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Udan Pirape


 

Vijay Kumar is a cricketer from Chennai. He enjoys the game; 22 yards is where he finds his peace and happiness. Reading history enthralls him; he loves understanding why we are the way we are. Also, Champions League football matches are guaranteed to keep him up all night.

 

There’s a popular dialogue in a Tamil film, “Urukkulla Patthu Padhinanji Friends Vechirukkavan Ellam Santhoshama Irukkan ana ore oru friend vechi na padra avastha iruke” which roughly translates to, he who has ten or fifteen friends in the city is peaceful but with just one friend my life has been difficult. That one dialogue does sum up my life. A brother is anyone’s first friend but for me, he had been the only friend for a long time, and boy he was and is still annoying.


In Delhi, our first photoshoot together

My journey with him started on the 20th of Aug 1998 and it’s been a hate-love relationship since then. There’s a reason why I mentioned it as hate love because it was either no emotion or only hate mostly till early school days. Mom would generally compare us to Tom and Jerry but even they stay together in a couple of episodes a year at least. We weren’t even close for a day during my childhood. I have no reasons to explain this behavior though. The memories I still cherish from my childhood with him are very few. I would go out on trips with my grandparents at every possibility hence I never spent much time with him. A couple of memories I have of him is one from Delhi when he was just around a year old and the other was him flaunting his teeth and posing like a model standing next to dad’s machine. The first memory was horrifying, to say the least, this chum just crawled back home climbing 3 floors from the nearby milk parlour without dad’s knowledge, and sneaked back home. We were searching for him only to find him chilling with his toys. The second one is this photo. Such a poser from then.


Such a poser since 1998

We started spending a little more time once we moved to Coimbatore in 2005. We were complete opposites in every sphere of life. I loved sports he hated it, I was captivated by numbers and equations whereas he was fascinated by lines and colors, I detested sitting idle at home while he never left the shelter of our home to see sunlight yet we had a small bond growing somewhere between us back then. All that came to halt one fine day when we had to pack our bags again and move.


Dad’s constant transfers bought us back to Chennai in 2007. Moving to Chennai was one of the best decisions for me personally as it bought me close to cricket. I was totally into the sport that I spent very little time with him. Cricket had taken over me completely and at one point I saw no one beyond the game. In 2009 dad’s job had us again on the move, this time to the financial capital of the country. For someone who was born and brought up in the slow and relaxed life of Chennai and Coimbatore, this shift was exciting for us. We were looking forward to this change and by March of that year, we had arranged everything to shift there. A chance shot at the district selections ended up in me getting selected in the 15-member squad. I was the first from my academy to be selected and it was an enormous achievement. We had to choose between moving to Mumbai and staying with dad, which was a rarity for us and staying back. The obvious choice was the first one as it had only me sacrificing my selection and starting from scratch however my family chose to sacrifice all these comforts for my happiness. It was a big decision for our family yet everyone decided against shifting to Mumbai for my game. The support I received from my parents was incredible considering they had no background in sports but the biggest strength through this whole journey of my game since that day has been my brother. At that age, he let go of the new and fast life he was looking forward to, for my future. It was the first among the thousand sacrifices he made. Every summer when most of the children of our age were busy enjoying their holidays, he never asked our parents for any trips or vacations, as summers were the time, I had my camps and training sessions which he recognized were essential for my development. In hindsight, I feel he’s forgone a lot more than me for my love for this sport.


Certain things take time to understand and these decisions of my family too were one of them. It took me another year to comprehend the magnitude and the impact of these sacrifices. He was resenting his time at school and was fondly anticipating that shift nonetheless he never gave a second thought when he had to stay back for my joy. Only when I realized the impact of his sacrifices did I realize the distance that had developed between us. I hadn’t made many efforts during my childhood to know him. I knew very little of his life, his interests, his likes and dislikes till then. I knew nothing. From that day, I started making efforts to understand him better. He’s been the strength I never appreciated but am thankful for. I am grateful that I recognized it at least then.


I generally don’t believe in miracles but one incident changed my perception. It was 2014, his 12th boards were approaching and we were tensed while he was as chill as a cucumber. For all the plans that he made for life post 12th, things seemed to be coming to a halt as he had to pass that one subject he abhorred from 8th. Equations never seemed to make sense to him and to date he couldn’t comprehend how algebra, trigonometric, and “calculus” could help him in his career. I think I read more of his mathematics syllabus than him. The exam date had arrived, mom was in the prayer room half the time and I was waiting anxiously for his return. He walked in nonchalantly, threw his bag on the sofa, and in a relaxed manner said that he might pass but there’s no guarantee. What was supposed to be 2 hours stay for mom in the prayer room turned out to be 2 hours per day till his results were announced. The day came, he checked his results silently without our knowledge, and after verifying that he had passed his mathematics paper he coolly informed us. We were relieved more than anything else but he still had something to surprise us. On that day he revealed that he wrote the question paper for only 35 marks and he was amused to find a P against his mathematics paper. That’s when I started to believe that miracles do happen in life. This miracle did help him pass his 12th which meant it was time for the next stage – college.

Sometimes the things you hate most show you the path towards something you love. There are many factors that one considers when they are making a decision about their college but the only criteria my brother had was that the degree shouldn’t have mathematics. His animosity towards mathematics made him find a field that he loved, a field which we had no idea existed. He spent most of his 11th in identifying one and 12th in preparing for its entrance exam. Finally, after the miracle of May 2014, he joined DJ Academy of Design, a college that offers various design foundation programs, in Coimbatore. This shift was unforeseen and just when we were beginning to trust each other with our little secrets this happened. When we are surrounded by gold, we tend to forget its true value. I recognized the influence he had on me within a couple of weeks he moved. Distance truly does show how much a person truly means to you. It’s been 5 years since the day I saw him pack his bags and leave for college and during this time I was the one who awaited the most to know his next trip back home.


This hate-love relationship has been an amazing journey to date, he’s been the constant motivation, a pillar of strength and a pain in the backside with his annoying jokes and counters. Sometimes we receive more than we give but here I have only been a receiver without giving back anything at all and I am grateful and blessed to have him beside me throughout my life as a motivator, a guide, a friend and my udan pirape. Many many more happy returns of the day “Noodles”.





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