A Reflection to My Childhood Memories

The old bat made of wood,
The old tennis ball,
and the wicket made by piling up stones...

what a moment it was when I used to go play on this ground with my friends of the same age in my childhood. Those moments were buried deep in my mind like in a treasure chest, perhaps due to my chaotic schedule, I couldn't remember them.

But yesterday, when my son asked me before leaving for school, 'Will you take me to the ground? My friends will come, and we'll play cricket?'

At first, I tried to brush off his request. But kids know how to persuade their parents well. So I told him, 'Okay, we'll go to the cricket ground at 4 pm today after school.' He was overjoyed.

And then, in my watch, 4 pm arrived too quickly, but my son was passing each moment by glancing at the clock after returning from school, because there was a commotion inside him. A mix of excitement and joy, because I had given him permission to play on the ground for the first time.

When we reached the ground, my son's friends were already waiting. Now, looking around the ground, there were teams of older boys already engaged in playing on every side. This is a shared ground where everyone plays together. All over the ground, children and adults were busy with their respective games at short distances.

Then, we too searched for a small empty space for ourselves and made a wicket by piling up stones.

There were 6 children, meaning 2 teams of 3 players each were formed. And I, to relive my old memories and to help the kids, decided to take on the role of wicketkeeper voluntarily. Perhaps, after 25 years, I had become a part of a cricket match (in fact a small children's cricket match).

I was the umpire, scorekeeper, and wicketkeeper all at once. I tossed the coin. My son's team was batting. And with great enthusiasm, I was taking pictures of the playing children with one hand holding my mobile phone. I was capturing the joy on their faces in my mobile camera.

And with one hand, I was catching the ball behind the wicket and throwing it back to the bowler.

The children were engrossed in the joy of their game, and I was lost in my old memories. In this pleasant atmosphere, these kids played 3 small matches in 2 hours. And the winner was my son's team. He was extremely excited.

All these kids together made me sign an agreement to come to the ground again next Friday :-) And I probably couldn't refuse because I also enjoyed the happiness and energy of these kids.

Stay safe, Happy, and Blessed!

With Love 💕 @rashid001