Phoolka

Where is Phoolka?

She will surely be in the Panchayat Ghar watching cricket on television. She watches all the matches be it tests, one dayers or T20 and it does not matter who is playing. If there is a ball being bowled and a player on the crease, she will be watching every move. Her expressions are a true reflection of the on goings on the field…..the way the idiot will put her hands up in joy at a six being hit or covers her mouth in anguish with her hands when someone drops a catch…you can do a running commentary of the match proceedings just by watching her.

Go and call her. Tell her it is urgent.

In some time a girl with her hair tied in a red coloured ribbon, wearing a crumpled salwar kameez and a broad grin on her face, appeared.

Deepu, why have you called me? The match between Saurashtra and Tripura is about to start, so tell me quickly.

We have an important match against Rampura and your brother Shyam is down with an upset stomach. We are short of one player in our team. I want you to come with us to play the match.

You mean me in the playing eleven! Yes…Yesssss!!

Deepu, are you mad? How can you even think of playing this important match with Phoolka in the team? The Rampura boys are so strong a team and we will play with a girl who can neither bat nor bowl.

Shambhu, you are right about Rampura team. They always seem to beat us easily and I too wanted to field the best players but with Shyam down, we do not have a substitute player. I know Phoolka can neither bat nor bowl but she knows the rules of the game well and she can field. Every day when we practice, she is always there to run after the balls when it would land in the paddy fields. You have seen how quickly she would scamper, find the ball in the thick bushes and then throw it back to us. She has a strong arm. If not her, who else can we ask to play?

Deepu, I refuse to play with a girl in the team. Everyone will make fun of us. All those with me, please come over to my side. Rest can play in the khichadi team of Deepu.

Listen Shambhu, we should not divide the team. Unity is our strength. You play as if we are playing with ten players. I promise you that I will not ask Phoolka to bowl and she will come at the very end of our innings, if at all there is a chance for her to bat. I will make her stand behind the wicket keeper and all she will do is to pick up the balls and throw it back. We cannot give a walk over to Rampura.

Shambhu stepped back and reluctantly appeared to have agreed with the Captain’s line of thinking.

And you, Phoolka, go and wear your shoes and come back. We will leave for Rampura in some time.

Phoolka ran as fast as she could and pushed the door of her house open.

Bapu, I have to go to Rampura to play cricket match in place of Shyam. Deepu just asked me to join the others.

How can you play with the boys? Tujhse na ho payega, Beti! Leave all this madness of cricket behind and concentrate on your studies. Playing with all the boys you will get hurt and some of them are unruly. They will harass you while playing, the crowds will make cat calls and you will not like it one bit. I will ask Shyam to get ready and go to Rampura.

Phoolka’s mother shouted at the top of her voice from the kitchen…..Shyam has been rushing to the toilet every now and then. How can you even think of asking him to go and play cricket in this state? All are mad in my house….a girl who wants to play with boys, a father who wants his sick son to play instead and a son who keeps eating everything he sets his eyes on and then keeps having upset stomach every other day. I feel like going back to my father’s place for some sanity.

Bapu, please let me go and play. I know everything about cricket and have been dreaming of playing the game. Today I have got an opportunity, so please don’t stop me. I will do whatever you ask of me after the match, including not watching the cricket matches on television for the next one month.

Tujhse na ho payega Beti…the father repeated but then could not say no to the little girl who was almost in tears.

Phoolka quickly wore her shoes and rushed back to the bus stop where all the boys were waiting for her.

What took you so long….putting up make-up for the match…said Shambhu sarcastically and all the others laughed.

They boarded the bus and off they went to Rampura. The other team strongly objected to the presence of a girl in Kuru Khera team.

If we lose the match, people will laugh at us and make fun of us….look there goes the Rampura team which cannot win against a girls’ team. Go and wear bangles instead of gloves. If we win, we will not get any appreciation or credit…they will say, what was the big deal in defeating a team with girls.

Deepu pleaded with the opposing captain and told him his problem of not having an eleventh fit boy to play. He confirmed to him that no matter what happens the girl in his team will neither bat nor bowl. She will just stand in the field doing nothing other than picking up the balls thrown at her. We will not write her name in the scorebook…in fact you can write the name of her brother Shyam in the book so that when someone later sees the scorecard, they will not know a girl ever played here.

Peace prevailed and match started after the toss of the coin when Kuru Khera won and decided to bat first. The Rampura team had some good bowlers and despite some gritty display by Shambhu, who opened the innings, the away team lost their first seven wickets for a paltry 59 runs. The next two pairs contributed another 30 when Kamesh got out caught at the fence trying to hit his way out of the ground. There were still 3 balls of the twentieth over left and Phoolka was excited that she will walk out to bat. Just then Deepu stood up and shouted….Innings declared!

Phoolka was stunned but remained quiet. She still managed a smile and kept sitting on the ground and clapped their two batsmen as they came off the playing area. The person with the scorecard wrote against the eleventh player…name Shyam…score Zero.

Rampura was set a target of 90 runs in 20 overs. They started off well with their opening pair putting up 41 in the first 6 overs without losing a wicket. The match then took a turn when Deepu came on to bowl. His leg spin was impossible for the batsmen to play on a turning track and by the time he finished his quota of 4 overs, he had figures of 6 wickets for 8 runs. With wickets falling at regular intervals and runs coming slowly, the home team had to score 21 runs in the last 2 overs.  The penultimate over yielded 16 runs with the Rampura Captain Yaduvendu hitting 4 fours in succession.

Lambu came on to bowl the last over. He was the best bowler of Kuru Khera. He would bowl left arm with great speed and the batsmen would find it difficult to face. Often the wicket keeper failed to collect the ball. Yaduvendu was on the non-striker end and he went up to the other batsman to speak in the middle of the pitch. All knew what secret words Yaduvendu was telling…just take one run and let me face the remaining balls. Getting the six runs will be a cake walk for us.

Ball one…the ball flew off the pitch for Sunny to catch behind the stumps.

Ball two….ball three and ball four….all had the same result.

The Rampura batsman just had no clue how to even touch the ball. It just flew past him ferociously. Deepu and his other fielders were encouraging Lambu to bowl even better and win them the match. Phoolka hadn’t done much so far except bringing back the balls from outside the boundary. Yaduvendu was furious at the other end….Saale maar na…what are you doing…just touch the ball somehow and leave the rest to me.

Ball five…Lambu wavered a bit in trying to generate extra pace. The ball went past the off stump of the batsman and kept going wider. Sunny behind the stump too missed it and now everyone started shouting….Phoolka pakkad….stop the ball. Phoolka saw the oncoming ball and bent down to stop it. The playground had little grass on it and even the surface was undulating. The ball suddenly jumped up and Phoolka missed it. She ran after it but the ball went over the fence for 4 byes. The people watching the match started whistling and cracking jokes about girls playing boys’ games. Her own team mates made faces and Shambhu even used bad language. Phoolka said sorry to all but no one was willing to listen to her excuse about the unevenness of the ground and the ball jumping off.

Now there was the last ball and the home team needed two runs to win. Lambu jumped high before releasing the ball and the batsman failed to touch it. Yaduvendu started running towards the other end of the pitch. In the sudden spurt of action happening on the pitch, Sunny once again missed holding on to the ball. Phoolka saw the ball coming and started running ahead to stop it. The batsmen on the pitch by now had completed one run and were turning for the second and winning run when Phoolka in one dramatic action, as she had seen some Indian players like Sir Jadeja, picked up the ball and threw the ball in one quick reflex action towards the keeper. Sunny missed the ball but as luck would have it, it hit the wicket directly and found the batsman short of the crease.

Rampura and Kunu Khera were tied at 89 runs apiece. There was no winner, there was no loser. Sorry, there definitely was a winner….Phoolka who suddenly became the darling of the Kuru Khera team. Even the motley Rampura spectators gathered there, suddenly, started clapping and cheering her.

The team of ten happy boys and a delirious girl returned to their village….they were all elated for it was the first time they had not lost to Rampura. Phoolka went dancing towards her house where Shyam and her parents were waiting for her and were thoroughly amused seeing her dance wildly.

So Madam, then that was your first serious brush with cricket. How are you feeling today…said the interviewer to a woman sitting in front with black trousers, white shirt and a white apron worn over it. Just then the mobile of the interviewee started ringing.

Haan Bapu…how are you feeling today? Remember you once said, tujhse na ho payega Beti and today your daughter Phool Kamari Yadav will be the first woman to umpire in a men’s test match to be played at the historic Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Today your Phoolka will take to the field and control twenty two unruly men trying to outdo each other and make sure they listen to her. Aaj ke baad, kisi se na kehna…Beti, tujhse na ho payega!

Happy Women’s Day.

SS