An Unforgettable Birthday Party

          It was the 1st of April, 2015. What clicked in your mind? Yeah, April fool’s day! The most awaited day for many, but right on the day, I forget and get fooled by all. On this day, I was invited to one of my friend’s birthday party. I was pretty excited, and reached the party house on time. You know, you’ve got to be punctual with this stuff.

          The door was wide open, so no suspense on ringing the doorbell. I met and greeted my friend, and joined the other guys at the party. No one needed to tell me. I made myself completely at home. We all sat there for quite some time, cracking jokes and doing other silly stuff. This time I was alert. I was not going to be fooled today. A couple of April fools had been made, and I wasn’t going to be next.

After waiting for another 15 minutes, which seemed like an hour, I was going to wait no more. I mean, come on people! Let’s get this party started! Another friend of mine felt the same. We had all been given small bottles of water. He opened his bottle and looked slyly towards another guy. The next thing is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Squirt goes the water. He emptied his bottle on the poor unsuspecting party-goer. Angry retaliation followed, the water missing the target, and falling on another. This was going to be an all-out water battle. I found the farthest corner of the room, and watched the action unfold.

The bottles were small, so the water got over easily. I was the only one who didn’t get soaked up. I got to know the meaning of ‘having the last laugh’. The parents of the birthday boy weren’t looking pleased, and were trying to wrap things up. They brought in the cake, which was supposed to be the star attraction for the day. It was huge, but only area-wise, not like one of those three tier cakes. It was like those Enter-The-Dragon moments, with everyone saying ‘Oooh!’ and ‘Aaah!’ We started singing the Happy Birthday song.

The cake seemed irresistibly delicious, or deliciously irresistible. Halfway into the song, the junior members of the party lost their resistive forces. And within moments, a bunch of hands splashed, or crashed, into the cake, coming out only with huge pieces of cake. If the junior members can do so, why should the big guys be left behind? Another bunch of hands, digging deep down into the cake, came out with even bigger pieces. One of them figured out an even better use of the cake pieces than eating them. What else than smearing them on the birthday boy’s face? I spoke out in defence of my friend, “He’s the birthday boy. Do let him have his day of the year.” Instead of listening to me, the guy handed me a piece so that I could join in the fun.  After half a minute of smearing, the birthday boy looked like a completely outraged grizzly bear. His parents took him inside, trying to calm him down.

The three of them came back, looking as calm as ever.  Dinner was served, with a nice starter and a mouth-watering main course. The cake didn’t get completely ruined, so each one of us got only a piece of the cake as dessert, owing to its huge size. I was not going to eat it, as only God knows whether the hands which went into it were clean or not. The party was over, and I greeted my friend once again. All I was taking back home with me was an experience not to be forgotten, and the fact that I didn’t become an April fool.

Written by Manas Trivedi

Original story by Mihir Trivedi

This might give you an idea of what happened at the party



The Cricket Match

          That’s the word. Oh yeah. Cricket. Man, everyone’s crazy about that game in India. The game played with a bat and a ball. Kind of similar to baseball. Though hockey is the national game, cricket is the most popular game in India.

          At the official level, cricket is played between two teams, each having eleven players. They play in a stadium, the bowler throws the ball, and the batsman hits the ball with the bat. The fielders try to stop the ball from reaching the boundary line and try to take his/her wicket. Yeah. Blah blah blah. Rules, rules and rules. Okay, so I hope you got it. It’s an outdoor game.

          In the stadium, where it is played, sit thousands of spectators watching the cricket match. One fine cloudy day I saw my father smiling. I asked him what the matter was. Then he tried to look as serious as possible. He asked me plainly, “Like cricket?” I, like every other Indian, said yes. Then he said, “Would you give the newspaper to me? On the table.” Your wish is my command, sir. I went to the table, picked the newspaper. Some papers fell from it. What else but advertisement pamphlets. But man, believe it or not, they were cricket match tickets! Four of them in all. Bingo. I was going to see a real cricket match. A first for me. You might be saying, “Yeah, whatever.” But still…

          The match was in the evening. We all got ready to go. I had made a nice poster supporting my home team, Pune Warriors India. The match was between this team and the team Chennai Super Kings. I took my autograph book along, and we proceeded. The stadium was quite far from my home. On the way I saw many mountains on the way. Finally, we got a glimpse of the stadium. All lighted and ready to go. It was a summer afternoon and a cool breeze was blowing. Some clouds had started gathering in the west, which looked, well, sort of cloudy. Suddenly I thought about rain stopping the match. But the weather forecast was clear skies. I tried to forget about it and went in through a nice sweet door with a mean looking guard. I showed my ticket to him, who punched a hole into it. Thank god not through me. In the stadium was a super gigantic crowd. Amazingly enormous, to be precise. The stadium was jam-packed. Our seats were in the middle rows. We sat in our seats, ready to get tired. “Popcorn, sir?” came a man. He called me ‘sir’. I at the time was a guy of thirteen. “Sir? Are you serious?” I asked him. No reaction. My father came and bought a big bag for me. Awesome thing to munch on. Within minutes the match started. The players entered. And my seat was right next to the aisle. I stuck out my autograph book through the net bordering the aisle. But none of the guys autographed on it. Still, three of the Chennai Super Kings team’s players saw me, smiled, and left. Including the cricket supergiant M.S. Dhoni. I was two metres away from him. Probably one of the better than the best moments of my life. I let my eyes capture the moment. Probably never ever to happen again. It was an incredible feeling.

          I wanted to stop the time and savour the moment. But my incredible brother literally broke the feeling by dragging me to my seat. The match started with the Pune Warriors winning the toss and electing to bat first. It was a twenty over match, so the game was going to be short. The batsmen came. The first ball of the innings, one run. Next two, no runs. This continued for some overs. Boring. Then the ball went straight into the sky. And came down with record speed. The ball was caught by a fielder. The first shock. The batsman was out. Came in the second. He hit the ball straight over the boundary line. A six. Then he went on fire. He himself made a hundred runs in a jiffy. It seemed like today my home team was going to win.

          They made a good total score. The opponent team came in to bat. I was sure of the results of the game, but this time the team was on fire. Not a one man army, like the Pune Warriors. Sixes and fours, the guys turned the tide. After the team lost some wickets, their star player picked up his bat. M.S. Dhoni came in to bat. Enter the Dragon. I just kept looking at him, though from a distance. I mean, you don’t get to see celebrities every day. While I continued my staring, some people ahead and behind me started to shout. Through the corner of my eye, I saw a ball hurtling towards me. Dhoni had hit a six, and the ball was coming right for me.

Once in a lifetime opportunity. I jumped with all my might to catch it. And hundreds of others jumped around me. And, oh yeah, I caught the ball. The camera was on me. I was on national TV. I simply said, “Yippee!” and threw the ball to the players. My mother dragged me out of the crowd, saying that a stampede could occur. The mean guard kept staring at me from the entrance gate. But, seriously, that was cool. Some guys around me asked me how it felt to catch the ball hit by Dhoni. What else but brilliant. The rest of the match continued, the players making a spectacular show. I was meanwhile going bonkers. Dhoni saw me, and I caught the ball he hit. Ouch. I forgot all about my popcorn tub, which as usual was emptied by my brother. The match was about to end. Six runs needed of the last two balls. It seemed near impossible, only if the players didn’t hit some nice shots. Dhoni on strike. The first ball, no runs. Six runs off the last ball. The guy’s expression seemed as cool as a cucumber. The bowler threw the ball. A tense moment. Dhoni picked up his bat and swung it hard. The ball went over the fence, right on to the roof. A six! Chennai Super Kings had won the match. And yeah, my home team lost. Great. Still, it was a great match. We went back home. I told all my friends about my experience. I got some impossibly great memories which will remain with me for the rest of my life.

-         Manas Trivedi

 

The game of cricket

School Picnic - Singapore Gardens, Pune

          I hope you know what is a picnic. A picnic is a leisure trip in which food is eaten outdoors. On 30 September 2014, the school took the students of the ninth grade to Singapore Gardens. I remembered by experience of Kapila Resort. The school had taken us there on a picnic once. Though a good place, it was quite small. Really small for 500 children. Crowded and all, my experience wasn’t nice.

          I hoped that this time, the picnic spot was a better place. We all guys sat in the bus. The bus was a Volvo, or a luxury bus, with a functional TV. At least the school didn’t cut the costs on that. I sat with my friends, Amit and Deepak. The bus started. Within 5 minutes, Amit said that he was feeling hungry. We opened some snacks and had a sort of breakfast. I’d brought my Rubik’s cube along with me. I tried to teach Amit the cube. That took a lot of time. Deepak also brought a cube, which was different from normal ones as it was a mirror cube. All the cubies were of different sizes. A movie was being screened on the TV. I didn’t understand much of it, as I was busy teaching Amit. Guys in the bus started dancing to the tune of songs in the movie. Then we reached a hilly area, called the Western Ghat region.

          The landscape was fantastic. We were travelling on a long hill. On both sides there was a green valley with a clean river flowing on the left side. We reached a tunnel. It was a long, dark one. Everyone in my bus started woohooing and yahooing. In formal language-yelling, screaming and hooting. Back in light, the noise died down. We approached the destination. Singapore Gardens, my friends were already making fun of it. “How does it feel in Singapore?” Amit asked me. The bus stopped and we walked down to the gardens.

          The first thing I saw was a 3 metre by 3 metre garden. “There it is! Singapore Gardens! Couldn’t be any better!” Deepak said. The actual thing’s gate was on the right. We entered and came face to face with a green elephant. Made up of a green carpet, or a curtain. The second thing we saw was a monster. A dragon. A sculpture with water flowing out of its mouth. A breakfast was organised, a nice one according to me. In a plate, the staff of the place served poha-a snack made from crushed rice, and a sort of halwa-a sweet dish made of flour. Amit, for some reason, didn’t like the breakfast. We kept our bags at a safe place and explored the area a bit, and I got back to my Cube classes. I told Amit frankly that we were here to enjoy, not to stress out our brains.

          I know I said the word ‘enjoy’. I am not much of a fun-loving person. The DJ started his songs in the dance room. All guys totally shook it. They seemed like they were enjoying a lot. I don’t know how one could enjoy by dancing. I am not made for dancing. I believe that playing the guitar is the best way to enjoy. Still, I envied those guys in the dance hall.

          Then an announcement was made. “All students proceed to the auditorium”. It was a big room. The weird thing about it was that 3 rows of robots were arranged beneath a big screen. I thought it was just a design and they would show us a movie on robots. Firstly, they showed us a video clip of robots dancing. Next, the robots right in front of us started dancing. Cool. Then, they showed a clip of a robot exercising. The same robot was brought in. It started doing push-ups on one hand with one feet in the air. Awesome. Another robot was brought, which responded to the commands of a person. The next thing was a fish. Two air filled fishes were brought which literally ‘swam’ in the air. The two swam unimaginably gracefully. Now, why should birds be left behind? A robotic bird was brought in, which flew through the air. It swooped over us. I had to duck in order to save myself from getting hit by the bird. Finally, the bird’s flight ended in a crash into a person of my class. This quad copter was brought in next. Didn’t seem too great, but it produced a lot of wind. That was the end of the robotic show.

          Lunch was served. Satisfactory food. Sweet dish-not available. No, actually it was available at a cost. For Rs. 20, Choco bar was provided. This awkward incident then happened. Right in front of my eyes, a student took 10 or 15 bars from a box and gave it to his friends. Someone noticed, but it was too late.

          Again an announcement was made. “Students proceed to the open ground”. The robotic show was restarted. The quad copter was flown right into the sky. Up into the sky. Really high. Next, a UFO was flown into the air. The UFO was made up of thermocol, with a hex copter attached to it. It didn’t fly high, and it met with the same fate of the robotic bird. It crashed into a guy, who didn’t seem hurt, and broke into two pieces. Poor UFO.

          Once again, an announcement was made. “Students go for 3D show”.  I went for the show. It was the opposite of incredible. Ouch. Seen much better things than that. Then the coordinator called for children who were willing to become social workers. I and Deepak went to volunteer. But we backed up as soon as we heard the task. The social workers had to clean up the garden. There were very few volunteers. The garden was very badly polluted with wrappers and other stuff. I and Deepak felt that it was our duty. We picked up some of the trash and put it in the dustbin. It felt nice. Then the coordinator called us and asked our names. I felt great pride in telling my name. Overall, the social service was a good experience.

          This time our school had arranged an educational trip also. To Mahananda Milk Plant. We came back to the bus and set off for the plant. The bus left us on a road. We trekked down the road to the plant. It was smaller than I had thought. It took a while before we entered the plant. From inside, it was amazing. We were able to see the packets being made, the milk being filled into the packets, and being sent off to different places in boxes. There was a huge cylinder to store milk. It was about 3 storeys tall. Well, the visit was not too educational.

          We boarded the bus back to our school. This time, instead of movies, songs were played. Boring for me. I asked Amit to stop bugging me and that I would teach him the cube afterwards. The tunnel, this time, seemed smaller. Time seemed to flow. Some guys were taking selfies on our teacher’s tablet. All seemed tired as well as happy.

          We reached school. End of picnic. We said our bye-byes to each other. I boarded the school bus back to my home. At home, I narrated all the incidents that took place to my parents, grandparents and brother. The overall experience was nice. Especially the robotic show. Nice day.

-         Manas Trivedi