Next day, after the school, I waited for her near that hallroom building. I waited and waited, but there was no sign of her. Unfortunately, we didn't exchanged our phone numbers. So, I couldn't call her. Maybe, she was absent.
Then, I slowly departed towards my home. On my way, I saw Aisha, coming out of a medical store with a packet in her hand. Probably she bought some medicines from the store. I thought that I should go and ask her if her health was ok or not.
Suddenly, she noticed me and came running towards me. I don't know why she is always in such a hurry. She stopped in front me, looked at my face, as if, she was reading my mind. After a few seconds, she questioned me," Do you know for whom I have bought these medicines?"
- "Nope, I don't."
- "Try to guess it by yourself!"
- "Umm.....for yourself?"
- "I am fully physically fit, Senior!"
- "Then, for whom?"
- "Come with me."
She always creates such a suspenseful situation and speak words out of the blue, that it becomes difficult for me to predict her. Anyway, I started walking with her in the direction where she was heading to.
After walking for about 5 minutes, we reached in front of a small house. She went inside without permission, I followed her. When I moved inside a bit, I came across a bedroom. I saw a man lying on the bed. He was none other than, Prakash Sir!
- "I am back, Sir. Here are the medicines that doctor told you to take."
- "Thanks a lot, Aisha. You were a great help for me today. I am lucky to have a student like you."
- "Thanks, Sir. I also brought one of your ex-student with me. There he is, standing near the door, watching us.
Prakash Sir looked towards me. His eyes started glittering, as if, he was about to cry. But there was a wide smile on his face.
On the other hand, I was a bit surprised to see himself in that mere condition. The last time I saw him,probably about 3 years ago, he was still a young and a physically fit man. But now, it seemed like he has become quite old and unfit.
At first, it was a bit hard for me to believe that he was the same Prakash sir whom I had known. After a few minutes of silence, he finally broke it and called me. "Come and sit here, Nishant", he exclaimed.
In these 3 years, he have coached many other students. Even then, he still remembers my name. I felt a warmth in my heart. I stepped inside the room and sad beside his bed. He asked," How are you? Have you recognised?"
- "Yes, ofcourse I have recognised you Prakash sir. How can I forget you, after all, you had motivated me so much and hoped so much from me. But I was an useless student, couldn't live upto your expectations. I am ashamed of myself."
- "Why are you ashamed? You have not done anything wrong. I heard everything from Aisha. You showed true humanity. It's very rare to find a sportsperson with such a great spirit these days."
Though he has changed physically, but by behaviour, he is the same old "Prakash Sir" who used to motivate me.
Then, we chatted about his experience in coaching, my past days of practices with him and even gave me some tips for coaching. "As you can see Nishant, my health is not well nowadays. So, you will have to take the full responsibility of Aisha's coaching."
- "But sir, I don't have enough to coach a player, who is about to play the final of a competition in a few days."
- "You can do it, Nishant. I have faith in you. Besides, it can be a new beginning for you as well."
- "But sir, why me? I mean, there are other badminton coaches in our school who are far better than me."
"It's because I want 'you' to coach me." - Aisha spoke out.
- "But why?"
- "You remember I told you once that, my coach was trying my gameplan?"
- "Yeah, but I thought it was Prakash sir."
- "I think you misunderstood."
Then Prakash sir told us, "From now on, till the day of the final, you can come here after the school and practice badminton in my garden. I think that would be a good idea, isn't it?"
- "Yeah, but not tomorrow."
- "Why? Do you have any other plans tomorrow?"
- "Yes. Tomorrow, we are going to Sanjay Van."
I interrupted," What do you mean by 'we'? And what about your school?
- "My friends will give the notes. Besides, I am planning to not to go to school before the finals. And for Sanjay Van, yes, you will come with me there to coach me."
- "You will go to a forest for practicing badminton?! Are you serious?!
- "Yes, I am serious. Prakash sir always used to tell me that 'Nature is the best playground to play any sport.'
Now I came to remember that he used to tell the same thing to me as well, when he was my coach. Prakash sir smiled and told," It will be very nice if you can do it. Nishant, you should take care of her. It's your responsibility."
- "O-Ok sir."
- "Fine then. Now, make her practice about her footwork in the garden."
As he told, I took Aisha to the garden for practice. She took one of sir's own badminton with her. We practiced for about 20 mins, since it was getting dark.
She was committing same mistakes which I used to commit during my practice days, making me a bit nostalgic.
On our way home, I asked her, "Can you please give me your phone number. It will be a great help for tomorrow."
"Yeah sure, take it.", she exclaimed and gave me her mobile number.
At the end of day 3, we exchanged our mobile numbers.