Rebels in Revels

Mighty Mighty MIT... the "mighty" words from the ruthless and disrespectful crowd hit us like rotten tomatoes, raw eggs and withered footwear. we looked like a bunch of incongruous aliens bombarded with all the psyching one can think of. 'Combat it or fall prey'. it all depends on one's degree of vulnerability. fortunately we had four guys of which only three lively enough to cheer us. then there was our physical director who sits back and thinks criticizing his own players is the sole purpose of his presence. and he makes his presence felt so efficiently. great. some day i'm gonna tell him, "dude, losing a match is not the end of world". great ambience for playing the finals of the REVELS volleyball tournament, isn't it?

My schedule was all set for the day.

1. Attend the morning class on cardiology at 8.
2. ENT postings at 9:30.
3. Lunch followed by a nap.
4. Enjoy the few hours in the monumental TMA PAI convention center watching the inter class cultural fest.

Nothing bores life more than the never ending postings (i'm glad that i am through optho postings already). when i couldn't raise my threshold for tolerance any more i darted towards the sweet pretty pg instantly making up an excuse with a cautious optimism to get back to hostel. i knew she was sugary enough to let me go. my irresistable passion for volleyball couldn't prevent my excuse from being logical and justifiable and i set off with the rest of the team to manipal to play the revels cup.

As expected it was only the strong afternoon wind which kept the ball levitated in the air for more than the normal hang time and the green forbidden court just outside lush green flagged cricket ground welcoming us. so hostile! i thought. we had won the league matches the previous day (which i couldn't play because of some problem with my hand) and it was time for the big ties. an old foe, MCIS, who had lost to us in the inter mahe tournament just 4 months back wanted to get back at us with a vengeance. i could sense that the bruise on their ego was pretty fresh still. the match was a 5 setter. it took some time for us to adapt to the wind conditions. in compromise we had to lose the first set. talks of theories like the anti-swerve angle and the dip dodge technique from the opponent huddle were quite intimidating. the match went on to the deciding set and finally the oscillating pendulum of victory favoured us. i had palpitations and all the physical manifestations of the sympathetic over activity i can think of.

LIBERO. apart from the name nothing about it interests me. nothing at all. unfortunately i'm the libero of our team. worst of all a libero is not allowed to serve.

For some non obvious reasons i wanted to be in mangalore the next day. i was keen on playing the finals same day. after an hour of confusion the event managers and the sport directors compromised on continuing with the finals the same day. we had to play MIT in finals and their cynical looks with their cheering squad hit a cold wave of terror at us.

Thanks to the flawed application of common sense by the event managers, light was the major concern now as it was already dusk. the dimly lit flourascent lamps and the glitter due to their unreasonable positioning across the players on either sides of the court were making things more tough for us. slowly inching we snatched the first set. lost the second. the third was a cliffhanger. totally drenched in sweat, constantly wiping the sweat off the palms, heart racing to keep up with the adrenaline rush, vocal cords going on strike for over burdening. fall, die, do whatever it takes to win. winning was all that mattered then. even before i could believe we won we had won the set. the battle was over by then. the 4th set was a cake walk. and we had won!!! a sense of accomplishment. KMC M'lore wins 3 - 1 against MIT Manipal. hip hip hurray! hip hip hurray! hip hip hurray!!!

PS : Libero is a very important icon in the prospect of a team's victory ;-)