Deal or No deal?

It was a Chennai summer day and time was 2PM. The year was somewhere between 1986 to 1988. The weather was ideal (38 Celsius) to play our ezhuthukaran st World cup. Entire brats are out on our backyard. (total area = 10 sq m).

Pitch was cleared and poor grass was hanging to its dear life. Since we want to create a ground like atmosphere, we left some grass and players are forbidden from walking on the grass (Irony: Real Players are not allowed to walk on the pitch and allowed only on grass).

Following the Indian tradition elders are respected (if not, they took their respect) and hence 13-14 yr old became the team captains. Team was selected by most proven, fair and democratic method of picking by hand. (One captain will hold his palm out and other captain must hit on his palm and point the person he wants for his side). Side note, the literal odd man out will be selected as "oppuku-chappaney" (in sophisticated term, 'Joker') you can play for both teams but always will be given the second class citizen status by both the teams.

Being the most honest player (relative integrity is all we are talking about), I was awarded the honorary post of umpire, apart from being the star player (?) of our team. By younger brother being the most athletic in the family became an automatic choice for my team.

5 Paise coin was tossed and our opponent team won the toss and promptly elected to bat (the fear of not getting Gaaji made the winners picking batting the obvious choice).

I do not remember the entire detail, but our opponents did OK and we were confident about our abilities to do the run chase. Only concern we had in back of our minds was about parents walking into our game and taking their children away to do home work causing imbalance to the team which may lead the opponent to drop the match without giving us the Gajji (not letting you bat after bowling for 10-20 overs is called - not giving Gajji)

We started our run chase in brisk pace. Keeping with the international standards, star players are introduced as 3rd or 4th down only. When the first wicket went down, my brother was sent in as pinch-hitter. (to get quick runs) Unfortunately for him (and for me), I was the umpire at that time.

First few balls were negotiated carefully as per coaching manuals(?). Then my brother started his usual hard hitting. Boom.. the ball went to the ditch. G2 I signalled. (G2 = Granted 2, according to pre-accepted rule) My brother was not happy since he already took 3 runs (the guy was not willing to put his hand in Ditch and that provided a window for runs of course).

Few balls later, he again hit one good short which was obstructed by our washing stone. By now, he is getting irritated. Our ruthless team committee (standing behind that ditch) is asking him to hit or get out. (retired hurt is another option they were suggesting :) )

Next ball was a slower one and my brother did well to place it for a single. It is a tight single and he was running hard, but the fielder picked the ball and hit the single stump. Now I have to explain this point, the runner as a unwritten rule should give a call when they reached the line. This is for everyone to have reference in case of photo finish run-outs (remember: these are pre-third-umpire era and we thought about these issues well).

Anyway, my brother made the call 2 meters before even he saw the line (it is norm then). And I being the umpire could not agree with him for 2 reasons. 1) He was not even close 2) The fielder is older and heavier person. "OUT", I signalled, to the relief of the opponent team and the next player in my team who is too eager to play.

When I did well to estimate the opponent's strength, I forgot about my brother's temper. He was furious as expected and asking for replay(Duh?). All I could do was to replay my signal. "OUT" I said avoiding eye contact with him.

When I eventually turned to see my brother, the situation was getting out of hand. He had bat in one hand and hard cricket ball in other and hit a biggest shot of the match. I tried my best to avoid the path of the ball. But to my bad luck, the ball hit right on top of my head. Boom! it flew few meters in air before it thudded on the ground. The entire 'stadium' was stunned. I was down in the pitch holding my head.

My brother realized the mistake few seconds late ran towards me to check whether everything is intact in my head. To every one's surprise and relief all I had was a bump in my head and no bleeding.

But the bump and my acting (it was not paining!) is enough to scare my tough-to-scare brother. I was screaming that I am going to inform it to our strict Appa. (guartneed slaps, of course). My brother has to decide quick to get him out of trouble. He out thought Jack Bauer's (24 show fame) of the world and came with a deal.

If you don't tell Appa, then I will give my 2 days daily allowance for you and do your household duties for 2 days. If you tell Appa, then he is not going to let us play for few days for sure. What do you say?

Damn! He made a very convincing story. I will pick my battle later. "Deal I said". And brotherly love prevailed in the world.

Note: The match was abandoned at the fear of brothers clash/fight that could have happened in the aftermath of run-out situation. So, no Gajji for me.