When Winning takes a backseat

‘Storm’

 Winning moments after defeating ALS in the finals

It takes just over a day and a half to reach Jodhpur from Lucknow.  As diabolical a train ride can be in India, the picturesque bridges and the immortal Taj Mahal along the way compels me to forget the ills concerning the Indian Railways.  Still, with the same exhilaration and zeal, I make sure to repeat this journey once every year.

Here, destination stands out as the cornerstone.  Situated in the suburbia, the halls of National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur scream solitude.  Yuvardha, their biennial sports event, attracts a considerable college crowd from all around the country.  Heading back to the year 2013, I made my first and the most important trip to a remote part of Jodhpur in Rajasthan.  But soon realised how our captain had been imploring us since the beginning to focus.  For us freshers, the sense of awe and admiration towards a new city took a backseat. We had to concentrate on our game. 

A couple of days and four games later, we were challenging for the title. 

Recollecting that strange evening, it seemed that even the Gods were ready to endure and make way for one of the most significant time of our lives.  September rains had flooded out the entire festive happenings in and around the college campus, the game of football emerging as the solitary survivor.  Around half time, heavy rain had bucketed down and the unfettered winds unearthed the tents and trees on the sidelines.  On the pitch, I remember taking a long ball from centre defense straight onto my chest. It wasn’t a typical pass that you would be expecting.  Rather, the ball took its time hurling away from denser water droplets and thick blackening clouds to clouds iridescent.  One half of the field was black and gloomy, while the other was sparkling with spectrum of light.  Scores were level, nil-nil at full time.

Game headed to a penalty shootout.  As I made my way past this unfathomable event of nature, a blur appeared in front of my eyes. Broken voices stuttering in the background.  I went on to convert the penalty and confirm the win.  But the happiness of beating one of the best law school football teams of the country was overwhelmed and overshadowed by the capricious weather playing hide and seek.  And I wasn’t complaining.  

My childhood assembly prayers stated that if you were to play the game of football, there wasn’t any need to read the bible.  It teaches patience, purpose and perseverance.  All these attributes required against top sides like Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai (first round) and then Amity Law School, Noida in the finals.  There are hardly any words to articulate the happiness resonating our victory, such was the magnitude of that storm.  The chills continue to trigger a feeling of nostalgia. 

The team in white is RML-NLU while the ALS wore their basic blue jersey