Lost A Game, Won A Battle!

It was just another ordinary day at school. Afternoon ambience changed when Teachers’ Day games competition started. With kids cheering their teachers to victory made the campus sound like a roaring ocean.

From my seat I could see the Badminton doubles competition. More than the teachers in action I loved to see and hear the enthusiastic kids around the court. Though they tried a few days back their best and failed to make me and the other teachers on my table join the competition, tirelessly they called us again from down “please come ma’am..” We told them..”next year..”. They were not going to leave us..SPL came up once again with the request and by that time, my friend and I, we had decided to ‘play the fool’ for the kids to enjoy.

Playing after more than ten years, we had forgotten all the rules and there wasn’t time left to learn them. So, there we stood, ready for the game.

It took us some time to realise that we are leading and after some time we even knew that we had won the match! That didn’t end there. We played and played and won our way to the finals after winning three matches!

I don’t want to hold the surprise from you. No. We didn’t win the match. Though we got some good points, we lost it against our strong opponents. What a bad feeling to disappoint our supporters! Yet we were treated like heroes and I have no words to explain the magnanimity of children to run and come and shake hands and say “ma’am, you played so well!!”

Climbing up the steps we looked at each other in disbelief and thanked God that we could do so much without any preparation at all and that still we were not too tired.

I thought of the days where we used to play Badminton every evening as a family. I had to completely stop playing after being diagnosed for a disc prolapse in the lower back and neck. When I was on the edge of paralysis and when I lived with partial numbness on my feet and then down the knee, I used to pray to God that His Grace should make me walk. The painful years made me lose interest in all activities and I settled down for a slow paced life without much events. I resigned my job and remained at home, finding it difficult even to manage each day’s demands.

That is when we shifted to Salem and I joined Cluny as a part time teacher, with permission to sit down and teach! My old students may remember how I used to miss my steps and stumbled while taking class making the kids wonder if I’ll fall or not. I still remember kids giving me a chocolate when my BP dropped suddenly. With multiple problems I managed my classes with the understanding and cooperation of my students.

I walked with those numb legs, pleading for His Grace in each step. The second floor was Calvary that I climbed every day in pain and prayer. To add to my many falls, I continued falling, hitting my back badly on the floor for four more times, making it eleven falls totally!!

Two years back, it was on September 4^th that I got healed during a healing prayer session conducted at school. From that time till today there is no trace of any pain on my neck or my back. Though healed completely, I never restarted many things that I stopped doing before. Many years of inactivity continued made me feel like a handicap who is scared to venture into anything that involvs a risk. I imagined that my back pain waits at my back like a ghost who can come back to life, if I make a mistake!

Yesterday changed it all. That was the day where my doubts and my fears vanished. The ghost ran off hearing the innocent cheer and screams of kids. 

After playing continuously the games I realised that I am just totally normal as I was before. Nothing seemed wrong, moreover, everything seemed very much right!

My kids, if not for your call I wouldn’t have even thought of a game. If not to make you happy I wouldn’t have played. If not for your cheer, I wouldn’t have made it to the finals.

St Augustine says that it is in giving that we receive. I gave you few minutes of happiness and thrill. But I received myself back.

Thanks a million, my kidoos..I love you all for dragging me to the court with your love and surrounding me with your love. What I achieved yesterday is only because of you, and I thank you all from my heart.

On Teachers’ Day, I will receive the prize for the runner up. I can already hear your cheer. When you see me on the stage, please remember that I was a person who could hardly walk and please praise and glorify the Almighty Ever-living Ever-loving God who made me run again.

Thank God, thank you, my beloved kids of Cluny. May God bless you always and make you grow in His Wisdom and Love...

I might have lost the game..but I conquered the demon and won the battle!! Sindhu