The Broken Dreams

Someshwar adjusts his glasses while looking at the passing of trains, through the railway tracks directly beneath the over bridge ,connecting the 2 platforms in Ultadanga Rail Station, on which he is standing. Scores of passengers move to and fro behind him. All of them have either ended their journey or are about to begin it. To which group does he belong? The question relates not to the journey by train, but to the journey by time- the journey of his life. Upon an objective analysis, it has to be concluded that his life had reached it's station long ago. Ouch! What an unfortunate journey it was! Shameful too, not because of what transpired, but when compared to what dreams the journey held at it's commencement, it's final reality was indeed shameful. After joining Mohan Bagan as their 1st choice opener, Someshwar failed to score in the first two matches. Then, in the 3rd match, tragedy struck. A ball jumped from a rough spot on the pitch and hit the little finger of Someshwar's right hand causing an instant fracture. Someshwar went out of action for 6 months due to the need to have a surgery. The phsycial pain was bearable but the torturous feeling of being unable to hold his bat, his weapon, was not. After he returned from his injury lay-off Someshwar found that his place was taken by a left-handed opener named Koushik Chakraborty who was scoring runs in the bounty. Most often, Someshwar  found himself warming the reserve bench. He got chances in bits and pieces and didn't seize them either. Finally, what broke the camel's back was a payment dispute with Mohan Bagan Cricket Club. Mohan Bgan refused to pay him his dues arguing that he didn't play enough matches to warrant a full payment of player fees. A frustrated Someshwar coudn't take this insult and shouted cuss words at Radha Kanta Mukherjee, an infuential office bearer in Mohan Bagan, the biggest club in Kolkata . There was no way he could stay on in Mohan Bagan after that. The day he left the club, Mukherjee had warned him that he won't find another club to play for. Mukherjee kept his word. No other big club in Maidan took him. In a matter of 3 frustrating years, Someshwar had been reduced from being a special prodigy to an unwanted troublemaker. At last, a small cub named Wari Athetic Club decided to take him. There, he got regular chances to play. But, so bad was that team that they couldn't win more than 2 matches in 1st division competition. They barely escaped relegation. No one cares about losers. Someshwar's good performances, naturally, went unnoticed. He was ignored repeatedly for selection into the Bengal Team.  3 years later, when he was 24 years old, came the final blow. While fielding in the deep, he dived to stop a boundary. In the process, he tore his knee ligaments. That sent him out for almost a year. When he came back, he coudn't hold onto his place even in Wari's playing XI. He now had to find a team playing in 2nd divison. Heeding to sensible advice from Sandhya, his wife, he decided to give up on Cricket. He realised that his chosen destination--  The Indian National Cricket Team was too distant. Since then, he had nothing to do with cricket. He didn't even touch his beloved bat. He still remembers the day he took that decision to turn his face away from Cricket. His journey had stopped. He was a deadman alive. After all, what's a man sans a dream if not a deadman?

It was difficult for a cricket-addict  like him to clutch onto something other than cricket. Away from cricket,  he spent 14 unremarkable years which don't have a single moment worth recounting, except that moment when he became a father. First, he became a driver for a rich businessman HansRaj Gupta living in Lake Town. He left that job after Mrs. Gupta accused him of stealing money. Then, he started working as a shopkeeper in a sweet shop in Gariahat. He left that work out of sheer boredom. Finally, when he was working in a courier company based in Dum Dum, he met his old friend Pinaki. Pinaki was a middle-order batsman playing in Wari when he happened to be that team's opener. They were good friends then. Someshwar coudn't stop himself from opening up to his old friend about the sorrows of his life. Taking pity at the depth of his wounds, Pinaki had informed him that a generous middle-aged businessman Mr.Lodha, claiming to be a diehard fan of cricket, has decided to buy a cricket club in Salt Lake and is on the lookout for a coach. Someshwar, at first, didnt want to approach that businessman because cricket, by then, had become a tormenting memory to him, it was a chapter he wanted to erase from his life book, but, such was his mental condition that except cricket, nothing else could have saved him. At least, his mind would be occupied and not ponder over the other harder hits that he had taken, he had thought. He contacted Mr. Lodha. He got the job of coaching EC Cricket Champs. It's here that he saw Prabir. Ever since, Someshwar doubts whether his journey has indeed ended.

Being lost in his thoughts, Someshwar didn't realise when he has descended onto the platform. He jumps back to his senses when he sees the local train to Barrackpore arrive.

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Author's Note

How is the narration? What are the faults? What are the positives?