yes, they kinda have rules and all at T10.

    At 6s, the rules are different, there are no prompts, but whatever you write has to be within 6 lines, not more. Though breaking the rule over there will not result in the removal of your post, however the audience will not be very appreciative of it.

    posted in Microsoft word? Didnt get it... :(

    And which blog of yours are u referring to, becoz once I reach your profile page, I do not see any blog listed except the ones in 'Blogs I Follow' section.

    Oh ok, it's yours truly of course :/

    Thanks :)

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  15. wow...are there people who actually read u and not follow u?
    please find an ardent fan here...
    i loved both of the last two posts here and i am craving to get more time to read the previous ones...

    a marvellous take at a cricket-mad nation n notions...
    and amazing how u managed to cutely philosophise even here:-)

    great read again AGL:-)

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  16. @suruchi: Thank you so much. Yes there are even those who neither care to comment nor follow, but hey, who am I to complain. I am just the writer :)

    Thank you once again for being so generous with your compliments, not sure I deserve any of it, u are being too kind. :)

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  17. @mahlaqa: Thank you so much. Glad you liked it. :)

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  18. Its pretty late at night and i feel sleepy YET i cant stop reading ur blog! Your writings are captivating-and i mean it.

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  19. @habloid: Wow! Thanks hab. Kind of you to say that.

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