La Galaxia de Estrellas

We all know you're crazy. You don't have to give us proof.

I was with a friend, Vasuman relaxing at home. I just had a shower after a long & tiring game of football we played from 5:00 PM to 6:45 PM (I got back home only after 9.30 or something around that)

And THEN IT ALL HAPPENED IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE!
I get this call from Murali at 10.45 PM.
I wondered.. WhAT COULD IT POSSIBLE BE?!! Surely not those super duper football arguments and conversations we used to have (and which I miss now) when we were in school.

I picked up the phone. Murali was almost running out of breath. He had obviously done a lot of talking or running (I'm not sure!) just before he called me. And he was like," Machan, can you come to play football at the Kottur ground?!"

I was perplexed. I said to myself," Surely he isn't drunk, is he?"
I retorted, "Dei.. Enna da? Ni mental ah?"

It was then that he calmed down a little (but his excitement could still be seen) and explained everything to me.

I was shocked and surprised. I had a word with my friend, Vasuman who was right next to me. He was equally puzzled but at the same time as eager as I was to get our muscles flexed and have a run out under the floodlights.

WE GAVE IT NO SECOND THOUGHT!
Over the phone to Murali, "Yes da. Vasuman and myself will make it."

I was still laughing. I couldn't believe what I had just done. I had actually agreed to play outside at the weirdest time of the night. For all you know, we might have been busted by some cop or murdered by any serial killer or thief on the prowl.

I had no time at all to think after that. A friend of mine came over immediately in his car to pick us up. I barely had a few seconds to change into my shorts and put my shoes on. I didn't give a damn as to what shorts I was wearing or what colour my socks were (or even if they were a pair!)

I hurried out and sat in the car. The main roads wore a desolate look but strangely enough it wasn't scary. An uneventful journey to the ground.

Definitely not uneventful at the ground.
After our usual warm up sessions (LOL) we had the usual row as to what the teams would be. And after finalizing on that, the game started off slowly but soon sparked back into life. Numerous deliberate trips, hard fouls, foul mouths (mine was one of them as I was angry at a senior for fouling me really hard) and bad tempers were the order of the day. Despite that, it wasn't anywhere close to a bad game. If you had been present there, you would have definitely witnessed some good football with slick passing, magic skills and powerful shots (a few of which went out of the ground onto the main road and a few of which broke/hit a few glasses in the neighboring apartment. But is obvious, those poor residents were busy zzzz-ing)

And yeah. THE WEATHER! We could feel some chill-ness. Was it the eerie-ness (at that time) which made us feel so? Or had Chennai cooled down all of a sudden? It was pretty much down to both, I'd say.

THE GAME! My team of five (which included the likes of Murali and Anirudh) managed to beat the other team by 8 goals to 7 (I managed to score a hattrick. LOL, surprising yet true) We were planning on a race to 10- but whether it was down to fatigue, whether it was because a few of the concerned parents would be fretting, whether we wanted to get back home in time for the El Classico (Real Madrid vs Barcelona)- I'm not sure, whatever be the reason, we decided to stop at 8-7. So I ended up on the winning side. It was 1.15 then.

THE STORY ENDS HERE FOR ALL THE PLAYERS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF VASUMAN AND MYSELF.

We got dropped near my house by one of our friends. We decided to find a wine shop nearby to buy some beer. NOTHING LIKE CHILLED BEER AFTER A GAME OF FOOTBALL! We walked all the way to the main road only to find no light under the TASMAC shop.

We did manage to find a shop which was open at 1.45 PM and had a couple of soft drinks (Me with the Dew as usual, Vasuman with the Mirinda Lemon) We wasted some more time over there and walked back home. Just as we were nearing, two cops came on their bike and tried to screw us with their menacing look and frightening moustaches! We were trying our best to suppress our laughter. We were nowhere near scared. They asked us a few questions which we answered (miraculously not in splits of laughter) and they believed us. And then we ended up teasing them with 'Okay, sir' 'Thank you, sir' 'Good night, sir' 'You are the best, sir' etc etc.. Poor policemen! They mistook a few sarcastic insults for compliments. You see, fat-bellied policemen aren't all that bad after all. LOL!

And then we entered.. HOME! Sweet Home.. It didn't seem sweet at all. It seemed like a SWEAT home. Our sweat was dripping everywhere. LOL! The first thing, we washed ourselves and settled down on the couch to watch the El Classico.

Right from Murali's phone call to the encounter with the police- it has probably been the most adventurous and exciting sequence of events in my life till date! And to add the icing on the cake, there was the thrilling El Classico which ended in a 3-3 draw and we enjoyed every single minute of it.

YES! FOOTBALL AT MIDNIGHT!! Not another of my midnight dreams. This one was for real. Whoohoo!

Maybe we should play more often like this..