The Lost War...

“why are you smoking?”

I was just passing my time by creating some rings out of the smoke what I learned recently and suddenly I heard the question and the voice was very familiar…my dad’s.

“uhh…ummm…actually…uhhh…I was…”

I didn’t know what would have been the proper answer, but what I gave him that day, was just quite unfamiliar with my regular answers while I get caught red handedly doing something should-not-be-done kind of things.

July 14^th,2014:

It’s been a rough day. I’m struggling to breath under the circumstances. I don’t know how long I can stay like this but am quite sure if this weather goes on like this I would soon be assumed death. Talking about today’s progress, the border has been cleaned up and we are looking forward for the center portion where the growth is very high. I am quite sure of one thing that we won’t allow anyone to trespass or interfere into our work. Thank you.

August 29^th,2014:

We cut up maximum of the portion that could have caused the damage. The number of danger is reduced to a very narrative one. Literally I am sure enough that within 3 or 4 months we can cure the area with an 80% percentage of chances. Thank you.

January 27^th,2015:

The 3 or 4 moths’ expectation gone in vain. It took long. But here we are, cutting and reducing the line of severe damage. There are still some risk factors out there but we are positive enough that with the help of environment we can get through the upcoming risks very easily. Thank you.

March 2^nd,2015:

The disaster couldn’t be digested. The attack is severe from the enemy. They crossed the safe zone like it was nothing for them. We crosschecked every possible faults that can occur but still we can’t find how they came through. Responsibilities are higher now so the director decided to put the case on a higher department that can be quite helpful at a time. Though I wasn’t suspended as I did no wrong still I am supposedly working as a helping hand when needed. Thank you.

August 12^th,2015:

A few days left for the first anniversary between me and this unknown place. Almost 12 times I’ve gone through this place and tried to help it out from the intruders but still I’m not able to help him. This place and I, we both are fighting together to get rid of troubles that causing harm for both of us. Thank you.

November 17^th,2015:

I think we need help from the outside and I’ve heard that there are friends that have come to help us. The senior officer who took the case from me is sitting quite helplessly because of the lack of funding. Without a good funding no war can be won. Our friends are helping us with the money. I hope we can resume our fight as soon as we collect enough amount of money. Because we were never sure like this before about winning the war over the enemies as we planned.

December 6^th,2015:

All my co-ordinates are down. We have been attacked from different portions. The high officials have died. I’m struggling. There is no food. I cannot feel myself. What is happening with me? Suddenly I felt a supply. A giggling in the place where I am standing alone. I don’t know what happened, but it felt like an earthquake. I stood up and then fall again. This happened for the first time after the place has faced the enemies’ attacks. May be the place have finally given up or just rising again for the last time…

December 7^th,2015,1:40 am:

The place is cold. Ashes all around. The war is kind of lost. May be it is my last talk with you. Enemies are searching for me. It is about time when they would find me and tear me apart. So, let me bid goodbye. The place really has supported me by all means. Enemies destroyed the beauty of it. It’s 1:44 am now. Footsteps are arriving. May be for me. This is the mainframe ray of Chemotherapy. Calling for help. May be its time for an over and out from the place. Uh…I forgot…the name of the place is…I don’t know…someone’s body…but I know it quite sure that this body was still to be grown beautiful. Thank you.

“why are you smoking? answer me!” dad still asking.

“because, He died of cancer following the level of a packet of cigarettes or maybe not. But I will not suffer of being a good guy like him because life is now, let the rings be flourished and…”

My imaginative thoughts broke down after my dad pat my back and told, “don’t do this to yourself!” and gone.

The reports came up my mind was imaginative. A friend of mine died of germ cell cancer. I just thought how the rays were feeling when they were fighting against the germ cells. Anyways, it was ages ago now. I don’t bother much for him. But inside, I feel, when I last met him the day before he died, it must have given him an earthquake from inside to rise up and fight. In fact, the war was already lost.

The Lonely Lane...

 “you ok darling?”

“yeah, just missing being with u”

“aww, hw swt. Is there warm in there or my baby needs a hug or…”

“what the hell are you doing?”, Shyam asked me while I was just replying to his conversations with his ‘babu’ means Koushiki.

“I was just chatting with your mom dude”, I replied.

“my mom doesn’t use whatsapp moron”, Shyam said.

“then why is she calling you ‘my baby’ moron?”, I asked.

“you can’t understand. It’s love and its loveliness. You go to the practice, I am done for today”, he replied and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

I came back to the field. I’m the goalkeeper of a small club team. It was my time for practice. A question struck into my mind after a ball struck into my face, “why I don’t feel the loveliness of love?”

It was not a good time to find out the answers as my coach shouted at me as if I was in the middle of his canon range. I went back to practice. Raghu hits a ball and I fisted that. Then Rahim hits a ball that went out of the ground. After that Shantanu slams a ball to the top corner of the post that was quite unreachable for a keeper of my gesture. The next ball I gripped.

After an hour or so we came back, had our showers and then we waved byes and look forward for our moms’ menus. There was a walk of 7 minutes to my house when the road is fully in date with me as if in the chambers of secrets. None can hear what I say to Her and what She says to me. It was a narrow lane. That night too I was alone in date with my beloved narrow lane when most unfortunately someone intrude into our romance. I was less angry than amazed. I don’t know what happened to me. It was like feeling most uncomfortable with your well-known lover after seeing someone else’s beauty for a while.

I couldn’t control myself. I touched her. I did what I feel. The most surprising part was she never disagreed. May be she was in such state as mine. I danced with her just as I juggle with football. I gripped her just as I grip a football. I celebrated the night just as I celebrate after winning. It was a night to remember. Anyways, as always, I did do the dumbest part. I forgot to get her number. So, no whatsapp, no ‘my baby’ propagandas.

The next day I didn’t go to the ground. I waited in the narrow lane, the ex-lover of mine. As for the breakup with Her or for the daytime, the lane was full of public. Facts are not being fictional this time round i.e. if you let go your love, others will definitely catch her up. So as for the lane. I abandoned her for my new love and now it is full of crowd and for that reason my wish to meet with my last night’s stranger couldn’t be done. It was a rough day. I came back home empty hearted.

The next day was in the same schedule. And then again the heart went for the same schedule too. I was hopeless. I, then decided to went back to the ground, and to concentrate on my football career. So, after a week’s strong disposal I looked up and told myself not to bother but be a sober.

The ground felt like heaven that time. I again gripped, fisted, juggled. Every time I missed being with the stranger of that night. Every time I called upon the very particular moments of that night. The practice was like reading literature this time. I was too much obsessed with the stranger. Shyam shoots a ball right in the center of the post and as I was not at all concentrating in the practice, I was hit. Then all went black.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a nursing home cabin. Shyam was right beside me and my mother was sitting next to me. And most of a sudden I found her lying on my chest, the stranger of that night, the love of my life. I hugged her and realized how stupid I was for not concentrating in the practice today. She was with me all the time. It was her. It was the football!

The thing that stricken with me that night was a football which was there on the ground for some reasons. I juggled that, gripped that and celebrated. I didn’t know what happened to me. I never told anybody about this before. I searched the internet if this is some disease or not in which you see a football like a girl and even fall in love with her or it. I know nothing. Years later, I realized one thing. It was not a disease. It was an obsession. An obsession to feel the love. I never loved anything but football. I never stopped playing football till now. So, I agreed to stay this way.

Even now, sometimes, when the lane is lonely, I date with the stranger. I juggle, I grip, I celebrate. Even now I use to do the mistake of not taking her number. We don’t do such chatting:

“you ok darling?”

“yeah, just missing being with u”

“aww, hw swt. Is there warm in there or my baby needs a hug or…”

All we do is just loving each other and juggle, grip and celebrate.

A Ride For A Life...

“Who was it? An intention, a motive…or a drug?”, I asked the question to our three friends who attained an interview based on a crime committed by them. The main object of this interview is to know why the complainer himself overdrew all the charges he charged against them.

“We were jailed for an hour or so when he came and helped us to get rid of the mess we created. We are really very proud of having witnessed of a man like him.”, said Jit.

“How does it feel when you started?”, I asked Naresh.

“Well, what can I say? I felt like kicking the son of a biEEP’s ass but when he described I realized that if I say no then I’m gonna miss a hell of an adventure. I mean making fool out of the whole world was basically the foolest but coolest idea one can ever imagine. But tell me Riddhi, how on earth have you thought of that?” he questioned the mastermind of the flop plan, Riddhi.

We were ready to hear what he has prepared to say. And then he goes like this,

“We were in need to have a public attention. And for the last one year we didn’t have it. We tried everything. We were desperate enough to catch up the limelight with us. But all were hopeless. It’s like nobody gave a shit for a shit we shit on them. I was fed up. We all were fed up.”

“But why did you want to be spotted?” I questioned.

“Because we were intending to be famous”, and Riddhi continued, “then something came up. This something was not legal at all. All we needed was a bit of money and a lot of fortune. One of our friend is a newspaper reporter. He channeled us to a T.V. reporter. I am sure the names cannot be breached from me. I talked my plan with him. We organized a team and get ourselves ready for the deal. We opened up a company that was intend to make some world-class cookies. All we need was to have a blast in our launching. So, we planned to have a more world-class figure to represent world-class cookies. And when it comes to world, football rules it. So, we thought of bringing the biggest star in football of modern times”, he stopped for a while, drank his coffee.

I asked him, “nice move it was. But how have you contacted?”

“We didn’t. We just went to see him. We went to see him via his mentor. We were invited by him and we met. We just told him about our company and offered him some cookies. He ate after he agreed for a one-year contract of a one-billion-dollar deal and agreed to extend if all goes well. We told him that the shooting would be done shortly after we gather our rest of the team. Told him that we gonna pay the amount after the launch. It was a done deal. We came back to India and…”

“You tore off the contract paper.” I stopped him and told it.

“Yes. We did. He put a case on us. And as the deal was made in other country so we had to go there and surrender. We again went there and as soon as we touched our feet off the plane, the officers handcuffed us and put us behind the bar.” He said.

“But, why would the footballer came up and rescued you all? He himself was been cheated by you, he himself put the case and then he just showed the candle to you to freedom?”, I asked impatiently.

“Maybe he thought of being gentle or maybe he was just kind to us”, he gently replied.

Ummmm…sorry to let you all down. This is not the story. This is the story that gonna publish tomorrow in the newspaper I work for. Now, let the things be unleashed…

We two, I and Riddhi went for cigarette after finishing the interview. Riddhi suddenly told me, “why do you think he would do that?”

We paused for a while. Then we both laughed for a long time. Let’s remove the curtain from the ‘case unsolved’. Here’s what truly happened.

The friend of Riddhi who worked for a newspaper was me. Radhika, sister of Riddhi, was struggling from blood cancer. It was her last stage if a Bone Marrow Transplant was not done. I planned the whole thing. It was a mess I knew. But it was worth a try. As we approached the mentor of the footballer with real name and real cause, he just ignored. So we built up a fake company. A fake name. some cookies from some unknown stall. We started our ride for Radhika by opening up sites, stalled in puja maidans for her. Put up flexes. But nobody cared. Still, for some humanity is still alive, we had collected 5 lakhs rupees. We added a bit more. Travelled to Spain. Met the footballer and bluffed him. He was a good guy who trusted us. There was never any cookie company. When we were caught up by police, he came to see us. We told him that we knew that a straight step towards him for the sake of Radhika was not possible. We had to bluff. As his agent was sucking our mind every moment. We told him about Radhika. He smiled. He told us about the problems he is having with his taxes, if he took the expenses over himself then in near future some legal controversies can happen. We were seeing that our last hope was going away from us.

Suddenly he called someone and told us to go along with him. We went and was as surprised as Noah. We shared handshakes with the new guy. Our guy told us that the new guy was going to take over the expenses of Radhika from now on. I can’t forget the words that day told by these two great men. The new guy told, “I can imagine what surprises you all. You think I and him always been a rival and can never be good friends. You know, you all made us look like that but we are like buddies and we enjoy seeing you all talking bullshits about us. No offense, you may not but others do.” Our guy told, “whatever, your trouble is ours now. We two gonna take over the responsibility of Radhika. We are not doing it for publicity, these help gonna be a secret. Because this is not a help, this is a tribute for your try. A try that should be respected.”

We were not feeling proud because of the praising words they used for us. We were just amazed as before after seeing the two legends smiling at each other’s joke. I heard saying the new guy about a good-looking girl he just met, our guy smiled and told, “how many girls have been good looking to you?” the new guy replied, “except your wife.” They were laughing. But we weren’t. We were just as amazed as before. They don’t even bother for a publicity for doing such a life-saving work. I don’t know if they score goals or not. What they have done for Radhika being silent guardian, was enough for me to see them as legends.

 In this whole time the entrepreneur has been me. The fake documents were made by a friend of us whose father is a lawyer.

Radhika has passed the Bone Marrow Transplant operation. She is now under chamoes. She is quite well.

It was a good ride. A ride to save a life. It might have been a bit rougher but we were all out of options as people won’t be listening to you until it’s a controversy.

Why have we done it? Because someone pushed us to do it. The question remained, who was these two men? Well, I can’t answer it as they would mind if I do. My silence can provide Radhika, the love of my life, a good ride to have a better life.

I don’t think it’s a tough guess to guess the names of these two legends. As I may say, Spain is a good place to visit.

Sometimes I asked myself for whom I was such psychic?

Who was it? An intention, a motive…or a drug?

Love is a drug. Isn’t it?

Kiss With A Fist...

Everything had been going outstandingly well. All the plays were executed perfectly, they were up by a goal, and Macy hadn’t even once gotten into a fight with a ref or the team captain from the Owls because if Macy knew how to do anything besides play soccer, it was how to fight with Athena May.
             “Uh, el capitán, you might want to stop Macy from doing that thing she does that she is doing right now, oh God,” Andy yelped and covered her eyes from the impending disaster that was about to unfold and oh god was absolutely right.
            “I don’t think I can take this,” Quetzalli said from besides Andy. She was rubbing consoling circles into her back while pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
            Macy did this literally every time they played the Owls and it was usually just easier to let her and the Owls’ captain blow through it for a few minutes.
            “Coach, should we do something…?”
            “In a minute, just let ‘er blow off some steam,” he sighed and sat down on the bench in defeat.
            “That was obviously a foul, you ass-backward muppet!” Macy shouted as she helped Angela up from where she lay sprawled from the hit she had absorbed. She winced in pain but managed to limp off the field with the help of the other girls. Macy stomped over to the other captain purposefully. She herself was sending the girl who had crashed into Angela off the field with a placating look and a face like she was going to handle it. The Owls’ captain scooped up the soccer ball and strode over to meet Macy halfway.
            “Where the fuck do you think you’re going-“
            “Lay off her, Tran,” she growled at Macy. “It was an equal collision.”
            “If you think that was in any way Angela’s fault, then you’re a lot dumber than I thought you were.”
            “What the fuck did you say to me, who do you think you are, you petulant, egotistical-“
            “You heard me, Mayfly,” Macy said stepping even closer to her. Athena May exuded a certain strength much like Macy thought Athena the goddess would and her emerald bright eyes were distracting as all hell, especially when she was one wrong word away from tackling Macy into the turf like that one time three seasons ago.
            “Oh, Mayfly, is it?! Listen, Transatlantic Trade, Ally didn’t do jack shit by herself so you can just keep your foul until you’re willing to take equal responsibility for it!” Athena hated that this sparrow of a girl was egging her on so much and she hated that she was absolutely loving it. Athena thought that this was the day they were going to finally show down because Macy looked pissed as shit and her hands were clenching and unclenching at her sides.
            “If you think that I’m going to even think about taking any sort of blame for whatever that clumsy-“
            “Hey, dumbasses! Either kiss and make up or get back to the game!” Macy’s coach yelled from the side of the field which was met with grumbled affirmation from the rest of her team. They both stood in silence for a moment.
            “What the fuck did he just-“
            “Oh, come off it, May,” Macy said with startling tenderness. Athena looked down at her and was shocked into silence at the flush traveling up Macy’s neck. She started to smile but was suddenly cut off my Macy’s vice grip on the front of her jersey and the rough clash of their teeth against each other. Athena could feel Macy’s hands shaking against her collarbone and she could tell it wasn’t out of rage anymore.
            Athena dropped the ball she had rested on her hip so that she could twist one of her hands into Macy’s ponytail and the other to ruck up her shirt to get to her firm back still slick with sweat. Macy calmed down just enough so that the press of lips was less painful and more like an actual kiss. Athena’s laugh melted into a sigh.
            “Okay, okay, knock that gay shit off, get back to the game!” Jenavieve shouted from the bleachers. Athena managed to flip her off even as Macy pulled away from her.
            “Guess your mouth isn’t just good for screaming at me,” Macy muttered in a haze. She licked her lips and almost wished that they both hadn’t been covered in sweat for that first one.
            “You do most of the screaming anyway,” Athena laughed and bumped her head against Macy’s. “See you after the game?”
            Macy giggled and then covered her mouth in embarrassment. She was tough as shit and Athena was going to fucking know it. She smoothed out her grin and shrugged. “Yeah, that’ll be fine, we were gonna see you clowns anyway.”
            Athena laughed. “Okay, see ya ..after we win.” She thumped Macy on the nose and jogged away. Macy stared at her back, appalled at the nerve of this two-faced, manipulative-
            “Oh shit, you have another thing coming, oh God,” she fumed, throwing up her arms in exasperation. She made her way quickly back to the bench, a great play already forming in her mind because she was going to beat that perfect specimen’s team into the ground. As she explained it carefully, the team tried their best not to laugh because Macy was still sporting a delicate blush and swollen lips from where Athena had basically smashed into her.
            Soon enough their time out was over and they were back on the field, their passes perfectly executed, clean, and almost too fast for the Owls to keep up. Athena had managed to get the goal that had put them into over-time and Ally from the Owls almost managed to get a kick past Andy but fumbled at the last minute allowing Quetzalli to make the winning shot.
            Cheers erupted from both the team and the bleachers. Macy celebrated momentarily with the rest of the girls, giving high fives and sweaty hugs before turning back and jogging leisurely up to Athena who was panting her compliments to the other players on her team.
            “So,” Macy said once they were within earshot of each other. “Is this what you meant when you said ‘see you after the game’?” She took a deep breath and held it, trying to get her heart rate back down. Athena laughed and wiped sweat from her brow and the side of her long neck.
            “I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a movie or dinner, actually,” she said, still breathless but happy with the outcome of events. Maybe not the lose itself, but certainly the events occurring after.
            Macy was struck shy by the newness of Athena’s smile. “Dinner sounds great actually. The team’s heading out for pizza, did you guys wanna come?”
            Athena looked back at the Owls who were all giving her simultaneous thumbs up. “I think we’ll just have to manage between the two of us.”
            “Okay, then. Get your stuff, I’ll drive,” Macy said before turning away to also gather her things.
            “Wow, wait, that’s fine, I’ll drive,” Athena called after her. Macy turned around, the familiar spark in her eye.
            “Why should you drive, my car’s right over there.”
            “Well, so is mine-“
            “Yeah, yeah, mine’s closer-“
            “Macy, they are right next to each other, you glared at me when you were getting out before the game-“
            “Then it shouldn’t be a problem-“
            “You’re so stubborn-“
            “I’m stubborn, what about you-“
            Quetzalli turned away in disgust. “This is never going to end,” she groaned and dragged Andy away who just laughed. The world was full of regularities. Still, for them, everything indeed was going outstandingly well. 

An Adverse Tide…

(based on true events)

“We just found him lying down on the beach. He was pale.”, said Tony.

“I found him first. I was searching for a good background for our magazine’s cover pic and then I certainly found out that some boy was just trying to get hold of something.”, said Rohan.

“It was necessary. We were searching for a good location to shoot the most affected areas and then Rohan found out something and then you know the rest, right?”, Ashley asked me as I was asking them questions on behalf of my report.

We stopped the interaction for a moment and concentrated in our snacks and coffee. I said, “look guys, I need not to be sober with you but seriously I need your details about him. No offense but I don’t believe the story you all have provided. I mean, just think practically. A 6 years old boy! I mean, are you fucking kidding with me?” I didn’t know if I was rude or cranky but I was quite sure that I was a mess in that situation. Rohan said, “dude, you were just dreaming of being a journalist when we got the story. We found the boy. We saw what you didn’t. we helped him out while you were just enjoying some pogo channels with an uncle-chips in your hand and ordering your mother to clean your shit. So it’s good for you to talk with the boy directly as he is much younger than you.” I wasn’t ready for that. It was like has-been-kicked-out situation. I didn’t say nothing.

Merry stood up. She was one of the member of their crew. She told me to come outside of the room and join her with a beer. I was in a no condition to say ‘no’ to her as she was like the angel to me in that moment. I came out. Join her with a beer. Smiled at each other. She asked,” Why are you so angry with us?” I said that I am not. She asked again,” I think we hurt you in some ways.” I disagreed. Then she asked,” what do you know about Martunis?” I said, “Nothing except what you have written in your report and what wiki represents, more precisely, what google represents. I want to hear the truth Merry. For god’s sake please tell me the truth. Do you really think a 6 years old boy can survive Tsunami? If your answer is a YES then I must say you guys are nothing but love freaking people out.” Merry kept silent for a minute. She then sighed and told something. Something even I dared to question.

“It is always a tough thing to fight with nature. It was 26^th December, 2004. An earthquake triggered an epic tsunami in the Indian Ocean that crashed against the shores of 14 countries. Some 230,000 people were killed by the merciless wave. One of the hardest-hit spot was Banda Aceh, a city on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. We couldn’t reach to the affected area as all area was sealed. A lot of life were sacrificed that day. We reached to the area on the afternoon of 16^th January, 2005. Rohan was searching for a background to make a cover picture of our report. Suddenly he cried out like ‘somebody is out there! help!’ we all ran. We mean the four of us. Reached to the spot where Rohan arrived earlier. We saw a boy. A pale, black boy, murmuring something what we didn’t understand.”

“We took him to a local hospital. We found out that there was some kind of fair of injured people was going on. In some ways, Ashley managed a doctor and we handover the boy to the authority. After an hour or so a nurse came to the waiting room and asked for us. We went. The doctor said that a proper digestion would be the perfect medicine for him though he gave some injections and a saline was on. The boy was unable to talk. But after a week of complete digestion we, after completing collecting data for our report visited the boy and then found that the boy was attended by an organization who save children and they brought him his family back. We went to their home. His father Sarbini welcomed and thanked us. I was pretty much exhausted of being excited to hear the miracle boy’s voice as the doctor said that a day later he would have been died.”

“I asked him,’ what is your name son?’ the boy replied,’ my name is Rui Costa.’ Rohan smiled and later I came to know that Rui Costa was the name of the captain of Portugal Football team. Sarbini smiled and said,’ he is his favourite player. His name is Martunis. Tony asked him,’ Martunis, how long have you been in the beaches of Indonesian City?’ Martunis replied,’ I don’t remember the time. I just remembered that I found myself on the beach after baba told me to go for a sleep.’ Sarbini told that it was 26^th December when he lost his son. We calculated. About 21 days the boy survived. ‘how did you? Were you not afraid?’ I asked. He said, ‘I was not afraid. Because I had Rui Costa with me. I saw him how single-handedly he reached his goals. Lots of tide came to melt him down but he stood up every time and celebrated after scoring. My goal was to see my baba and play football for my country. Yes, I was hungry but there was no lack of food. I ate scavenging packs of dry noodles and polluted rain water. So what? I reached my goal. I celebrated a lot. I will play for my country some days. Thanks to you. You assisted me to score my goal.’ He smiled and ran away with a football in his hand.”

“We came back. Published the report. Highlighted Martunis incident and guess what, moved by the child's plight, Portugal's soccer federation donated some 40,000 euros to build Martunis and his surviving family a new house. Cristiano Ronaldo, now a global superstar but then still a rising talent, paid Martunis a visit in 2005 and met him a few instances thereafter. He was given an audience by the Portuguese national team and even FIFA President Sepp Blatter.”

I remained silent for the whole time. Merry stood up as others were on their way back. I gained my consciousness and asked, “but why did Martunis said that he had Rui Costa with him during his survival?” Merry replied, “when Rohan found the boy, Martunis, he was trying to get hold of something. It was a t-shirt pictured with a footballer. It was his t-shirt that somehow tore. I didn’t know him then. I know him now. It was a picture of Rui Costa.” Merry left.

In July 2015, he was confirmed as a Sporting Clube De Portugal player. Speaking about the team, Martunis said that it is "a dream come true" and that he wants to follow the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo. The club's president stated that he will play for the Under-19 team.

After visiting Martunis CR7 said, "I believe that many adults would not even be able to deal with what he has gone through. We must respect him. This was an act of strength and maturity. He's a special kid."

Yes, indeed. Martunis was with Costa that whole time. He was not like one of the affected of the Tsunami. It was not 21 days for him. There was no strong sunlight or hard tides that touched the beach. For Martunis, it was a playground, where he was playing football, defending his goal against all the odds. He intended for a 90 minutes’ match which just got past 21 days to win the match and he, indeed, celebrated.

Reporting from prison...

“As a prominent Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish said ‘for me freedom is to be what they don’t want me to be’, I do follow his words and here lies the mystery of my success story.”

 30 years ago a simple couple, a man who was a floor-layer and a woman who was a nursery school teacher, decided not to have any further kids having 2 already for the sake of their poor economic condition. 9 months later, a girl was born and was meant to break all the barriers starting from breaking the oath of the couple. The fortune of a nation went on to grow in the narrow lanes of Palestine and no one even noticed it then unless she meant it.

From the age of almost 10, she was given the name ‘tomboy’ by the neighborhood. As she started juggling the football along with the boys. In Palestine, football was not a game of girls at that time, it was kind of a boy’s occupational hazard. But still, none would have dared to stop the tomboy from playing football, not even his father. She got herself injured and being scolded by her father but then came up with new injuries and again a bunch of father’s scolding. All was in vain. She was not to be stopped until she wanted to st…

Uhhh…enough! Look, seriously I hate this job. This writing thing. But in fact, today, I mean, tonight if I don’t write it down, I would be ashamed of myself for not having it written. This was meant to be a biography but this woman shouldn’t be kept in such a jerk way of explaining a character. Let me put some questions to you and as it is not an fb chat-box, I’m gonna answer it afterwards. Here we go,

1.         What does prison mean to you?
2.        .How does it feel being in a prison from birth to death?
3.         Can you end up yourself having the greatest test of happiness staying within the prison?

Well, it may seem awkward but the answer of the three questions is a one simple name. But before that, let’s detour. In 1980’s Palestine was a place of war. A woman of that time in that place meant to be a prisoner in her own state. She couldn’t even go to give the most valuable exam of her career just because of some raid as there was shooting all around the corner of the city. They have to go to the university in ambulances. I am talking about Bethlehem. You may seem that prison means a room behind some iron bars but for the then Palestinians it was there home. If you were born in that culture, you were in prison. If you were born in a Palestinian family, you were in prison. If you were born here, you would die in prison. Here lies the answer of my first question and for the second one, I guess I don’t need to answer that one.

For the third one it needs a legend to act, a warrior to perform and a soldier to fight against the odds. What if I say our ‘tomboy’, in 2003, ended up having 5 girls playing football and winning the University Champion’s cup? What if I say, the prisoner of having been prisoned along with her parents and other 4 brothers and sisters ended up becoming a captain of a women’s national football team? And what if I say, she didn’t able to play her first match and was unable to attend any matches for her team consistently for the next year also? Yes, it hurts! It hurts when you feel so high and suddenly fall from sky. Although as she suffered from her injuries in 2009, she started telecasting kids football show. She caught up with the FIFA and later on became an important member of FIFA.

Starting with 5 girls, the ‘tomboy’ ended up creating a national football team of 20 women in the side. Now, in 2014-15 season, Palestine is witnessing over a hundred women soccer player from almost 19 clubs. It was a start from the end. A journey from the ashes. A heist from the nil.

Now, guess who I was talking about. She, who made the prison a detour of a new era, is none other than, the ‘tomboy’ of the neighborhood in Bethlehem, Honey Thaljieh, captain of the Palestine Women’s Football team.

I’m writing this as I was youtubing and ended up having listened and became overwhelmed by her last words of a 16 minutes’ speech of her in Zurich in 2014. Though it wasn’t her own words but the way she applied the words in her own life made me wonder that how on earth can this not be her own words?

“…for me freedom is to be what they don’t want me to be…”

From Nothing To Nike.

FROM 

“How does it feel being at the top of the world?” a reporter asked.

“Well, it feels like media is a great threat to you then” Singh smiled after giving the answer.

“What’s the parameter of the pressure of being underdog and now being the worthy side?” another reporter asked.

“Being underdog is a good thing that you don’t get to get the pressure of winning or losing, you just have to play for fun. But being a worthy side, is antonymous of my last sentence.” Singh answered again with a smile.

“Have you ever imagined of winning World Cup Football with team India?” a lady reporter asked with firm voice.

A moment of silence passed through. Assistant Coach Jese Farnandez waved his hand and told, “enough for today’s queries. Thank you all for attending the conference.”

Singh and Farnandez got out of the conference room and went to their suits.

I had a special permission to interview Jagjit Singh on behalf of The Telegraph. I was waiting outside in the hall when Mr. Singh came and waved his hand towards me. I stood up and we went to his suit. He ordered two cappuccinos and we started talking. Jagjit Singh is now the coach of Indian National Football Team, a team that have won the World Cup 2038. Being underdog and qualifying for the first time in the world cup and winning it has been a mystery to the world. After winning the world cup, the team never looked back and now ranking 7^th from 156^th within 24 years.

 I questioned him first about his decision of taking the manager ship of Team India. 

“It was 2014, Singh told, playing my last derby game against Mohunbagan Football Club, scored a goal and assisted for two goals for East Bengal. The crowd was burst out with my name, Jagjit Singh. It was one of the most memorable day for me.”

“When I retired, Shri Praful M Patel, the president of AIFF, called me and we fixed a meeting. I didn’t know about what reasons he wanted me to be met. Anyways, we talked about the development of Indian Football. Suddenly he told me to take over the responsibility of the team. I couldn’t be surprised more than that. I mean, how on earth can I be a manager? I talked with my friends over that and they told me to give it a try.”

“My first duty was to make sure that the players are getting whatever they have to get. So, I contacted physicians round the world. The new thing I added into this team that I did not borrow scout only for finding good potential players but also I scouted for best coaching stuffs.

After a year my 1^st scout Manoj Rohani told me about a physicist named Andrew Santos who was Portuguese by nation but got fired from Crystal Palace for a wrong treatment of a player. Though I talked him over the phone because I was lack of stuffs.”

“Andrew joined the team after a week of talking over the phone with me. The first word of him that attracted me was ‘if you want to win a match with players full of potential, then first give them potential’. He brought me to some sponsors but none was ready to sponsor a 156^th ranked team. But at last we saw a commercial of Nike where they create a shoe for the physically challenged kids. With no time we went to talk to the C.E.O. of Nike Mark Parker. Our first meeting did not go well. He told us to talk with the marketing head of Nike in the South East Asia Mr. Sanjay Gangopadhay. We contacted him and he was convinced quite a bit. I invited him to see a derby match in the year `2017.”

“He saw the match and after that told me ‘I will talk about sponsoring the team”, the thing he loved about Indian Football was the crowd of 1 lakh people cheering for the support of their team. We were surprised to see Mark Parker in the next derby game. His reaction was same.”

About after a minute of pause I asked him, “then? What happened? Did he sponsor the team?”

He drank the last sip of Cappuccino. He started, “no. he didn’t. We were in the situation of nowhere to go. Mark went back to the dressing room, chit-chatted with the players and donated a sum amount of 10k dollars and was going to leave the lobby when our captain Rohit Lamba stopped him and told him ‘sir, it’s true that we need money but we are not beggars. It’s your humbleness that you are donating for our development but we need a stand, we need a man who can tell after every match we lose that better luck next time, we need a hand to pat on our back after we win a match, we need you to retain our strength in the time of our crisis.’ I can’t ever forget those words. The words that made Mark to hug Lamba. The next moment it was history. Nike became the official sponsor of Indian National Football team. Yes, we performed very poor after that and Mark was threatened to be fired from his position but he didn’t ever stop sponsoring. We went down to the rank 176^th.”

“We won the Nehru Cup and for the first time in the history of the cup became the unbeaten champion in the year 2021. And from then on we lost only 27 games until we get to the final team list in the world cup football 2038. Rest is history.”

Suddenly I found myself in the waves of water. I woke up. Mom was calling me to get up and get ready for my journalism class. The 45 minutes’ interview was nothing but my subconscious mind. I just smiled and thought that if the dream was not a dream. If my legend was ‘Jagjit Singh’ instead of Lionel Messi. If the 156^th rank became 1^st.