Hostel Cricket

It is 5 in the morning .
And it has been 4 hours since I have been playing cricket with all the guys who have stayed back in the summer holidays in the hostel.
Love to have started playing again, after nearly 3 years.
And would like to keep this memory forever , the whole 'bakar' game that is played , and where teams seem to be at war , where some are identified for ' uski to bajaani hi hai' , where sometimes the scrotum of the other team players are the target , where , ma- bhen derivatives know no bounds , where sledging happens intra as well as inter-team , where the sound of the bat connecting to the ball is better than any sweet music , where a 4 or a 6 is celebrated by showing gestures which would never be shown in a social gathering , where we can transform into 10 year olds quarreling about a boundary , a wide or even the rules that apply to the game , where a game finishes every 10 minutes and a new star batsmen or bowler emerges for each.

The heat is a deterrent for us in the day , the humidity is the reason for us cribbing to go home , but when it is cricket , we don't even care , whether after an hour of play , even our vests are to be taken off.

Only when the birds start chirping and when the first rays of the sun can be seen destroying the darkness around , giving a heavenly bluish tinge to the sky , do we call our game off.