Cycle Polo

I was walking with two minds

Whether to take left direction

Or just to maintain the trajectory

Walking past the bus stop

I heard chants from some kids

Brother, please retrieve that ball

I looked across the road

I found it in the middle of the road

I went and threw that ball back to the ground

I decided to go to the ground to sit for a while

I sat on the stand beneath that old tree

It’s an old dream hangout for me

I used to play and used to watch lot of games

Football and cricket

But it was a haven for budding cycle polo players

Over the years, I’ve seen many kids

Learning to roll the ball using their sticks

Riding their bicycles

This same ground has been a university

For many players who donned state and national colors

It staged many cycle polo tournaments in past

It’s an inspiration for many aspiring kids

I saw different groups of kids

Practicing cycle polo

Trying out their tricks to show off

At the middle, a group was competitive

They chased down the ball

Riding the cycle faster

Made some intriguing passes

Scored some goals

Saw some girls just passing the ball around

But it’s the young kids whom I watched

I saw the eagerness to learn

Trying to be balanced on the cycle

To move faster to pass and chase the ball

Two of them just missed a collision by a whisker

They acknowledged and kept on playing

I wondered when most of new generation kids

Aspire to play cricket, football, or some other sports

Which will yield them money or fame

The passion for cycle polo is still there

At least in this place

It’s not an easy game though

None of them fell once

They were always steady and

 Avoided each other’s path

Even when they were trying to block or tackle

Keeping a safe distance and speed

It still amazes me, how they manage to control

The cycles just like that right from childhood

One thing is sure

The future is bright

 Cycle polo will survive

Even though there are no glitz and glamour

Nor any big sponsorships to ponder

It’s just the passion that keeps these players going

Electric-“shock”-Bill

Every day as I sit to work

Thinking deeply about what to write

And searching for the content

My UPS starts crying

Shut the PC and let me rest

Yeah, the power has gone

May be

The power cables fought as usual

With roadside tree branches

Or may be

Someone from electricity board

Pulled up the main fuse in our area

Power Minister talks about his achievements with pride

But, he can’t do much to generate more power

Nor reduce the transmission loss

Come rainy season

We have to endure dark nights

Under the shade of candles or emergency lamps

Come summer season

Minister will talk about shortage of water in dams

And reduction of power sharing from other states

There are no official power cuts

But when the sun showers his fury on us

With the thermometers reading higher centigrade

We are destined to use hand-powered fans

To keep ourselves cool

Or we have to take refuge in liquids

But even chilling the liquids becomes impossible

As they play with us keeping our power away

Yet when we get our electricity bill

We find unusual taxes

Unusual sur-charges

Sometimes

They force us to pay double the principal amount

Yeah this is monopoly

Pay it on time whatever amount on bill

Or get your connection taken away

If we call for emergency repair

They say we will come

May be hours or days later

But they will be at home to disconnect

The power cable right on the day

After the bill date

They are sharp at least in this duty

I wonder

Where does all consumer protection groups

Goes hiding

When the power board squeezes money

Out of common people

As we have no other cheaper alternative

To fall back on

We keep paying what’s on the bill

We never get good service for what we pay

There are no provisions for us

To demand reduction in payment

For getting sub-standard service and untold power cuts

They can hike price whenever they want

And if you ask someone about it

They will tell till go to complaint section

Or meet some other officials

I know nothing can be done

And I walk as usual back to home

To play with my power buddy

Shutting on and shutting off my pc

Every other hour

While pursuing my quest to complete the work

With a wait for another “electric-shock-bill.”