Amol, utterly bitter...

Faisal Shariff

The lights of Prabhodhankar Thackeray hall, in Bombay, shone bright on the celebratory crowd.

The diamond sparkled and flashed on the finger of his fiancee.

And in the midst of it all, Amol Mazumdar sat wrapped in darkness, his eyes staring at the cell phone in his hand.

A minute ago, that evening of March 26, the cell phone had buzzed incessantly, interrupting his engagement ceremony.

'Hullo?'

"Amol? Just called to inform you that you are not going."

The glow on his face went off as if someone had flicked a switch. Meanwhile, around him, the celebrations continued....

Two hours from then, Amol Mazumdar -- having made sure of his lifetime happiness -- was scheduled to rush to Mumbai airport, to take the flight to Australia. Where he would represent Mumbai in the Champion's Cup, a tournament involving the national domestic champions of various countries.

"You are not going." Four words, in the rasping voice of Mumbai Cricket Association vice-president Pravin Barve, had shattered that dream. Amol sat there and thought, 'In a little while they will come up and ask me why I am not getting ready to go to the airport. What do I tell them?'

"I was shocked," he recalls. "This was the first time Bombay was going overseas, and I was kicked out at the last minute; literally the last minute."

Why?

It is a question as old as Adam. Adam didn't have any answers then, Amol doesn't have any answers today.

Why was he dropped? Why was that information held back till the very last minute? If he was being disciplined, what for?

Cricketing grounds? Unlikely -- Amol Mazumdar is, you will recall, the man who eight years ago scored 260 on debut for Mumbai (then Bombay), a world record that has not been bettered. And since that date, he has been the Ranji champion outfit's most prolific batsman -- with four double tons, 10 centuries, 19 fifties.

So, why?

The MCA says that Amol Mazumdar did not wear his team jersey when he walked out for the toss preceeding the quarterfinal game between Mumbai and Punjab. Bombay lost that match . But by the time the toss was over, Amol had lost much more -- he had lost his one chance to perform on the international stage.

"I've given my best to Bombay over the last eight years," he sighs. "Now, I have to start all over again, I have to grit it out."

All for not wearing the team jersey.

"What I want to know is, why?," says Amol. "What did I do to deserve this punishment? I was asked about this, after the match, and I apologised. I told them it was an oversight, not prompted by arrogance or whatever."

'You are not going!' Four words, that sounded like a death sentence. And there is still no answer.

There is, however, the grapevine. Which buzzes with the story of how the current sponsors of the Mumbai Ranji team had committed Rs 1.2 million as sponsorship money for the year. When the defending champs lost in the quarters to Punjab, the sponsors realised that their money was going down the drain -- and wanted an out.

They looked around, and they found Amol Mazumdar. Who had not worn his team jersey for the toss. Which is a breach of contract with the sponsors. Which entitles the sponsors to hold back the payment. Which entailed a loss for the MCA. Which required a scapegoat. Which prompted a phone call.

'You are not going.'

Never mind that there were only 12 people at the ground that day -- and none of them would have been able to see the logo even assuming Amol Mazumdar had worn the blazer.

When he got that call, his luggage was in fact being driven to the airport.

"I'm not angry anymore... I have always been a very intense cricketer and person. I don't speak much ... I am relaxed ... I am biding my time."

The words dribble out of him, each symptomatic of an inner vulnerability, each dipped in pain.

It is now 20 days since that day. In all this time, Amol -- a fanatic about his fitness -- has not jogged even once. He has not once felt the burn of muscle as he works the weights in the gym. He has not padded up and walked into the nets.

But yes, he has played two games, and racked up a 146 in one of them, in this period.

"I cannot remember when last I went without practice for such a long time. At the MCA they used to say, there cannot be practice without Amol -- I was the first to arrive, the last to leave. But now, I just want to be by myself," he says.

But, maybe, the critics are right, and he is past his prime?

Is he, hell. Amol Mazumdar is 27 years old. Exactly 11 days older than 'Very Very Special' Laxman, the latest star on India's cricketing horizon.

But, maybe, the critics are right, and he is just a domestic dada?

Maybe. But wasn't that what they said about Laxman?

Maybe, Amol doesn't have the game for the big time -- but surely, you can't discount the runs he has to his name? Surely, playing for Mumbai in the tournament Down Under would have let us see, for ourselves, just what stuff he is made of?

It is all moot, anyway. Amol is here. His team is there, Down Under. And he is finding out that even adversity has its quota of silver linings.

"There are so many things that used to give me pleasure," he recalls, "but which I never found time for, because of my cricket. Now, I am doing all those things, and enjoying it. I visited my home town in Pali (near Penn, in Maharashtra), and it felt very nice, to have the time for that, to have time for myself and not for my team."

He is now preparing to fly to England, where he will play in the Northern Premier League in Lancashire.

And as he waits, he teaches himself to absorb, assimilate, bitter disappointment. "I must learn to take nothing for granted," he says.

Nothing for granted. Not even a gola. Which, to the uninitiated, is a roadside confection of ice, flavoured with some very startling colours that wouldn't get past a food inspector's eye.

It is a Mumbai staple, in summer.

"It is years since I had one -- I enjoyed it," says Amol Mazumdar, Mumbai cricketer.

IIlustration: Uttam Ghosh

Mail Faisal Shariff