Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 13: Journal: The Tournament

I continued reading. Abhinu states that they left for Purulia on the morning of 25th March 1992 and Lt. Col. Banerjee came to Kolkata with them, he wanted to see the children in action.

                                                       26th March 1992

I got up in the morning and found Aamaya didi strolling with a very tensed look on her face. I went to her and asked not to worry. I assured her that everything will be fine, and we were going to be selected. We reached school at around 9.00 A.M. Our school PTI divided us into batches of 5 and we were asked to play a game for 15 minutes.

Our PTI has asked some of his acquaintances to help him out. The selection process started, and Monika was the first to be picked. She was the only one from among the group of 10 kids whom our PTI considered to be good enough. As I kept waiting for my turn, Taposh dada and Grihamani were among the next ones to get selected.

I always liked to make fun of Grihamani because of his name, and his girly habits. They were Aamaya Di’s mama's sons. Finally, my turn came and both Aarohi and I got selected. Dad looked very happy with our performance. I was happy that all of my friends were selected, and we will be able to play together.

Aamaya di was however told that she has been kept in the reserves because her age doesn't fit the criteria. I could see that she was very disappointed by this, but I decided not to talk to her today. By the time the selection was over, it was already past evening. Dad dropped us at our homes and left for Purulia, to re-join his unit.

                                                                27th March 1992

I decided to go and talk to Aamaya di, hoping that she might have calmed down by now. I went and tried to console her on yesterday's selection. She was sad but quickly turned angry at what I said and shouted at me. She thought that I was happy with her misery and told me that she hates me and will never forget this day for the rest of her life.

She also asked me that how is it possible that we Lilliput’s were selected, and she was rejected because in 1994 she will exceed the qualifying age by 2 months. I didn't wait further to hear any more of her hurtful outbursts and ran to my room.

Half an hour later, Uncle and Aunty came to my room and inform me that they came to know about Aamaya didi's outburst from Aarohi. Uncle apologized to me for her misbehavior and asked me to forgive her for that. I told uncle that being my elder sister, she has every right to shout at me. I was crying only because I was hurt.

Uncle took me in his arms. He had my favorite chocolate in his hand, and Aarohi rubbed the tears off my eyes. Later on, I heard Uncle and Aunty scolding Aamaya didi for shouting at me. Thank God, nothing eventful happened in the remaining part of the day.

*** I can understand Aamaya was sad, but she shouldn't have shouted at Abhinu. He writes that the next day, Amaya came to his room in the morning and said she was sorry, and that she shouldn't have shouted at him, and Abhinu forgives her.  He also wrote that for the next two days Aarohi, Aamaya, and Monica spent the whole day practicing basketball with him. Their school reopened on 1st April 1992 and the examination results were declared on that day. ***

                                                          1st April 1992

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning. Our results are going to be declared today. I was slightly scared and excited to know what the outcome would be. We reached school at 8 a.m. Uncle had to come to school today to get the results. Our PTI announced during the morning assembly that from tomorrow onward all the shortlisted students for the basketball team will arrive at school by 6:00 a.m. and wait for 2 extra hours after classes for practice sessions.

He also announced that the tournaments are scheduled to start from the 18th of April and that we will be playing our first match against South Point School. After the assembly, we were waiting at the quadrangle while Poddar ma'am started calling us one by one to hand over our results.

It took ma'am about an hour and a half to declare the result. Later I came to know that Aarohi topped the class followed by Monica who came second. I came fifth in the class and Harsh was 3 marks behind me. I saw happy looks on both the girls' faces. I was happy with my results. We came back home and called up dad to inform him about my results and he was happy with my performance and told me that he was very proud of me.

                                                                      2nd April 1992

Today has been a hectic day in school. Practicing for the basketball tournament has made us very exhausted. However, something happened during the second period that made me excited. Monica went to Harsh's desk and asked him if he remembered the challenge that they had 2 months back.

Harsh was rendered speechless with shame because before I joined the school, he was the class topper and today he could not even make it to the top three. Monica told him that there was no denying the challenge since half of the class witnessed the conversation that day.

Harsh asked Monica resignedly what ask she has for him. Monica replied that she wanted him to take part in the inter-class Karate championship that will take place on the 25th of May. He objected and told Monica that he does not know anything about karate. Monica retorted that he should have thought of that before he decided to bully her thinking that she was a girl. Now since he lost his bet he has no choice but to participate.

I checked our match roster and found that we don't have any matches during the fourth week of May.

***Wow... I don't believe this Monica, first, she scores better than Harsh and later forces him to take part in something which he does not know of. That’s mean of you Monika, you shouldn't have done that.  I hope Monica doesn't cause too much harm to this boy.

Monica is a trained fighter who has been learning martial arts since the age of three. I kept reminding her that karate is for self-defense only and not for hurting others, but she does not listen. 

There is one thing though, as far as I could recall our Monika was really bad at studies a few years ago, and then one fine day, she changed. Mom and Dad were surprised when suddenly began to score good marks, and came second in the class. She told us that she had made 2 new friends who are good both in studies as well as sports and that they keep inspiring her to be good both in studies as well as in sports.

Following diary entries were restricted mostly on basketball training at school which was very hectic. But thanks to the training provided by Sagar sir, the group was better prepared.

In one entry, Abhinu mentioned that Lt. Col. Banerjee suggested Aamaya get herself enrolled in Yuva Bharti Krirangan and start practicing basketball there. If she can prove herself, she could get a scholarship to play with the professionals. She took his advice and got herself enrolled.

I have read about 60% of Abhinu's diary but, till now, could not find any mention of Sophia in it, and how she fits in the life cycle of Abhinu is still a puzzle. The diary entries don’t include the slightest hint of any cousin in the Banerjee family whose name is Sophia. I continued reading***

                                                       17th April 1992

Tomorrow is going to be our first match against South Point School. PTI sir came to us and announced that there will be no practice today because he wants us to be well-rested before tomorrow's match. Taposh Dada told sir that he is scared about tomorrow's match. Sir told us that he just wants us to play well and not think about winning or losing the match.

He asked us to give our hundred percent and forget about the consequences. Even if we lose tomorrow's match we will still have 9 more matches to play and will need to win only 7 of them to get a chance to play in the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

He also said that this tournament is not about winning matches but getting an opportunity to be one of the 10 players to be selected for the national basketball team, and if all the 10 players are from West Bengal it would be the greatest honor for the state.

                                                          18th April 1992

I have been getting goosebumps since morning. I was both scared and excited about today's match.  Early in the morning, I received a call from dad, and he wished us good luck for today's match. Uncle called me and Aarohi and told us not to worry much, Maa Kali (she is our family deity) will be with us, we just need to give our best and hope for the best. The match began and sir thought it was a better idea to let me and Monika be on the bench.

By the end of the first half, our team was falling behind by 9 points. In the second half, Sir asked Taposh dada to play in place of Soham. Taposh dada was tall and fast and his entry to the field really helped us. Within 15 minutes our team has leveled the score with South Point. During the last 20 minutes of the match, sir told Monika and me to enter the field. Our entry boosted the team performance in the last 20 minutes and in no time, we were leading by 8 points. We won the match that day. Sir told us not to be too excited because we don't know what the future has in store for us. The other schools might have a better team than ours.

*** The way the coach motivated the team, it felt like he really knows his job well. Leading a team of 7 - 9 years old children to play professional basketball is a herculean task, and this man is doing a pretty good job up till now. Abhinu writes that the next 3 matches were with Central modern School, DAV Public School, and Loretto Entally which they were able to win, without much effort. However, he also says that they lost 2 of the matches with Riverdale High School and Our Lady Queen of the Missions School.

He wrote that Our Lady Queen of the Missions School was an all-girls team, but they were so skilled that we didn't stand a chance against them and could not score a single point. Aarohi cried that day seeing the condition of our team. Their next match was against National Model School. ***

                                                              10th May 1992.

Today our team was in high spirits. The leader board has shown that we were in second place. We just needed to win the remaining 3 matches to qualify as one of the three teams from the district. During the match, we received news that one of our team members was shortlisted by SAI to play for the West Bengal sub-junior team.

Sir didn't disclose the name of the player, lest the remaining team members get discouraged. As the match started, something happened which we didn't expect. The opponent team was an all-boys team. It was against the rule to have an all-boys team. At least one member of the team had to be a girl.

Loreto Entally and Our Lady Queen of the Missions were given an exception due to a special request, but in this case, they didn't. Sir tried to reason with the organizers, but they allowed the team to play all boys. We came to know from the other teams that they had a very offensive play strategy.

Sir came to us and said that the organizers would not listen and that we will have to play against them. He asked the girls to volunteer themselves as he doesn't want them getting hurt. Monika, Sunaina, and Aarohi stepped forward and requested sir to let them play and they will show them that it is not okay to cheat.

Sir asked Taposh dada and Me to be the wingman for the girls and play the match. The strategy was simple. The girls will score, and we will provide cover. That day in front of a crowd of 7000+ people the 5 of us proved to the National Model Schoolboys, how basketball is played. We won by a margin of 3 points, and Monika was declared the best player for that day.

*** I knew, my sister has some talents, but she never told me about this match. It must have been a pretty interesting one. I just hope she didn't break anyone's leg during the match. 

Abhinu wrote that they won the next 3 matches too. They were 2nd on the leader board, right next to Our Lady Queen of the Mission School, and followed by St. Thomas. Those 3 schools will represent the district at the next level. From here on it will be a knock-out format which means that they will have to win every match. 

The inter-district tournament for the next phase was supposed to begin from the 1st of June. Abhinu further added that they were lagging behind in studies but Aamaya had helped them keep on track. Another interesting addition is Monika submitted her name for the inter-class Karate championship and forced Harsh to participate in it. ***

While Abhinu's diary is very intriguing, my exhaustion is taking over and the only thing keeping me awake is the question that,

'What is the relevance of Abhinu's diary in Sophia's life?'

'Where are Abhinu and Aarohi now?"

'Should I ask uncle about the 2 children?"

The news report, we found, clearly stated that Sophia Banerjee is one of the survivors of the accident.

'God... This is becoming confusing...'

Without thinking any further, I went off to sleep with the hope that soon Sophia will wake up and assure me that I don't need to worry and that she is perfectly fine. I can go back to school and complete my studies and rescue her from this life one day.

                                                                TO BE CONTINUED…

                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~