Jul 30, 2008

Chariots of Fire

This incident happened in January last year after our placements got over… it was the annual Sports extravaganza of TAPMI called SPEED and all the 4 senie and junie sections with names like Diehards, Mavericks, Azurras etc crossed swords for sporting supremacy… something they can brag about until the next edition!! I was not in good shape due to my troublesome ankle n knee (thanks to endless overs bowled in the cricket field) but I got a call from my team captain at 6am in the morning stating that since I was a known sprinter (?) I’ll have to run in the sprinting events… winning or losing doesn’t matter!! Half asleep and still fearing about any major breakdown I decided to turn out for my team.

After a few moments of warming up I knew in my heart-o-hearts that I wasn’t fully fit… and the hard track of the MIT sports arena was making it more difficult.

I ran in the 400m heats and after maintaining my tempo for half the distance I couldn’t run… it was as if someone has tied a heavy stone under my legs and it wasn’t allowing me to surge ahead… dejectedly I lingered off the field… knowing well that the 100m will be more tougher.

And then in the semis I ran… and ran hard… came a comfortable 2nd and qualified for the finals… the fact that one is competing with 2 junie sprinters who were professionally trained and naturally gifted was something that was playin on my mind. But I moved on without many expectations except the inner thoughts that I’ll give it my best.

The whistle was blown and 8 of TAPMI’s fastest sprinters flew along with the wind… the atmosphere was charged with such nervous tension with scores of fellow people cheering their teams… my lungs was gasping for breath… I could feel my blood rushing through my veins and the thumping of my injured legs…

After 50m I could see that the 2 junie sprinters have created a lead of around half a meter… and they had the momentum… and there were people breathing down at my neck… then suddenly something happened… as if some wild animal power has been teleported into my legs and I was running as fast as I could... without any feeling of the pain in my ankle and left knee…

As I pushed for the finish line the 2 junie sprinters managed to brush the tape in a brilliant 1-2 and there was a guy and myself in a virtual photo finish for the 3rd position… and then I fell down… down and hard with all the mass and acceleration that comprises Newton’s Force!!

There was blood all around my left shoulder and the hands were scaled and blood oozed out… and beneath the torn T-shirt I could see white-flesh…

I was trying to edge out my competitor in a photo-finish and just managed to bend my head and body ahead of him… and in the result I fell down… but not before coming 3rd for my team… I won’t forget the adulations that I received from my team mates… I gave it my all when my body told me to keep away…

The marks on my shoulders are still there… a constant reminder that in a small little place… in a small little game… I tried my best against all odds.

I don’t have any answers for why I did what I did… coming 3rd wasn’t a big deal… but still why I literally threw myself to come 3rd I don’t know!! Maybe it’s the sportsman spirit within us all…!!

Like SRK said in CHAK DE INDIA... about the 70 minutes which even God can’t take away… maybe those were my 12 secs which God created especially for me.

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