Chapter 28:

Retribution.

64


Mangalore City

Karnataka State

India

The ball flew up high in the air to begin the game. The two centers leapt up to tip it to their respective team and start the game.

“How?” thought Anuj Varma.

“How is he so high in the air?”

Lokesh Kumar’s massive hands made first contact with the ball at the apex of its upward trajectory. He tipped it to Ashish Mehra, and State College of Engineering (SCE) Mysore, had the first possession of the game.

Anuj ran in to play defense, but his mind was still stuck in the opening tip.

“I’m 6’3 and he’s 6’0. How did he win the tip-off?”

Anuj was so lost that he didn’t notice Ashish Mehra throw a lob near the basket. The guy Anuj was supposed to be guarding, Lokesh himself, flew into skyward territory, grabbed the ball, and hammered a powerful dunk with one hand. He high-fived Ashish as they ran back to play defense.

“ANUJ VERMA!” roared Karnataka University of Applied Sciences’ (KUAS) team captain. “COME BACK TO EARTH AND PLAY BASKETBALL, YOU FANTANISTA!”

Anuj shook himself out of his reverie. Not only had he lost the opening tip, he’d given up two easy points to SCE Mysore. He tried to gather himself and focus on beating Lokesh and his low-level team.

Suddenly, he paused.

“Wait, did he just dunk?”

“ANUJ VARMA!” bellowed the captain again. “I’M GOING TO HAVE TO SUB (1) YOU OUT!”

Anuj caught the ball and stared down his defender, Lokesh Kumar.

“I’m not losing to this low-life, pathetic, loser!”

*

Lokesh was emphatic after the first dunk. He was now tasked with guarding his nemesis, Anuj Varma, who was three inches taller than him, but had nowhere as good hops (2).

Anuj tried to spin past Lokesh and drive to the basket. He put one foot in front of his defender, pivoted around, and tried to run to the basket, his hands dribbling the air.

Wait, dribbling the air?

With a chill of dread, Anuj realized what had happened. Lokesh had put his massive hands into the ball’s spin trajectory while it was in Anuj’s hands, and knocked it out. He then recovered the ball and made a beeline to the other end.

“He’s got technique, but he’s slow!” thought Lokesh.

The opposition captain, though dazed, was lightning fast. He ran after Lokesh to stop the easy dunk.

“Huh,” mused Lokesh. “He’s fast, and he’s about my height. I’m getting blocked if I try anything stupid!”

Lokesh ran to the hoop and tried to throw down another dunk. The opposition captain put his hands in the way, trying desperately to stop him.

“How in the blazes…” he thought. “How in the blazes is he so high in the air?”

“Oh dear,” grumped Lokesh. “I’m getting blocked.”

In a split-second, Lokesh pulled out of his dunk attempt. Any ordinary player would have lost the ball while trying to dunk it at that momentum due to it slipping out of his hands. But, Lokesh’s hands were so massive, and his vice-like grip held on to the ball so firmly, it couldn’t wriggle out of his grasp. Instead of dunking, he tossed it to the corner.

“Finally!” thought Ash. “It’s my time!”

He shot a high-arcing corner three-pointer which went into the hoop with a SWISH.

The captain grabbed the ball and proceeded to inbound it while staring at Lokesh. “How did he change a dunk into a pass? Is that even humanely possible?”

In his moment of low focus, the captain threw a random inbound pass. Instead of going to a teammate, the inbound was stolen by an opponent player. He ran to a corner and flung up a shot.

“I’ll get the rebound!” yelled Anuj.

“GET THE BLOCK!” screamed the captain. “IT’S A PASS!”

Anuj leapt into the air instinctively, trying to block the shot. Lokesh flew above him like a hawk and grabbed the ball.

“It’s not fair,” groaned Anuj. “It’s just not fair!”

“How is he still in the air? How long will he stay up there?”

Lokesh seemed to float in the air as gravity took hold of Anuj and started dragging him downwards. He hung in the air just enough for Anuj to start falling. Then, he jammed a mighty dunk over his head.

Anuj crashed to the ground and stared up at Lokesh. His ego was clearly more hurt than his body. He almost got up to fight Lokesh, but then…

PHWEEEE. A whistle blew as KUAS’ coach jumped off the bench and called a time-out.

This was after barely one minute of play.

The score was 7-0 in SCE’s favor.

“How was my steal, Lokesh?” asked the guy who had stolen the ball, running towards Lokesh excitedly.

Lokesh smiled at him. “Crazy good steal, Suraj! Come on! We need more of those! Keep at it!”

“You got it!” said Suraj happily.

Anuj stared at SCE’s camp thoughtfully.

“That loser is so popular with his teammates, it’s like they worship him!” Anuj said furiously.

“It makes me sick!” he spat.

*

The game didn’t improve for KUAS.

They didn’t have a guy who could dunk the ball, nor did they have a reliable shooter like Ashish Mehra. But what stood out most was that they didn’t have the same level of team spirit and camaraderie as SCE. It seemed that SCE’s entire team revolved around one nucleus, their number 64, Lokesh Kumar. KUAS didn’t have such a nucleus, and their scattered team started to unravel in the confusion.

Even worse, their super-rookie, Anuj Varma, was starting to lose his normal demeanor. He started taking uncharacteristically poor shots and trying to dunk on Lokesh Kumar, but he was incapable of dunking, thus he would be stripped of the ball and SCE would score in transition.

KUAS’ coach called another time out. As he was about to address his team, the captain’s voice rose above his. “ANUJ VARMA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Anuj was so lost in thought, it took his brain five seconds to process his captain’s voice and look at him.

“JUST WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU DOING?” he thundered. “YOU’RE TRYING OVERLY HARD TO COMPETE WITH THEIR #64! I CAN SENSE THERE’S SOMETHING PERSONAL BETWEEN YOU TWO, BUT I DON’T CARE! GET OVER YOUR PRIVATE PROBLEMS, AND PLAY FOR THE TEAM! OR ELSE, TAKE YOUR BAG, JERSEY, AND AWARDS, AND GET OUT OF THE TEAM!”

He paused, taking deep, heavy, breaths.

“You’re better than this, Anuj Varma, come on!”

Anuj stared at his captain. “Got you, skipper.”

But, deep down, he was thinking, “You don’t understand why I hate him! It’s so much worse than you think!”

*

As the fourth quarter arrived, it was clear that this was a one-sided game. Number 64, Lokesh Kumar, had put up 45 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, while his partner-in-crime, Ashish Mehra, had put up 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

SCE led KUAS 93-87.

SCE’s entire bench waited with bated breath, sensing a state championship.

KUAS’ bench was crestfallen. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined losing to a small-time, third-tier college in a finals game.

Lokesh stole the ball from Anuj again and raced towards the opposite hoop. “Oh come on!” growled Anuj, chasing him, “That’s his fifth steal today!”

The captain got in front of Lokesh to obstruct him, but Lokesh deftly euro-stepped (3) past him. The move, however, cost him some speed, and Anuj got in front of him.

“You’re kidding!” thought the captain, astonished. “He can euro-step?”

Anuj leapt into the air to stop Lokesh, who literally rocketed off the ground to throw down a dunk. “I’ll stop you this time!” he yelled. However, Lokesh’s vertical and air-time were of an all-encompassing nature. He just couldn’t be stopped. He fought through Anuj’s arms and threw down a loud, brutal, dunk on his former high-school bully.

The referee blew his whistle.

SCE’s bench cheered loudly. “OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Foul!” yelled the referee to the fallen Anuj. “KUAS, number 0! Basket counts! One free throw!”

“WHY, WHY, WHY?” yelled Anuj, leaping up at Lokesh.

“You pathetic man! Why did you, who’s worth absolutely nothing, come here to beat me? I’m a winner! I’m different! Why did a useless person like you get to spend so much time with Neha? I’d been trying to get her attention for years!! You stole her from me!” he raged mentally.

He ran at Lokesh and threw a powerful punch straight at his jaw. The blow was so powerful Lokesh lost balance and fell hard to the ground. A cut opened up near his lip and started to bleed.

“DOUBLE TECHNICAL FOUL! K.U.A.S, NUMBER 0! YOU’RE EJECTED FROM THE GAME!” bellowed the referee, charging in to end the fight. “I’VE NEVER SEEN SUCH POOR SPORTSMANSHIP!”

Anuj stormed off the court angrily, screaming insults at Lokesh.

“Hey, CB!” said Ash angrily. “Why didn’t you hit that guy back? Where’s your pride?”

Lokesh wiped off the blood and looked at Ash.

“Because,” he started. “He was clearly in more pain than me!”

   

The ejection of Anuj Varma was the final nail in the coffin for his team.

SCE won the game and the championship, 119-98.

Lokesh and his teammates celebrated all night. The trophy was passed around so much that it had their fingerprints all over it. The team ordered a mountain of pizza and left the bill to the coach, who decided that his retirement fund was now forfeit.

In the heat of the celebrations, Ash thought it would be funny to gift Lokesh a small bag of cement and a couple of bricks he’d gathered from a nearby construction site as a victory gift. This caused Lokesh to chase him all around the hotel and attempt to strangle him.

Anuj, meanwhile, was a mess. His coach and captain had officially booted him from the team’s starting line-up. He’d have to play from the bench until he developed a better sense of sportsmanship.

*

Bangalore City

Karnataka State

India

Sujata Kumar, who had spent the entire night crying, went about her daily routine of watering the plants outside their house, still worried about Lokesh. A newspaper delivery boy showed up on a bicycle. “Sujata Madam! Here’s today’s paper!”

“Thank you, Shaam,” she said.

Sujata opened up the paper and flipped through the pages. Suddenly, something caught her eye. It was a picture of her son. She read the article.

SCE, Mysore Topple Powerhouse KUAS to win State Basketball Tournament

Rookie player Lokesh Kumar puts up 50 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists as State College of Engineering, Mysore, beat Karnataka University of Applied Sciences, Mangalore 119-98 to win the Karnataka State Collegiate Basketball Trophy in a historic maiden trophy for SCE.

Endnotes.

1. Sub out a Player: A substitute player can enter the court to replace another teammate at any time. But, the player must first wait at the scorer's table before entering. The original player goes back to the bench.

2. Got Hops: Can jump very high.

3. Euro-step: The Euro step, two-step, or long lateral is a basketball move in which an offensive player picks up their dribble, takes a step in one direction, and then quickly takes a second step in another direction. It is intended to allow the offensive player to evade a defender and attack the basket. Famous players who use (d) this move are Manu Ginobili, James Harden, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Author’s Note

I would like to congratulate Lovlina Borgohain, an Indian boxer, for winning the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in the Women's welterweight event. She’s a real inspiration for women hoping to take up sports! Not to mention it’s her first Olympics!

Well, Lokesh won his first chip! Hopefully many more to come! The Young Buck is just getting started!

Once the story gains some popularity, there will be a character popularity poll soon! Stay tuned!

Cheers!

~srj5