Seventy five years ago, at the stroke of midnight, our country had a tryst with destiny. And a Tennis Court was born.

Although the world does not acknowledge it as a Sporting arena yet, this is a humongous open stadium that houses millions of helpless spectators. And even though the Organizers left after declaring the viewers ‘free’ to do anything they wanted, for years they have been sitting and watching the unsporting activity, being played at their cost. The sensible Media was also given a stand of their own, from where they could opine their conscientious views.

The players are usually Mr. Ruling Party and Mr. Opposition and the game is even more thrilling and more entertaining than Wimbledon. The ‘cheerleaders’ who waltz in and out give us some kind of comic relief. The unlimited sets of the sport mostly include:

1. The Blame Game. Whenever a player misses a serve, someone else is always blamed. ‘My aim was right but the direction of the wind was too strong.’

2. A verbal lash of ‘whataboutery’ and ‘whatdiddery’ goes on. Whenever a new player walked in and is questioned about the present state of affairs, the answers are always related to the past. ‘But WHAT ABOUT your Team? What DID they do?’

3. A dissection of speeches goes on with players wasting their precious time inspecting and analysing who went where, and who said what and why.

4. Before the commencement of every new match, the humble players take a lap of honour around the stadium with folded hands, with sets of Jumlas and assurances of Freedom from Poverty, Joblessness and Corruption. ‘We are not like the previous players. And even though the game will be played on the court, please see that we are well ensconced in our respective kursis.’

Okay guys. We, the People are still watching. And waiting. We will also remain fixed to our kursis, even if you tell us to go here or there. And we will sit here, not because we want to stay in the limelight or watch the fun or even hope that one day our promises will be fulfilled. But only because our roots are too deeply entrenched to allow us to move anywhere.

Some of us are self- reliant. But most are helpless. So we look to the Right and then to the Left. And then to the Left and then to the Right. Hoping that there will be a miracle and the Centre will take care of things. But guess what? We also notice that the Media stand is now empty. Miraculously, the mainstream journalists have now migrated to be with the players to brazenly take their sides. The game has stopped and what is going on is a Circus.

So there is no more looking to the Left or to the Right because everything is centred. There is also a whole lot of negativity in the air. While the geography of a beautiful Court is beginning to get distorted, the history of the Present is continuously being beaten by the skeletons of the Past. Even the volume of the fake amplifiers have gone up, with the blaring events continuing to blind the majority of the crowd. There is so much of a threatening chaos that those who aren’t blinded, are in danger of going deaf. And dumb.

But thanks to social media and a whole lot of active audience participation, there is some distraction. But after a while, even the fingers start to ache. While some brains keep getting laundered, some hearts are now beginning to bleed. As a result, even though the umpire keeps the score of ‘Luv this’ and ‘Luv that’, the Love in the atmosphere is slowly being replaced with Hate. The friend I had walked in with, the one who was sitting beside me all this while, the one with whom I was laughing and cracking jokes till now, suddenly feels like a stranger.

The slow poisoning of Good Morning forwards has gradually created a sense of divide. While some are free to shout, scream, hoot, create a riot and even get away with murder, those who rebel with their voices and their words, are immediately silenced. Then there are some onlookers, who prefer to remain mute spectators. Not because they are too weak. Or spineless. But simply because they want the atmosphere to stay peaceful. Meanwhile the game continues……….

We all know that in a war, whichever side calls itself a victor, in reality both are losers. But in this game, even if there is an illusion of winning, if it continues the way it is being played, there is a foreboding sense of realisation that there COULD be some losers. And it would be none other than We the people!

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