EVEN VIRAT KOHLI!

 

STEVE 

We won.

TONY

Alright, Hey. Alright. Good job,

guys. Let’s just not come in 

tomorrow. Let’s just take a day. 

You ever tried shawarma? There’s a 

shawarma joint about two blocks 

from here. I don’t know what it is, 

but I wanna try it. 

THOR 

We’re not finished yet. 

TONY 

And then shawarma after?

There are no sabbaticals, no retirement; once that anointing oil falls on your head there is no going back to normality. You are a hero until time says so. Close kin can force you into the forest, you maybe grazing sheeps all along, but if you are anointed for kingship, nothing can stop your reign.

In this country there was already a God, and his beloved never had to look beyond for other deities. Yet it had many heroes from ages to ages, they were given titles remincsing their heroics. But we never had one like this.

Virat Kohli, a name that has been echoing across the cricketing world for almost two decades. While many came and went, he is still standing as a immovable force.  But now lend me your ears, I've not come to praise him for enough people have already done that. The greatness of a man does live after them. So it be with Virat.

I've come to tell a story, about a vending machine that churned out candies for every kid. A sky blue vending machine, near the great hall where everyone could see. It stood tall, and it gave and it gave every single time. No kid, no adult was ever left hanging, it always gave the best. And one day it stopped. Candies stopped rolling out, smiles were turned into drowning frowns. They tried to fix it, but there was no mechanic available since this was not off this world. Voices were raised it to be taken out into the scrapyard. All hopes were lost, and then it began. The dreaded dark hours of waiting. 

Everyone which seeks the star has to defy the force that chains you down to the valley. But gravity was not strong enough for him, for he was already a star travelling in light speed. The force of a billion people was never too much for his shoulders, it was privilege, it was an opportunity to be the star he is. But then being a star as he is, the gravity it exerts on itself and the surrounding is beyond the hopes of a billion people. The star was derailed from it's path. The machine broke, the engine went cold. And it was left in the open to be weathered by seasons of question, self doubt and hurling words. Even a well oiled machine, stops. Even Virat Kohli!

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. That's the price which comes with it, the villainfication. But when that price has to be paid by your loved ones, you wonder is it worth all this? A price too much by any standard, heinous for a king. Headlines were written about how the lights are blinking away, how the last star dust is slowly dissipating into the new reality of a white dwarf. Insults were thrown, and the king who came to reign was now hanging on the cross shamed, as an object of public spectacle.

Failure and it's siblings are not strangers for us, it does visit us often. You can fight it, you can embrace it; but it will always be the same. The angel of humbling! For gods, for kings, for commoners.

Even Virat Kohli!

The mighty was humbled, not by the insults thrown at him, nor by the gravity of his fall. But by the sheer realisation of his own success. The gauge he had created to measure himself. The mighty was humbled by the grandeur of his own success. And he admitted he was weak, he was at his wits end. Pawns were taken down, horses slaughtered, bishop and rook hanged, his queen humiliated but the king still had one more move left.

And It was time for Diwali, a pompous fair was called in the great hall. Oh the lights were the brightest, crowds were the loudest, guestlist were the noblest, the lineup for the night were the grandest. But on that night, singers lost melody, magicians failed the third act, dancers went offbeat. Chaos broke out everywhere. And then the vending machine in the corner, came to life with a melodius jingle playing across the room, and suddenly the eyes of everyone were fastened on the vending machine. 

A cloud might veil the sun for a while and as it pleases but when the winds blow, the sun will come out. And the star dust will fall out from heaven like confetti into the hearts and minds of billions all around.

When the last run is been taken, when all the accolades is been named after, when the last enemy is taken down, I hope this King can step down from his throne and walk into the streets of Rajouri garden, pass Ram Ji ka dukhan and order his favourite Chola Bature. Every superhero deserves that.

Even Virat Kohli!

INT. PENTHOUSE, STARK TOWER - 

Loki crawls over to a stair and turns to see the Avengers 

surrounding him. Hawkeye has an arrow aimed at his face. 

Natasha is holding his scepter. Hulk growls.

SHAWARMA JOINT - 

The Avengers are sitting around a table, eating, stuffing 

their faces. They are silent, no one makes a peep.