Epilogue
“Imagination, life is your creation” one of the lines from the popular hit song of
the 90’s titled “I am a Barbie girl” (band -Aqua) pretty much sums up the
importance of imagination in my growing up years as I was a very imaginative
kid. While going through my journal that I had written as a 13 year old I came
across one of my write ups that I had prepared as part my English language
class. The English Teacher comes to the class one fine day and gives you a
topic for writing. Within 30 minutes you need to write something and submit.
The teacher would take the books and grade it and give it back to you, this was
the drill. In this case going against precedence she said she would select the
best piece and ask it to be read in class. The following excerpt is straight
out of my diary with very little editing so as to retain its originality
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Some two or three weeks before Lucy madam (English
Teacher) gave one sentence, we had to make an interesting story. You have to
the Sentence was “When I was drinking a cup of tea…”We have to continue writing
and Madame said that she would tell the best 3 compositions. They should read
that in class. She named 2 students and asked them to read. But she asked them
to stop as it was not the one that she had in mind. Then she said the theme was
about a cricket match. I had wrote one about a cricket match. So I and other
two fellows told that they had written about a cricket match. Then she said
that it ends when he is in the hospital. So I got up and the others told that
it was not theirs. Madam checked mine and said that was it. Madam told that it
was imagination in the story that made it special. Hearing this I was confident
and went for essay writing. The composition that I wrote was like this.
When I was drinking a cup of team there came a cockroach
from the cup. I fainted seeing that. I was suddenly in a ground wearing a
yellow T-Shirt with the name Gilchrist written in it(Australia’s present wicket
keeper) I saw that Glenn Mcgrath (Australian fast bowler) was running and
coming to ball, on my front was Lance Klusener, on the non-striker’s end was
Jonty Rhodes. I got an idea of the situation in which I was.
The ball pitched on the ground and went
swinging to the right I darted towards the ball and caught it. The next over
was to be bowled by the great and only Shane Warne. The ball hit the bat of
Jonty Rhodes and was coming to my left I caught it somehow and heard a huge
round of applause.
I couldn’t believe my eyes all the players came
and congratulated me. Among them were Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh ,Warne,
Bevan,Ponting etc etc. Then at that moment I glanced at the scoreboard, there
was one over one wicket left and nine runs to win. First two balls went like
lightning to the fence with only one run to win. Klusener hit the ball and ran
but Bevan caught it,Alan Donald at the non striker’s end did not run. Bevan
threw the ball to Fleming (the bowler) who in turn threw it to me. I ran to the
front and stumped him. Then what I could remember was that I was at the ICU
unit of a hospital. I came to know that I was unconscious for the past one day
and the reason was food poisoning.
I also knew the reason why I had that
particular dream while I was drinking coffee I was watching the semifinals of
the world cup between Australia and South Africa.
X--------X
Howwas(is)it
I was called in the class as Gilchrist in the
class because I had argued that he was the best wicket keeper batsman in the
world.
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Prologue
Those were the days when match fixing scandal was yet to come to light and I used to follow the not only the World Cup 99, but also cricket closely. This also gives me an insight as to how I have evolved as a writer over the years. My earliest memory of seriously writing something was at the age of 10. I had shared my first piece of writing in one of my previous posts in this blog a few years ago.
The compliment
from my English teacher increased my confidence manifold. I had not written much after
my article in the school magazine for a couple of years until then. My journal goes
on to state that buoyed by this success I went to participate in the Essay
Writing and Short Story Competition organized as part of our School’s Youth
Festival. Further I went on to win prizes for the writing events which was a
kind of first for me. I guess that was the point when I rediscovered the writer
in me and turned to writing again. This incident goes onto prove that a small
word of encouragement can go a long way in making an impact on a kid’s life.
Just look at yourself and introspect as to when was the last time you complimented
your kid or your younger cousins/friends.
Many years later during the UPSC Civil Service
(IAS) coaching days in Delhi when I had shared the idea of this write up, my
flat mates had complimented me for my wild imagination. Almost 2 decades after
it was written and forgotten I discovered this by sheer chance. It reminded me
of the importance of imagination in our day to day lives. I feel as we get
older we need more of our imagination to navigate through the tests and tribulations
of adult life.
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