Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Indian Dream

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 3; the third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.





The Indian dream, a dream shared by lot of people in the country. A dream to excel, to be the best. A dream to take country to greater heights. A simple dream seen through the eyes of a fourteen year old.........


I stood there thinking, I stood there concentrating, and all I could see was the white stumps. The worn out white ball in my hand suddenly felt heavy, it was heavy with pressure, it was heavy with expectations of one billion people cheering. The equation was simple, one ball two runs we lose, one ball one wicket we win. My shoulder felt stiff, my back shouted in pain, my brain consoled them.

Advices flew freely in the air, my captain and my senior players all looked nervous, they all had the same prayer playing in their heart. The batsman was ready, the umpire waited, the crowd roared. I could hear all the one billion people praying, praying to different Gods but for the same thing. The moment had come; when all the people stood together and hoped it would come true, hoped the great Indian dream would come true.

Just one more ball to go, all that stood between us and the World cup now was an Australian wicket. I started the run up, and tried to deaf myself from the majestic roar of the Indian crowd. I was almost near the wicket ready for the jump. Time had come for the country's fastest bowler to prove his worth. Time was just right for the magical ball that would uproot the stumps.

A perfect yorker, bails flying and wickets all over the place. Team mates ran up to me and hugged me, the crowd went berserk, and they danced to the tunes of victory. The moment brought them all together, the riots were forgotten, the hatred melted away, all that I saw around was happy faces hugging each other and waving the tri colour.

My captain Arjun came up to me; he put his hand over my shoulder and said

"You have fulfilled every Indian's dream today Aamir. Take a victory lap around the ground."





I ran around the empty ground shouting with no one but a single crow on the tree looking at me. It was not surprised looking at me running around the ground. Every single day I spent practicing in the nets, the story was the same. Every single day the dream was the same. Like every single kid in the country, I dreamed of winning the World cup for India.

I finally got tired and collapsed on the ground, I lay there with my arms wide open. The clear blue stretched above me, my eyes saw the clear blue sky but my brain was busy with sights of the World cup victory.

I closed my eyes to listen to the commentators shouting

India have Won The World Cup, A Dream come true for Millions of fans around the country

The Fans have a NEW HERO to thank.


............

The Indian dream dedicated to the country which has given me the opportunity to dream, a country which has given me the freedom to dream.





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35 comments:

Guria said...

Wow! And I mean Wow! You gave me chills down my spine. Living the Dream! Loved the post. Great job! :)

G.

MADHU RAO | (INDImag.COM) said...

You have a knack for simple, succinct story telling Harsha. Loved how you build up in the two paras starting with ..

"I stood there thinking..." .

Beautiful and so uncomplicated; letting the story be the center.

I'm sure winning the world cup will make a lot of people happy. It has been a ages since 1983...

Raji U said...

Aww... I hope we win the world cup at least this time. Like madhu mentioned, its long since we got hold of the cup!!
Kudos to you. gr8 post
All the best

Harsha Chittar said...

@Guria: Thank you, you made my day with your comment. Thank you again.
@Madhu: Thank you madhu, i am happy you liked it.
@Rajalakshmi: ya i hope we win too. It's one of those moments when the whole country stands together :)

Anil KV said...

well done !!!

Narendra said...

a unique post..so many people do want a world cup..hmmmm...granted :)
love the flow..your personal touch..

all the best for the contest..you have a great post

http://frozenwell.wordpress.com
(u must allow wp blogs yaar :( )

Gomathy S said...

A good post... & I must admit a beautiful background for the blog

Nανєєη said...

one more ODI world cup is definitely an Indian dream....
the fact that u chose Aussi wicket in the final shows that they have earned that status through all these years .... I want same status for India in the mind of others

Simple yet so inspiring story

Unknown said...

Like others I too hope India Wins the World Cup ...the story was very vivid...

Shilpa Garg said...

A very captivating story!!
Good one! :)

Shruti said...

I really got goose bumps while reading the last line of the story! A post which will arouse the true underlying patriotic feelings!

I loved these lines ""The Indian dream dedicated to the country which has given me the opportunity to dream, a country which has given me the freedom to dream.""
Kudos!

Harsha Chittar said...

@Anil K V: Mam you finally read it, am very happy :)
@Narendra: Thanks buddy, all the best for you too :)
@Swami: Thank you, i think we will reach that stage by next world cup
@Dhiman: The victory brings the country together, the matches unites everyone. I want the world cup too, so i can see everyone come together.

Harsha Chittar said...

@Daisy: Thank you, glad you liked it
@Shilpa: Thank you, hope you keep reading them all.
@Shruti: You are very kind, am happy you liked it :)

Chetan Maheshwari said...

what a story, man
so gripping, i didn't miss a word of it
all the best

Avada Kedavra said...

A very good story.. narrated well :)

funkyrave said...

U kept me glued till d end...
awesome narration!!! :)

Shruti said...

check out my take on this topic

Harsha Chittar said...

Welcome all of you.
@Chetan: Thanks bro, all the best to you too. Hope you keep reading them all.
@Avada: Thank you, hope you keep visitng.
@Funkyrave: Thanks bro, very kind of you. Hope you keep visiting the blog.
@Shruti: I did read and left a couple of comments. Well written i have to say

Aneet said...

Nice post mate!

No disrespect meant but do you really think sports unite our country or does just cricket unite our country.

In my opinion most other sports have still been left derelict and no, it isn't a case of bad marketing. It is a case of "I-will-not-try-to-watch-hockey-or-football-or-athletics"

Just my opinion...

Nice post though!

Harsha Chittar said...

@Aneet: I don't completely agree with you. Do you remember Athens Olympics, Anju Bobby George qualified for the finals of long jump. I remember almost all of us were up till late mid night watching the event.
Every country has one sport which takes the spot light, but be it any sport if our countrymen are in the finals or in an important competition we make it a point to watch it.
Football, India play's very less matches and in the world stage, like World cup or Asia cup, we have never played, so when they do get to that level, the country men will stand in support of the team.
Sports captures the emotions of the people, if not the whole country at least an area of people come together, that is the power of sports.
You cannot force people to watch a sport, they watch cricket coz they like cricket, simple.

Sojo Varughese said...

I smiled after I read your post though I don't like cricket much :)

aativas said...

a very well narrated story.

shutterbugs said...

gripping stuff... churn out more like these and you shall have the world at your feet

Harsha Chittar said...

Welcome to my blog
@Sojo: Thank you very much. Hope you keep visiting.
@aativas: Thank you.
@Shutterbugs: You are very kind, and am humbled by your words. People like you push me to write. Thank you very much, I am a huge fan of photography so you can see me regularly on your blog.

Vipul Grover said...

Sweet little story and a sweet little dream buddy.
Ok, not little but majestic dream - to win back the WC.. yes we will for sure :)
And yeah liked your template too :)

Harsha Chittar said...

@Vipul: Thanks bro, ya i wish we do :)

Prashansa said...

Very nice story. Simple and sweet nicely narreted!

Sai Manohar said...

wow..a cricketers dream..almost everyones dream..so is an Indian Dream

Naina said...

Hey Harsha,

This is such a pleasant surprise!! Too good man! :-)

Harsha Chittar said...

Welcome to the blog
@pra: Thank you very much, am glad you liked it.
@Sai Manohar: I think two most common dream in Indian is Cricketer and Bollywood Actor :)
@naina: Thank you very much, hope you keep visiting :)

grace said...

Harsha, Ireally loved the concluding paragraph of your story.I could relate it to my own life.
Just feel like quoting an excerpt from a beautiful ,lyric -
"Dreams are nothing more than wishes
and wish is just the dream, we wish to come true."

Guria said...

Hey, Blog-a-Ton results are out! Thanks so much for liking my version of the Indian Dream! :D

Unknown said...

Hey really a good one.... harsha..loved it.... my first time..here and loved the template and layout..really good work... sry..I was having exams during this blog-a-ton.so couldn't read many post..all the best for next blog-a-ton....

Harsha Chittar said...

@grace: Thank you very much, i agree with that quote. Hope you keep visiting.
@guria: Congrats on winning the Blog-a-ton, you deserved it
@shankar: Thanks buddy for reading it, hope you keep visiting. Ya and all the best to you too for the next one :)

bangles said...

WOW! simply fantastic! had goosebumps man!awesome! :)))
keep dreaming and keep on dreaming!!!