Thursday, July 18, 2013

Thoughts from the football ground

It's been ages since I last wrote in. I've been meaning to do this post for quite some time now, but somehow kept putting it off. In a way, the delay provided me with some more material, but I still did not actually settle down to the process of writing. But now, I have a presentation to make in a while, and suddenly, blogging seems to be the most important thing to do...

I've been thinking for a while that I should 'chronicle' my thoughts from the football field. And looks like I'm finally about to do just that, though by now, events are not as fresh in my memory, and some of the things I'd have liked to have written down are now gone forever from my thoughts...

Anyway, here goes :

I'd been thinking for many days that I should go and see the football being played on (or is it in? at?) our campus ground. It was a Wednesday, in the last week of June, that I finally managed to go there. SU had just called me so that we could meet and catch up with each other, after her having gone back to her place for a couple of months. I told her that I was planning to go to the ground, and she asked me if she could come along as well. I said she was welcome, if she didn't mind the walking, as I was just going to see how things were. We ended up going together, and, following a longish conversation with her mother who'd just called (during which time I actually paid more attention to the game being played), we ended up talking about marriage and relationships :)

I had to go home the following day, but went again by myself on Friday. After returning from the week, this daily visit to the ground became part of my new routine. Once, NW joined me after her Yoga class. And nowadays, AG is dropping in and sometimes sitting with me for a while there. But mostly, it's just me.

I have now tried sitting at different places, from leaning on the wall near a building, to sitting just near the boundary of the field; but am yet to find My Spot.

Initially, I couldn't make much sense of what was happening on the ground - I could seethe play, but I was clueless about the teams. In fact, I (yes, indeed it was me!) once went up to a guy and asked him about the teams, but did not get a clear response. But now, I have a better idea of what goes on.

I wish I knew the names of the people. I know AJ and K, but the others are to me just numbers and team jerseys and colour jerseys. For example, there's a guy in a Man U jersey , and one in an Arsenal one, then there is one who sports a Van Persie jersey. And plenty of Spain jerseys. Messi, of course. There's even a Beckham... And there is someone in a Real Madrid kit ( :D :D :D ), a couple of players in their university team jerseys - the maroon ones with 4, 10, 17, the black with the 10 and 97. Then there's the one in the grey jersey. Well, now, even if I see them in other clothes, I only remember what they wore while playing...

Which reminds me, I sometimes come across these people even outside of the ground. And I can recognize at least some of them. Like, there was this guy in a white T-shirt, whom I saw yesterday and the day before, and I suddenly thought to myself, "Maroon 4!!!". I later saw this other guy, and I told myself, "Oh, the Man U guy!" :)

And well, I remember admiring the skills of some of the players. And my, what speed most of them have! By now, I have a rough idea of what half of them do well. I sometimes think to myself, "Why do they lose possession so easily?".

Well, the first time I watched them play, Maroon 4 was the goalkeeper, and suddenly, he entered the field (it struck me much later that during practice, people take turns at goalkeeping), and he scored a goal from the very goalpost he'd just left. No wonder I was confused...

I think I have been rambling on for ages now, so I'll just mention what happened a couple of days ago, and then sign off for now.

So, it'd been raining a lot recently. It was raining on Monday, but Tuesday evening dawned clearer, and there were about 7 people practising on the ground. I rode my cycle for a long while, and reached the ground much later than usual. I was just sitting there watching the practice, when the ball came out. I got up to throw it back to them. I took the ball in my hands (though my mind was telling me to kick it), and raised my hands and threw it. Plonk, the ball landed in a puddle a couple of metres from me, and my cycle key (which had been on my finger) flew higher (the way I'd wanted the ball to go :( ) and I went to take it, while K signalled to me that he'd take the ball from there. So much for my 'participation' in the game...

I told my brother about it, and he too made fun of me. It reminded both of us of this (especially between 1:00 - 1:21).

And now, it's time for me to sign out...

Adios!