Defaulter's Day Out

The Prelude:

Last saturday I broke my promise what I made to myself about 5 years back : Not to play in Calcutta till I felt like playing. Well I felt like playing & played in a one-day at Salt Lake. ( Promises are meant to be broken, isn't it?)

As a consequence, I was tempted to and  agreed to , this time with Pinu, for yesterday's State championship.

I had a stiff neck and a frozen shoulder so I had to avoid office time train to avoid the crowd on a weekday & reached late.The 1st session had already started.

Played in the second & a brilliant/lucky  Ace under-lead by  Mrs.Kalpana Mishra in the very first board against our  small slam , striking KJ  doubleton in dummy , held our win to a mere 4 IMP.

The Interlude:

As I was having little chats with fellows I am meeting after a few year's absence from the field, Swetadri Saha of Rahara came & told me  that CTD is looking for me.

Went to the dias , CTD was busy with computer & I waited. Suddenly a voice came " saswata, come here"

"oh , the secretary himself !, what a surprise, he even seems to know me by name"

went near the chair he was sitting on & the conversation ran like this:

me:            "বলুন "

secretary:  "শাশ্বত , তোমার  চাঁদা বাকি আছে "

me:            "হ্যাঁ , অসীমদা সকালে বলছিলেন "

( some explanation is needed here. Myself and Pinu, both are Life member of both WBBA & BFI, but it appears that we have to pay Rs. 100/- per year  for WBF- world bridge federation & IOC-olympic committee  fee which  started a few years back. I was not playing in calcutta for a long time & neither was I sure  if it was  mandatory to pay in order to play  local level tournaments.

I also gathered from Asimda ( our unit secretary) in the morning that so far WBBA is paying the same on behalf of us, ( the life members), to BFI  to the tune of about Rs. 14000/- or 21000/- or something like that  and that  they no longer will continue to do so & scratch the non paying life member's names even though they will be able to play------I don't know how they will be able to play once their names get scratched. 

But then it is very difficult to make any head or tail from Asimda's narratives. However, as I started playing again , I told Asimda that in that case I would pay)

I  don't remember seeing any such circular to this effect ( but , then again, I do not get to see all circulars). 

back to our conversation:

me:                  " কত  বাকি  আছে  ?"

secretary:         " তিন  বছরের "

me:                   "ঠিক আছে , দিয়ে  দেব "

secretary:         " কবে ?"

me:                   " অসীমদাকে  দিয়ে দেব "

secretary:         " এখনই দিতে হবে , নাহলে আজ আর খেলা  যাবে  না "

me:                  "ঠিক আছে  তাহলে  খেলবো  না "

 At this point I left.

My stiff neck didn't allow me to take a bow before leaving. Discourtesy may be condoned, if possible.

The Postlude:

Informed my teammates about the development. They understood . So would everyone (almost) else. Me & Pinu left the sacred venue, not willing to commit any more sacrilege with our, the WBF defaulters', presence

Only partially evolved human anatomy restrained me from kicking my own ass.

But there is always a good side.

The better side. 

No more nagging requests to play in a team match. No more lies to be told.  Hopefully.

A Typhoid Mary. For Fuck's Sake !