It was 6:30 pm on a Saturday evening when the calling bell rang. While Kannan and I glanced furtively at the door, in came Achan holding a big flat square box. Amma was helping him carry it over to the free space in front of the TV. The toys in our hands seemed meaningless and we ran towards Amma to not miss the action. Achan and Amma slowly uncovered the box.
To our utter amazement, we saw a board with lines and circles and Achan took it out proudly and placed it for all of us to see. We took in the smell of the new board, got engrossed in its design and colors when Achan dropped small flat round disks - black and white - onto the board. That was the first time we were introduced to Carrom!
Achan taught us the game, he pointed at the four holes at each corner of the box and said that we would need to push in coins to win a point. He said there would be a disk - much larger than the rest of the coins which we would use to strike other coins on the board. He taught us how to keep the white and black coins in the center of the board before we begin the game.
So, to begin, we needed two teams - one owns the white and the other the black. The winner strikes in all his coins to one or the other holes. As for the red coin, the player who pushes in the red coin needs to strike in a follow-up coin to win, otherwise, it ends up back in the center of the board. As long as the red coin is not won, the game does not end.
All set to begin, quickly we build up our teams. Kannan and I were a team and our opponents were Achan and Amma. It did not take us long to find out that Achan played the game really well. Turns out he used to win the game back in his college days!
So there we were, defeat after defeat until we understood that we needed a different game strategy. Both of us wanted to pair with Achan in the game.
For Achan and Amma, it was entirely a different story. They had a new tactic to get us to do what they want. The leverage was playing carroms. The bad kid can't play - it was as simple as that. So the days that followed, we were obedient kids who did their homework and waited forever to play carrom. We got good at it too.
Achan and Amma were free after breakfast and we had the entire day to play carroms. So as usual, we started the bargain for the best player on the field. Both me and Kannan were trying to rope in Achan while Amma waited patiently for a team.
Finally, Kannan being the younger kid got to team up with Achan. I was teamed up with Amma. Amma could visibly sense my disappointment but she had that reassuring smile that she always has. The game began.
Achan and Kannan played white - as always and Achan got to have the first shot. I heard two coins go down the hole and literally had a heartbreak. Kannan was on top of his chair playing the victory dance while Amma cheered on. A round went by with the three of us just managing to keep our coins near to convenient places on the board and Achan smashing or hitting at them.
Somewhere in the middle, Amma hit two coins! My happiness knew no bounds! I cheered on my fellow teammate and waited for my turn. The next thing we knew, we had scored just enough coins to be at par with our opponents. Achan jeered at us, Kannan still had victory face on. I was hoping to pull this off - or at least have a good score if we're going down.
The game had come to its last three coins - one black, one red and one white. The winner must push in the red and his coin. All of us sat there with very serious faces. To an outsider, we would have seemed as though plotting to get into World Bank! There was absolute silence in the room and I could hear the curtains being slightly pushed away from the railings by the wind from Kannan's window.
To my disappointment, Achan had disrupted the previous positioning of my black coin onto the side-center of the board - not accessible to Amma. Amma tried a reverse strike and failed. Kannan tried to hit the red coin which Achan had positioned accurately for his shot - and he missed. Achan said its OK and that he can finish the game anyway since both the white and the red coins where at his reach. He looked at me and mocked a smile. I had the Vegeta look on. Amma looked at me intently. Kannan gave an unrealistic yawn to tell me I was taking time.
I gave the red a hit and it went down the hole. 'Easier for me now' Achan said. I bluntly stared at the remaining black coin. I was going to lose anyway. So I gave it a hard straight hit.
To my surprise, the coin stood up in that impact and rolled onto the right hole. Our heads followed the route.
I sat there open-mouthed. Kannan shared my look. Achan sat still - trying to gulp in the first defeat in the history of carrom.
Amma gave out a burst of laughter. She could not stop laughing and pushed her chair back until it hit the wall behind. She clapped her hands and raised it signaling victory.
We won! The commentator in my head said, "History has been written, a New Star born, Great Carrom player defeated!"
Kannan examined the coin and the striker - probably trying to shake off the influence of black magic. Achan looked at me in disbelief. He smiled and said:
'Sheelashmikku Pension kudungita!'
The end!
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