NPS

The boys’ hostel of the Navdeep public school, was like a decrepit haunted building. It was a 2-story structure. Its foyer had a hipped roof made of bleached tiles. It had a small open area in front of it.

“Please Nana...” Srinu remembered crying to his father, as he dragged his trolley bag, through the early morning mist, towards the hostel. “Don’t make me change schools now. I know I have committed a serious mistake but changing my school now will ruin my chance of achieving great things at the D.A.V.”

“Look, don’t consider this as a punishment. This school will help you transform into a better being, just like it did for me.”

“No Nana. Please don’t take away my future...” Srinu continued crying.

“What future? You are not at all good at studies, the only thing you are interested in is cricket, in which you haven’t shown any achievements to me till now. Forget about achievements you’re not even in a team.”

“But this year I may-”

“Enough!” Himavat snapped at him. “You are going to NPS, and that’s final.” He ordered.

As he approached near the hostel, a short black person casually walked out of the foyer and stretched his body lazily.

“Um… Excuse me!” Srinu called out to the man. “Are you warden Ram ki” He added as he approached near the short man.

“Yeah” He replied after regarding Srinu with curled brows.

“I was told by the vice principal to meet you here.” Srinu said, as he handed over the official documents for his acceptance of hostel request.

“What is your name?” Ram ki asked as he checked the documents.

“Mukunda Srinivas Sarma.”

“Alright, go settle in room number 203.” The warden said as he confirmed the fee receipt in documents.

“Could you help me with my luggage” Srinu requested.

“Sorry, my help is only available for girls.”

“What?!” Srinu thought to himself.

After staring at the warden for a few moments, as he walked out of there, Srinu dragged his trolley bag towards the foyer while feeling little amused.

As he entered the foyer the first thing that caught his eyes was the small LCD T.V., hanged to the wall on the right side of the entrance, with its setup box placed on a stand right below. A dozen plastic chairs stood arranged near the T.V. setup. While feeling little nervous, Srinu climbed up the stairs, at the end of the common room. The common corridors of every floor were completely dark and there was an eerie silence in them.

As Srinu walked past the rooms in the 2nd floor, in search of his room, he noticed narrow strips of light under the doors of few rooms. As he reached the end of the corridor, Srinu spotted his room number, with at most difficulty.

The darkness and the eerie silence in the corridor started growing on Srinu as he stood in front of his room and stared at it with hesitation. Just as Srinu was about to knock, the door violently swung open and slammed Srinu right in his face, before he could react.

As Srinu massaged his head, a young boy, about Srinu’s age, stepped out of the room and zipped his jumper shut.

“Hey! Watch it, will you?!” Srinu cried out to the boy as he was about to walk out of there.

“Oh! I’m sorry.” The boy reached out and pulled Srinu back onto his feet. “New admission?” He asked, on noticing Srinu’s luggage.

“Yeah.”

“What’s your name?”

“Srinu”

“Nice to meet you Srinu. I’m Mohammed.” the boy held out his right hand, for a handshake. Srinu awkwardly reached out and shook his hand.

“Looks like we’ll be roommates from now on. Let’s have a blast.” Mohammed said, smiling warmly.

“Make yourself comfortable in the room. Take the top bunk on the left side of the room. By the way, Hot water will be available at 6:30 a.m. and the mess will open at 7:00 a.m.” Mohammed said as he walked out for his morning jog.

Srinu walked into the room and glanced at the rest of his roommates, who were sound asleep in their own beds. He then walked over to his bunk and tossed his stuff on it. As he looked around, he realized that the room was crampy just like his apartment. Feeling little frustrated about the room, he then walked out into the balcony and dazed into the early morning sky...

The school campus was pretty sophisticated when compared to the boys' hostel building. It was a semicircular, 3- storied building. There was a huge ground in the middle of the campus. Srinu who was running late to the class, spotted his classroom (11F), in the 1st floor and hastened towards it....

“Dou you get it?” The lecturer asked. “Let me repeat. The L’hospital’s rule is applicable whenever the given........ by 0 form.” The lecturer continued, as Srinu dozed off.

“Today we’re gonna read....... keller” The periods passed by, without any knowledge to Srinu, as he nodded away in all of them.

“Srinivas?” The lecturer called out.

“Huh?” Srinu responded drowzily.

“Yo. Get up man, Sir is calling you.” One of his classmates nudged him.

Hearing those words something jolted inside Srinu. “Sir! Yes Sir!” He lurched out of his slumber. “Umm… We were reading the non-detail of Hellen Keller.” He then blabbered, standing near his seat.

Everyone in the class, especially the girls, giggled silently as they watched a perplexed Srinu.

“Yo new guy! It’s Hindi period now.” The lecturer said with a grim look on his face.

Srinu sheepishly looked down at the floor, feeling totally embarrassed. The whole class laughed at him.

“Your P.T. Sir has called for you.” The lecturer informed him, gesturing towards the peon. “If you want to go, leave.” He added.

Srinu slowly walked out of the classroom and followed the peon, with hesitation....

“Hey there! My name is Subramanyam, but you can call me Subbu. I’m from class 12 A” A boy introduced himself to Srinu.

“So, you are the slogger, who thrashed those huge sixes in the selection exam.” He then noted, looking at a confused Srinu.

Srinu stared at him in confusion. "Where is Amir sir?” He asked nervously.

“Don’t know, He must be somewhere in this campus, dozing off.” Subbu declared.

Srinu turned and looked at the peon in confusion.

“Oh! He is a friend of mine.” Subbu stated, casually.

“So, any intention on joining the ‘NPS’ cricket team?” He then asked after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah” Srinu replied, looking doubtfully at him.

“Cool. Wait for me in your class, after the school bell rings, don’t head back to the hostel.” Saying so Subbu left him to go back to his class…

“Look the sleeping pill is back” one of Srinu’s classmates taunted with a laugh, as Srinu slowly walked towards his seat, ignoring the taunt. The remaining periods of the school hours, passed by pretty slowly for Srinu, as all his drowsiness was replaced with anxiety and curiosity.

The school bell rang just as the clock, in the class room, showed 4’o clock. Most of the students left the classroom before the faculty could walk herself out, while some remained back in the class, gossiping with their friends. Srinu slowly hung his bag to his shoulder and walked out of the classroom, a few moments after his classmates had cleared out.

“Ready?” Subbu asked, standing right outside Srinu’s classroom. He was wearing a sports jersey over his school pants.

Srinu looked at him with absolutely no clue about anything.

“Come” Subbu gestured to follow him, ignoring his stupor look.

Srinu observed that all the classrooms were empty, as the both of them walked across the corridors.

Subbu turned and entered one of the sections of class 12 in the 3rd floor, as Srinu slowly followed him only to find a boy flirting with some girl.

“Yo! Perv.” Subbu called out to him.

The boy turned and looked at Subbu with furled brows. The girl who was standing near him became alert and looked at the boy with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

“Bye Kiran!” The girl said and scurried out from there.

“Ni abba, I told you not to call me that, in front of the girls.” Kiran snapped, as he grabbed Subbu by his collar.

Srinu looked at Kiran with a frown, as both his seniors engaged in a banter.

“Come on Kamasutra, don’t be so upset over a girl.” Subbu said with a mocking smile, as Srinu examined Kiran’s face and tried to remember where he had met him.

“I swear I’m gonna kill you someday.” Kiran said, as he shoved Subbu away from him.

“Yeah ...Yeah.” Subbu said dismissively “Can we go now?”

“Let me change into my jersey.” Kiran sighed.

“Oh! By the way, meet the newest member of our team” The captain introduced Srinu to Kiran.

“H-Hi anna, my name is Srinivas Sarma.”

Kiran looked at him with a grim expression.

“Umm… This may sound strange, but have we met before?” Srinu asked with hesitation.

“Really?” Kiran asked. “You can’t remember the person you thrashed for 7 sixes and 4 boundaries?”

Subbu looked at Srinu with frowned brows.

“Forget it.” The fast bowler said. “Let’s go” he added as he walked past Srinu, towards the entrance.

The school ground was wide spread in the campus. It was divided into 3 parts. The left side was divided into basketball and Badminton courts, the right side of the ground was left unoccupied for the cricket enthusiasts. Srinu found some students goofing off amongst themselves in a corner of the ground, as he followed his seniors.

“Guys, meet Srinivas” Subbu said, gesturing towards the new student, as his teammates gathered around him. “He is a right-hand batsman and he is going to join us from now on.”

Srinu stepped ahead, as Subbu waved at him.

“H-Hi there, my name is Srinivas Sarma, you can call me Srinu.” He stammered as he introduced himself.

He stood disappointed when he heard the dull greetings from his teammates. The lack of a spark in most of his teammates’ eyes, made Srinu uneasy.

“Alright, take a bat and come to the nets. I wanna see your batting skills with my own eyes.” Subbu, saying so, pulled out a somewhat used red colored season ball from his pocket.

The pitch in the nets was quite sandy.

“Ready?” Subbu asked as Srinu took his guard in front of the wickets.

Upon getting a nod, Subbu started his run-up, just a few steps away from the popping crease. He skipped into the air, just a step away from the crease and then planted his left foot, right on the crease, after landing on his right foot. He swung his arm, as he continued into the follow through and rolled his index finger on the ball and spun it in the direction of the leg slip, as he released the ball.

Srinu who was standing ready at the crease, immediately stepped out of the crease and slogged the ball into the net, to his left side. Subbu looked at Srinu with raised brows.

“Nice shot!” Subbu said, as Srinu smirked at him.

Subbu then tried different lengths of deliveries, for an over, in an attempt to get Srinu out. But Srinu hammered every one of those balls with pure confidence.

After regarding Srinu with amusement, for few moments, Subbu bowled a under cutter delivery (the ball’s seam spins parallel to the pitch area), at a good length area and inline with the off stump. As Srinu waited for the ball with a high backlift of the bat, the ball skid ahead after landing on the pitch…

The ball dashed ahead and got deflected, by the shin of Srinu’s left leg, onto the stumps before the toe of Srinu’s bat landed on the ground, as he tried to block the ball by jamming his bat on the ground.

The next few balls were a complete nightmare for Srinu, as he was bowled out repeatedly by his captain, who had used various kinds of deliveries like top spin, the doosra, arm ball, floater etc.

“You have skill kid, but a word of advice, not every ball is for slogging.” Subbu said, looking at a shocked Srinu…

The sun had climbed down the sky by the time Srinu walked out of the school premises. The hostel building, right in front of the school, was buzzing with a lot of students, as Srinu entered it. Some of them were playing box cricket in the middle of the small open space, in front of the hostel, a few of the others were seated on the compound wall and were watching the game, and the rest were roaming around, casually gossiping on their phones or with their friends.

“I miss you too baby!” Srinu heard someone speak on their phone, as he walked past the small ground and entered the hostel building, a little disgusted at the sound of those words.

Entering his room, Srinu threw his bag on his bed and then laid on it.

“Hey Srinu” Mohammed called him. “The Warden has sent you some package, said your dad gave it to him. I’ve received it and placed it near the front door. Have a look.”

Srinu quietly went to the packed box. After taking a few minutes to get rid of all the packing, he opened the box and found a brand new cricket kit bag inside it.

Trembling with excitement, Srinu pulled off a note strapped to the kit bag.

“Hey Kid” it read. “I know you have talent for cricket. So don’t waste it on something as trivial as betting, rather turn that into your passion.

Yours lovingly

Nana.”

“Thanks Dad.” Srinu whispered to himself and then looked at the kit bag and felt overwhelmed.

“I think I’m gonna enjoy my time here at this school.”

….