That's when I knew I loved her

She was my schooldays crush. She was the prettiest girl in the neighborhood.

 I was the gangly bespectacled nerd who couldn’t believe his luck that she didn’t mind being seen with him. 

She told me that she liked me because I could make her laugh. I thought that was why I loved her.

She had gifted me ‘Sunny Days’- the memoir of my idol, Gavaskar. That’s why I thought I loved her.

The block cricket match was on. An indifferent but enthusiastic player, I was picked as a fast bowler on account of my height. The girls were in a bunch watching from a balcony.

She was among them. I had to perform. Anxiety to impress made my form disappear, and trying to bowl faster only made it worse. I was sweating profusely. Disaster struck. Sweat and desperate effort made the ball slip from my grip and fly off, and the spectacles fly off my nose and smash on the pitch. This was accompanied by mortifying rolls of laughter from all around, but what killed me were the peals of feminine laughter from up above. Then I heard her voice, clearly trilling over the sounds of laughter – “So what! You should watch him play football! He plays it so well!” That’s when I knew why I loved her