The Great Downpour

Chapter VII

Chapter VII

It was Sunday, the 23rd of June. The Durgadevi Mittal Outdoor Sports and Recreation Stadium situated just in front of the Mission School in Jabalpur was full of spectators on the morning of this day. After all, St. Aloysius was to play a game of football against St. Martin’s College of Engineering! There was enough drama and action here today to satisfy a whole generation of youth! The winning team would advance to the semi-finals of the Jabalpur Inter-Collegiate Championships.

“Sunny! Sunny!” The chant grew louder as, with just three minutes of play left, the St. Aloysius team trailed by a goal. Sundeep had possession of the ball. He was a left-forward, one of the star players of his team, but today, he seemed to have come “undone”, with lack-lustre play and hardly any shies at the goal-post. To add salt to his wounds, he had missed an easy penalty in the 68th minute of play. The St. Aloysius crowd expected him to respond to their encouragement. He carefully toed the ball to the D, and then attempted a long kick that was immediately seen going wide. The goal-keeper of St. Martin’s, who sported a French beard and looked really mean, collected the ball from one of the spectators who stood behind the goal, and made an obscene gesture to Sundeep. Tossing the ball, he kicked it past the middle of the field and the ball was in the game again.

With one and a half minutes to go, Sundeep came in again, with two chasers at his tail, and this time, he combined magically with his other tow team-mates to put in a goal for the team. It was now 1-1 to both teams. If St. Martin’s got in a goal on the rebound, Aloysius would sink. If, however, Aloysius prevented Martin’s from scoring, Aloysius went through to the semi-finals on account of their better performance in the preliminary rounds. Sundeep knew this, and he felt sure that his team’s defenders did too. It would now be a game of strategy, with the St. Martin forwards going all out to score the winning goal.

Rati sat on the edge of her seat, as the final seconds of the game ticked by. Sandesh looked at her and smiled, saying, “Oh, come on, Rats, it’s not like the end of the world or something, relax!”

Rati looked at him and shooed him to keep quiet. The St. Martin’s forward was taking the ball into the penalty area of the St. Aloysius’ half of the stadium. Half the spectators were delirious with shouting, while the other half stayed rooted in their seats, their mouths open, jaws hanging and saliva trickling down the corners of their mouths! Possession passed from the St. Martin’s guy to the defender from St. Aloysius, who quickly tapped it to the forwards who stood waiting just inside the mid-line on the opposite side as the drama played out on the other side and fizzled out just as soon. The ball came to Sundeep yet again, and he decided the game with a brilliant field goal that had him going past three defenders and past the enemy goal-keeper into the goal. The final whistle blew at the very instant the goal occurred. St. Aloysius had won 2-1! Sundeep, a.k.a. Sunny was now a hero!

The gang met in a swanky restaurant on the Lal Bahadur Shastri Road in the heart of Jabalpur. Over beer, the men screamed and shouted, while the women made merry with uninhibited laughter and fun.

***

St. Aloysius College was a hot-bed of activity one day before the proposed Picnic. Groups of college students were seen moving about here and there, either as volunteers for the school, or organizing the arrangements of their own groups – such as the group led by Sandesh. They were all gathered around the statue of Jesus which was planted in the centre of the courtyard.

“I trust everyone remembers that things they have been asked to bring tomorrow,” Sandesh said.

“Of course, we do, Your Honour,” said Yash in jest.

Everyone guffawed. Even Muhammad, not normally known to be very cheerful, joined in.

“Sandy, man, just remember to get a nice, unbroken bat and a ball that does not come apart!” he said to the leader. Laughter echoed from all sides yet again.

“Achcha, okay okay, don’t make fun of me, I know you all are very competent. I wanted someone to bring some book on Wildlife … does anyone have any?”

“Yes, I do. I have the ‘Collin’s Traveller’s Guide to the Wildlife of India,’ ” offered Nazima.

“That’s great!” said Muhammad, who had a soft corner for this docile, traditional Muslim girl studying in Second Year Arts.

“Hmmm … see how Mummy notices Naaz!” teased Rati. It was Sandesh’s turn to “notice” Rati, and the next comment came almost in a second: it was Bhairavi who said, “Look who’s talking about people noticing other people … have some mercy on Sandy, Rats!”

The preparations went on late into the night and it was almost ten o’clock when the college premises quietened down and darkness descended on the corridors.

***

A telephone bell rang somewhere on the second floor within the college. Gangadin, the night watchman, was on the prowl there when he heard it. It was coming from where the Staff Room was situated. The bell rang once, twice and thrice before it was cut by the sound of someone picking up the receiver.

Gangadin moved towards the Staff Room. He was unaware that there was someone still in the College. He tip-toed the distance to the dimly lit window that framed the staff room against the corridor and looked in. There was someone in the corner where the telephone was kept. It was hard to make out who it was. Ganga cautiously entered the room via its entrance and said, “Er, Saheb?”

The teacher looked at him and said, “Kya hai, Ganga?”

“Kuch nahi, Saheb!” Gangadin went off on his nightly rounds. The teacher continued to talk to the person at the other end for another twenty minutes.

All the pieces were in place, the teacher thought with an evil glint in the eye. Let the game begin!

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