Onesky versus Twosky!

"20-5! "
The scoreline ringed in Twosky's ears. He had to make a comeback. He was determined. He looked at his whitened right hand and the whiter fingers, steady over the light buff striker. He raised his eyes to scan the wooden surface and the whites on it. "4 left", he said to himself. He fixed his gaze on a white midway across the board in the other half, concentrated for a few silent seconds and let go the striker over the powdered board. The striker went slightly astray and though the white piece slided on the wooden border, it could not make it perfectly to the pocket. "Chukk!", went Twosky and Onesky heaved a sigh of relief. It was his chance now. He had 7 blacks on the board. Although a 15 point lead was quite a luxury, he knew he could not relax. Twosky was as good as he was. Only a few shots missed by a whisker or a few just barely pocketed, separated the two. On another day, Onesky could have been leading 20-5. Besides, he was facing an uphill task in this board. He took a deep breath and eyed all his pieces. He realised that a few straight shots would take him on par with Twosky, if executed properly. He started without thinking much on the lines of 'what could happen if I hit that' stuff. One went in. So did the second. The third followed suit. Onesky felt relaxed. "Well done!", he said to himself. The next one was a fine cut-connection shot. He took a few seconds to relax his wrists and fingers and then placed the striker. The thumb banked it from one side, the other fingers bent slowly holding the striker ever so lightly, then again stretched out in slow motion, the index finger touched the thumb and the behind of the striker and a slight push sent it floating across the board to hit the piece exactly where it was intended to. One black connected another, which promptly dropped into the pocket without much ado. "Impeccable!", a smile let loose on Onesky's face. But he had not finished. He gulped the next two, the second one being the coveted Queen. "There's the cover. I must not miss this", he took a deep breath in again. The next shot was again played perfectly and the blacks' count had reduced from 7 to 1 in one turn. Onesky felt sorry for Twosky. He let go what he felt would be the final nail and almost had it. But..."Ohhh!", it was not over. Now Twosky was staring a defeat in the game. He had to pocket atleast three of the remaining four pieces to keep his hopes alive. He was looking grim, but focussed. Over the next three fleeting shots he brought the board down to one final shot and....missed it! Onesky easily pocketed his last piece and the scoreline changed.

It was 24-5 now.

It had been a well contested and a well matched game so far. Onesky and Twosky were matching each other for every good shot as well as the silly misses. The key was that both read each other's mind perfectly. Whenever Onesky conceived a shot, Twosky knew he had. The same was true when Twosky planned a shot. Onesky would know it. It was as if both had a grip of the entire board and tracking each other without a glitch. The straight shots were coming easily, so were most of the connections. Only the cuts were going awry at times and this was true for both. Every board had gone till the last piece barring one where Twosky had flunked badly and had four of his pieces languishing on the board when Onesky had pocketed the last. The Queen, however, had eluded Onesky and he had to make do with four points. The game had started at even stevens and had stayed so till 4-4. Even the next two boards had gone to the wire with only the last piece left unpocketed and the scoreline had dragged along from 4-4 to 4-5 and then to 8-5. It had been black's game till then with all the four boards going to black. Onesky broke the string and never looked back from there. 8 became 12, then 16, then 20 and now 24. Twosky wasn't getting frustrated, however. He just sought some more focus and luck. Onesky was to break next. It was the 9th board in the game so far.

Onesky decided to go for a reverse break. He let go a cracking break, but missed the target. The break wasn't impressive and the pieces hardly moved. Twosky wrested the initiative from there on and made life difficult for Onesky, till another spree of brilliance from Onesky brought the borad down to the last few pieces. Twosky could not lose now, if he wished to stretch the game further. A few double dues did not help either of the two and the board reduced to the last three blacks and whites, the Queen still alive and unconquered. Onesky got a straightforward shot in and then went for the Queen. He missed. Twosky capitalized. Twosky first won over the Queen with a deft shot for her cover and then went a step nearer to victory. Last black and two whites! Onesky weighed his options. "Should I block or go for the kill?" He opted the later, but failed. Twosky, this time, did not make a mistake and neatly glided his last black into the pocket. Finally! He had budged from 5 and moved on to 10. 24-10! Could this be the beginning of a comeback? Nobody wanted to comment. Both were determined to supersede the other, despite knowing that the other was equally skilled and definite in his mind. Despite this rivalry, none minded the victory of the other. Both knew and understood each other so well that there was never a thought of aversion in their mind. They respected, praised and rebuked each other in equal measure and without any inhibition. The chairs were creaking under the nervous feet movements and the soft white boric powder was all over the place. The bulb had been warming the board since about an hour and a half, bringing smoothness to it. The black wooden borders had all gone white at the bottom with powder heaped into the joints. Pieces were simply flying across, dropping straight down the pockets or grazing the borders till the pockets, taking a chunk of powder down with them. It was the tenth board and the game was still not over. "Everything's 'carromed' !", both felt.

"24-10 and Twosky to break!"

Twosky sent down a crashing front break and saw one white go in. He missed the next. Many blacks had squeezed out through the central maze, to the outside of the circle. Onesky saw his chance and pocketed quite a few. In the next few shots, Twosky faltered whereas Onesky did not wince a bit, following up one good shot with another. Before Twosky could realise, 8 blacks with the Queen had gone down the pockets across the board. The whites' count on board, six! Twosky knew that his game was up. There was no escape from defeat now. Onesky did not want to miss it now and concentrated on his last piece. It was a simple straight shot, but still had to be hit with pecision. So he did and the last black drifted into the far pocket.

Twosky had battled hard and Onesky had played with grace and tenacity.

Onesky won and Twosky lost. One smiled, so did the other...and as he walked out of the carrom room, Vinsky smiled! :)

-Vindy

(Lately I have been playing carrom alone and the account above is that of a game of carrom that I played between Onesky and Twosky. Obviously, I i.e Vinsky was both of them changing chairs for every turn. It is really a very interesting exercise to think about your game and then your opponent's, the next instant and still try to be competitive and serious about the whole thing. You, challenging yourself and enacting rivals! In the end, really, there's only one winner) :)