Badminton Match
I had seen him for the first time on the badminton court. He had teamed up with another girl from the office and was on the opposite side. I was confident that the girl in his team is the weaker link of the two and I would be able to win the match easily along with my partner. As expected, we won it… But not easily. He effectively covered the whole court on his side and made it a tough competition for us. After the match his partner introduced us and we realized that we belonged to the same set of the new trainees who had joined this company. Just that he was in a different vertical and so we had never interacted in last 9 months since we had joined the organization.
The badminton match was one of the sports of the Sports Day Event that was being organized in our organization pan India. Other sports being Table Tennis, cricket and carrom. Now that he and his partner had lost the badminton match from us so he could not qualify for the National tournament in badminton but his cricket team had managed to reach the main matches of the event. After playing our individual matches in badminton it was time to go home. My mixed double opponents offered to drop me to my flat in that city and I happily said yes.
I had shifted to this small city 3 months back when I was given this location after the completion of the cross functional training. After spending 6 years in hostel, I had decided that I would rent my own flat and stay in it all alone rather than opting for a PG. I wanted to lead an independent life in which I did not want to share any space with anyone else. I was reeling under the pain of my first break up and all I needed was some space in my life so that my pain could flow through my tears as and when my endurance cracked. I did not know anyone in this city and that made me happy because I wanted to be nobody in this city. The only people in this city whom I knew and who knew me were my office colleagues. During the car ride I was sitting in the back seat and I was observing the camaraderie which my colleagues on the front seats shared. While he was driving the car, she was chatting up on every conceivable topic... And he was responding to her with his witty remarks. Then they dropped me at my place and we bid each other our formal good byes.. The way we do with people whom we meet for the first time.
The ride from the badminton court was hardly for ten minutes and none of us had ever thought at that time that these drives would continue even after ten years. That was also the first and the last time when I sat on the back seat of the car while he was driving….Now I sit with him on the front seat every time we go for a drive..
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