Saturday, November 6, 2010

Celebrations



This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.






 Sunil Dev had now been a professional tennis player for 13 years. After struggling to set his foot for the first 2-3 years, Sunil had been a huge success. He was currently the 3rd best ranked player in the World and had been in the top 3 ranked players in the world now for more than 10 years.Being the only player ever from India to be ranked No. 1 in the world was won of the biggest achievements for Sunil. He had tasted success of on surfaces, winning 28 titles in total including 7 grand slams. But he had always been eluded of that one Wimbledon crown he egarded the most. He had always been good on grass but fate had just not been in his favour. 3 finals, but always on the loosing side. He was now 30 and was beginning to lose his pace. New players like Peter Rogers and Gordon Jacobs  had emerged onto the scene in a bg way and were now regular features in grad slam showdowns.He knew if was to come, it will have to come soon.

The Championships in the year 2020 began on the 22nd of June. Sunil had a decent draw and the experts were expecting him to make it to the Quarters with ease and that happened as expected. Sunil came up against his old time rival Craig Withers in the Quarters and won the match in 4 sets. It was looking as if things might finally turn his way. He came up against Gordon Jacobs, the current World No. 2 in the semis and Sunil was not the favourite.  The match went down right to the rubber. The score after the first four sets was 6-3, 4-6, 7-6. 2-6. Gordon had won the 4th set with ease and it seemed as if Sunil's old legs had worn off. But the Old Warrior still had a trick or two up his sleave and he won the 5th set 6-1 in just 25 minutes. The Closing remarks of Roger Federer during commentary being, "Not even God knows where that came from."

Sunil had now reached the stage where he had been 3 times(2013,2016,2017) in the past but had always had to be content with the plate instead of the trophy. His opponent in the final was the 21 year old sensation Peter Rogers. Peter had risen to No.1 position on the rankings in merely 2 years. But it was his 1st Wimbledon final. Peter and Sunil had faced off only twice in the past. Peter had won on both occasions, that too in straight sets. No one was putting his or her money on Sunil. But, there were a few who knew the Indian could come up with one last surprise in his career. The sun was shining brightly in the village of Wimbledon. BBC had roped in legendary Indian doubles specialist Leander Paes for commentary on this special occasion. Leander started off, "This could be a historic day for Sunil and for India."

The match started off with Peter Rogers serving. Peter won the game at love with two aces and not having had to face a return. But, Sunil soon found his groove and both the players were matching each other shot for shot. Peter won the frst set 7-5, Sunil took the next one 7-6, Peter was back in the next one-winning 6-3. Peter was looking set for a maiden Wimbledon title when he was leading 3-0 in the 4th set. But while serving the ace that made it 3-0, Peter twisted his ankle. The doctor was out attending to Peter as Sunil was desperately loooking on. He wanted the Wimbledon crown, but he wasnted to win it. As Peter got up and started to jog a little & the crowd started to roar, Sunil had a sigh of relief.  As the half fit Peter came back, Sunil made the most of the opportunity and dominated the set from there on, winning it 6-4. The 5th set brought out the best in both players, with each matching each other point for point, game for game! Peter was fighting the pain in his ankle the best he could. As Sunil finally got a break point and a  match point, leading 9-8, he knew he couldn't let it go. As Peter served deep on the right corner, Sunil antipated the move and his return fell of the left hand corner on the other side of the court. Peter made a diving attempt to return the ball but Sunil had hit the shot to perfection. As the reeling in pain Peter got up,he challenged the decision but he lost the challenge. Sunil had his hands up in the air. Peter threw his racket down on the grass. The youngster couldn't take the pain or the loss and was all tears. Sunil was lost in his own glory and forgot to head to the net so that he could shake hands with Peter. Sunil was straight off into the crowds to hug his parents and his wife. The crowd roared him on. Peter kept waiting at the net.


Shehnayiyan bajti hain tumhare ghar
Hamari aah nahi sunta koi
Tum haste haste chal padte ho
Hamara hath nahi pakadta koi
Aisa kya garoor jeet ka tumhe
Bhul gaye tum Hamesha jeetta nahi koi

As the emotional Sunil headed to collect his trophy, he had realised his error. He headed to Peter and bowed to him.

Har kar yun na ho mayoos
Yun kya hi hoga haasil
Har ka kar istikbaal
Ho tu bhi jeet k jashn mein shamil
Fir kar le khud ko tayar
Fir sajegi mehfil-e-jung
Aamne Samne honge tum aur hum
Marle lena maidan aur fir dekh jeet k kya hota hai mehsoos



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29 comments:

Jaspreet said...

Quite a unique take on the prompt. As I started reading the post,I became eager to know how you'd relate sports to "Celebrations"( since I, myself, am completely ignorant about sports).But as the story progressed, I started enjoying reading it. Needless to say, beautifully woven it is and the shayari at the end makes it a complete and a pleasant read.
All the best for BAT! :)

Saro said...

Yet another take on celebration.. a moment of triumph :)

Amity said...

Winning is triumph and a cause for big celebrations...:-)

Nice take here! All the best!

Brijender Singh said...

Very true-as pertinent an occasion for celebration as a victory might be, the mark of a true champion is always how he treats defeat.
As Kipling himself had said in his poem, "if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same".
As always, the novelty and incisiveness of your thoughts make the post a truly compelling read.

MuddassirShah said...

Adarsh,
I somehow like the name SunilDev :D
Treating victory and defeat alike is a virtue not possessed by all.

Nice write.
Good luck with the contest :)

Siddhesh Kabe said...

There is no better celebration than that of victory...;) awesomeness

adarshs said...

@jaspreet...ironically the storystarted with the shayarin i wove the story arnd it...lol....thanksa lot for the kind words...my biggest worry while writing was whether non-tennis followers or rather sports in general wud b able to connect to d story or not...bt nw i feel relaxed :)

adarshs said...

@saro...thanks a lot for droppin in :)

adarshs said...

@amity...thanks a lot....for any sports enthusiast his/her fav team/player winnin a major trophy counts for a huge celebration, let alone d players :)

adarshs said...

@brij sir...thanks a lot for the immensely kind words, especially when comin frm d now twice defending champion ;)

a quote to reply to urs-An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to accept it...so sunil corrected his mistake..Peter does or not is where I get inspired frm 'The Lady or the tiger' :)

adarshs said...

@muddassir...thanks a lot..i guess u hav spotted the irony in the name :) n who knows i may b right :)

adarshs said...

@siddhesh...thanks a lot...Victory n defeat brings the best and the worst in people...have tried to depict both n balance them as well

MAVERICK said...

Firstly, let me ask this question is the land of olympics ,Athens, or the Euro trip , that compelled you to take such a different take on a common topic like this. But indeed I loved this take of yours, especially as I am tennis fan myself.
As echoed in the comments of fellow blogger's, the celebration in wining and dining of the taste of victory, is far more cherished and unmatched as compared to the festive ones.
The tricolour of our nation, flying high in the recent games surely displayed similar feelings of joy and celebration.
But indeed the bigger joy is to accept defeat and be ready to take on the challenge yet to come after famous dialogue of movie Baazigar
'harkar jeetane vale ko baazigar khte hain'
All in all , a great story.
P.S. The names were very well articulated with som turning to sunil and yes why not our Rafa as the commentator, I am sure would learn decent english till 2020.

P.S.S I have tried to guess the person you have referred to at my blog. Would be grateful to know, if I was right or not.

Anonymous said...

Cheers for such celebrations in life.
Good luck to you.

Yamini Meduri said...

all smiles for such wonderful celebrations of life :)

beautiful indeed :)

Here is my celebration:
Ms. Meduri- Celebrations

adarshs said...

@maverick...well i cant point a single thing which led to such a take on d topic...a lot of things in d mind played dere role...well rafa cud surely have been dere bt i think he mite still b playin at that time...so i didnt use him...i m glad that u liked wat i had to write :)

adarshs said...

@tikulicious...thanks a lot..

adarshs said...

@meduri...d variety of takes on celebration is in itself worth a celebration :)

Someone is Special said...

A unique thought and a nice thought on sports.. Let a real Sunil come and win 2020.. Wonderful celebrations..

Good luck for BAT and do stop by, Someone Is Special - Celebrations

--Someone Is Special--

Vikas Khair said...

Hey Adarsh quite different take on the topic and wonderfully done.

Looks like your Sunil Dev can materialize us in form of Somdev Burman. May he reach these milestones in next 10 years or so.

All the Best for BAT-16

Vikas Khair - Celebrations

adarshs said...

@some1 is special...thanks a lot for the appreciation...

@vikas...thanks a lot...i m carrying similar hopes :)

Cherry Blossom said...

Victory is always sought after and always followed by celebrations. But an attempt towards victory should also provide the platform to anticipate future celebrations. This is the spirit of a true sportsman, and a true player in life.
A unique take. All the best.

adarshs said...

@cherry....thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and for visiting....a victor is not a victor if doesn't know how to handle d victory...

Kshitij KK Khurana said...

With that, I'd only hope a singles title reckons for us soon.

Not into tennis at all, so found it a little hard to keep up with the intensity. Forgive me for that.

Good luck friend.

Baatein unkahi si said...

True, very beautifully laid out, with very fine details (sp for sports lovers) and ended with a very relevant message.
All the best

adarshs said...

@kshitij...thanks kshitij...i hope i hav been able to spark the smallest of interest in tennis into u :)

adarshs said...

@dil se...though my attempt always is to make everyone feel interested and involved in my stories, i agree with you that the story would interest sports lovers much more den than dose who are not...btw, thanks a lot for d gud words :)

Sidra Sayeed said...

You earned my vote on BAT but I just didn't have the time to comment earlier.
First, I absolutely enjoyed the build up. Not a word too much or too little. The description of the game itself was really well done. I watch Tennis every once in a while so I was following throughout, picturing it all.
The poetry of course added a distinct flavor.

Haar ka kar istikbaal
Ho tu bhi jeet k jashn mein shamil

I wasn't disappointed yet again, might I add I've read all the other posts but just haven't had the time to sit down and post a comment ...soon times i hope :)

Hope the travelling isn't taking a toll!

adarshs said...

thanks a lot sidra....better late den never :) thanks a lot for being a regular reader n voter :) m glad that i manage to interest u everytime...my pleasure :)