By Savitri Narayanan
Sunday was always special. The way life slowed down its pace was tangible. There was absolutely no rush in the air! They would sit around and have a leisurely breakfast. Mostly it would be papa’s favourite aloo parantha with dhania chutney or boondi raita. Keeping in mind Sunaina’s sweet tooth, mummy would prepare a sweet too, most often sooji halwa.
“You both never get fed up of these!” mummy would laugh heartily as they reached out for more helpings.
“You spend so much time cooking,” papa said patting mummy’s shoulders, “Let’s lunch out today, we’ll walk around and find a good hotel!”
Lucknow was new for them. It was only a month ago that papa, employed in a bank, was transferred from Delhi to the Lucknow branch. Sunaina had passed from Class VII to Class VIII. The school was closed for summer vacations, but the office staff was working. One morning, with mummy, Sunaina too had gone to collect the TC and bid farewell to her school. Sunaina’s eyes welled up as she turned back to get one more glimpse of the institution where she had studied from Class I onwards. During the past year, Sunaina was the House Captain of the Orange House and also the Sports Captain. She was good at batting and was the captain of the Juniors cricket team too.
“In Lucknow, too we’ll look for a Kendriya Vidyalaya, they’ve branches all over India,” mummy said sensing Sunaina’s anguish, “Surely you’ll make friends and find your place in the new school!”
While in Delhi, papa worked in the branch near Connaught Place and they stayed in a nearby housing colony. Here, in Lucknow, the branch was not in the main city but in a small suburb along the banks of Gomti River. Papa left for work after breakfast. He shared a ride with a neighbour who also worked in the same area. After her household chores along with mummy, Sunaina too would go out to explore the surroundings. They met a few neighbours, located a provision shop, vegetable shop and other things to meet the daily needs. One evening, they also went to the nearby temple with Lata aunty and her sister.
What Sunaina missed was her friends. Back in Delhi, every evening they would play in the nearby park for hours! Some of their mothers too did their evening walk or sat around chatting in groups.
‘Hope when the school opens here in Lucknow, too, I’ll have friends to play with,’ Sunaina sighed.
As they turned the corner, Sunaina noticed a group of children playing in the ground across the lane. It was a large ground, children in groups played their own games. Sunaina’s eyes glowed at the sight of some children who played cricket.
‘Thank God! Here, too, I can play cricket,’ she thought. She followed mummy home but continued to turn back to watch the game in progress.
“Mummy, I’m going out to play,” said Sunaina, next evening. She wore the cap and took out her cricket bat.
“Come back home before it gets dark,” called out mummy.
She stood aside watching the game.
“Out!” screamed the bowler gleefully.
“I’ll bat now,” Sunaina said to all the players in general and walked to take her position.
‘You! But you’re a girl!’
“So what? I’ll bat,” Sunaina stood her ground.
For a moment there was silence. The boys were at a loss. Then they left their positions and came closer.
‘Girls don’t play cricket!’, ‘We don’t play with girls!’, ‘As if you know to bat!’, ‘We never had a girl in our team’, they said to each other.
“Give her a chance! See if she can bat or not.”
They were startled to hear an adult voice. It was Malhotra uncle, a retired army officer, on his evening walk with his dog on the leash.
“In our army, too, we have many women officers,” he egged them on. “Come on boys, give her a chance!”
Within no time the barriers were broken and they played happily.
‘My sister also will come tomorrow’, ‘Mine too’, ‘My cousin from Mumbai is home, maybe she’ll come too!’, so they chatted happily as they went home.
The sun would soon set but in Sunaina’s mind it was sunrise, happy days in the offing with the cricket bat!
(Savitri Narayanan is a retired educationist at present in Bangaluru. A mother and grandmother, loves, reading, writing and travelling.)
