Shelter

I spy with my little eye [Rohit-Jaddu]

9 July, 2019

When Jaddu reached his 50, Rohit could not stop the rush of emotions he was feeling. He finally  understood what the idiom hanging by a thread truly meant. 

Because at that moment they were hanging, not by a thread, but by the ends of Ravindra Jadeja's bat. All of them, the 15 wearing the blue jersey and the 1.3 billion people, all of them clutching with a ferocity, holding on with all that they could, to not let go of the dreams they had all harbored in the dressing room, or ever since they had held a bat.

But unfortunately they were slipping away. They could not hold on any longer.

When Jaddu walked out to the dugout he glanced at everyone. Everyone but Rohit.

And Rohit knew why.

Flashback

When Jaddu was padding up to go on the field, he saw Rohit and did not like the lost look his oldest friend, had on his face. So, Jad walked up to him and said, "We have not lost yet. Why have you given up?" 

"What else can I do then?" Rohit snapped at him. And then instantly apologized. "I am sorry, I did not mean to- "

"Ssh", Jaddu said, with a softness that took them both by surprise. "I know. And stop sitting idle and jobless. I will give you something better to do."

"What?"

"Cheer for me while I am out there", Jaddu said with a smile or a smirk or mixture of both. "Because I am about to put up a show, you will be proud of."

Flashback ends

And Rohit was very proud of him. Their Rajput had fought an how. And now thinking about the fact that the results may not turn out in their favor, made Rohit felt a little less sad. And a lot more proud.

When they had finally lost, and the defeated team clambered into the bus, Rohit finally caught up with Jad as he was his bus partner. He was sitting in the window seat, a hunched up figure, sitting awkwardly with his back to Rohit.   

"Hey", Rohit whispered and got acknowledged by a nod.

"Jad- "

"Don't. I...I don't want to talk. Please", Jaddu replied still staring out of the window. 

And Rohit felt a surge of protectiveness for one of his oldest friends. 

Jaddu should never be sad. His maniacal grin should never disappear. And Rohit was going to make sure of that. 

"I know", Rohit said staring into the void. His heart was butchered with the loss, the teams brilliant performance gone all in vain and it was probably Mahi bhai's last world cup and he could not even score double digit runs lest alone the godforsaken centuries he had been scoring this tournament. 

Rohit suddenly hated the centuries he had scored. If he hadn't had done that, it would not have given him the stupid belief that he had it in him to win it for the nation, for bhai, for Virat and for Jaddu.

Jaddu.

Ravindra Jadeja.

Rohit glanced at his friend beside him, refusing to look at him and Rohit knew that he was blaming himself. 

"Idiot", Rohit muttered to himself. 

And for a while both of them remained silent, and then Rohit said, "Jad, let's play a game." 

"A game?" the ridiculousness of the idea made him scoff. They had lost a fricking world cup and Rohit wanted to play a game?

"Yep, and you have to play with me. You have no choice", Rohit said. Jaddu turned to him slightly and Rohit's heart broke when he saw that the warm, joyful eyes were red from holding back tears.