The D-Day for the chess tournament ultimately arrived. On a sunny day, I took a public transport bus to college, and was waiting in the indoor sports auditorium for half an hour. No one turned up.
I walked up and down, sat in the pavilion, and waited, waited and waited. When all patience gave way, I picked up my bag to dash for the exit, when Mrs. Smitha came running in. “Karthika, you are the only person we have from CSE department. We need a team – three more girls are needed. Please go over to the hostel and find a few more players.”
I was shocked. Even more shocking was the next revelation:
“It’s ok even if they do not know to play the game. We can teach them”
Amazing indeed!! And look who they are calling in to teach chess! Someone who knows nothing more than directions on the chess board.
I dutifully went to the hostel, ran around for CSE girls(who knew nothing more than the name “Chess”), and caught hold of 4 girls with great difficulty. Oh, I had a bigger team than was required.
The moves were taught and the game began.
I won, and the rest of them lost. Funny though.. Don’t ask me what I played. I won. That’s pretty much it.
Team CSE – ladies team lost.
Mrs. Smitha was very upset. She came to me saying, “Even the boys team lost”
I was surprised. I didn’t know that a “Boy’s Team” existed.
On my way home, I saw Praveen Raja (my class mate – a tall, thin, silent fellow) in the camp road bus stand. May be he too came for the chess match. Is he a chess player? Does he play chess? I don’t know. I wish I could talk to him. But I could not muster the guts to do that.
Well, I guess he looked handsome to me. I couldn’t stop watching him. But I somehow, just, couldn’t go and say “Hi”