even Hindi . He meant : will you play like this ? Is it a trial or a joke ? I regretted knowing him . ‘ I ... I ...’ Then R interrupted . ‘ Oh , you are also sports quota ?’ Piyush looked at both of us , surprised at the familiarity . ‘ Yes ,’ I said , one of the few English responses I could give with confidence . ‘ State-level player . Watch this Bihari ’ s game and go ,’ Piyush said and guffawed before he left .
I could have taken offence . He had used the word ‘ Bihari ’ as if to say ' Watch , even this poor little Bihari can play ’, despite being a Bihari himself . However , he had helped me without knowing it , so I was grateful . She looked at me and smiled . ‘ No wonder you gave those tips .’ she said .‘ State level , my God ,’ ‘ What is your good name ?’ I blurted out , without any context or sense of timing . Also , who on earth says ‘ good name ’ these days ? Only losers like me who translate ‘ shubh naarn ’ in Hindi to English . ‘ Good or bad , only one name . Riya ,’ she said and smiled . Riya . I loved her short little name . Or maybe when you start liking people , you start liking everything about them — from their sweaty eyebrows to their little names .
‘ Your name ?’ she said . For the first time in my life a girl had asked my name . ‘ Myself Madhav Jha .’ That was my reflexive response . It was only later that I learnt that people who construct sentences like that sound low class . You see , we think in Hindi first and simply translate our thoughts , word for word . ‘ From Bihar ,’ she said and laughed . ‘ Right ?’ She didn ’ t laugh because I was a Bihari . She laughed because Piyush had already revealed that fact about me . There was no judgement in her voice . I liked her more and more every second . ‘ Yes . You ?’ ‘ From Delhi itself .’
even Hindi . He meant : will you play like this ? Is it a trial or a joke ? I regretted knowing him . ‘ I ... I ...’ Then R interrupted . ‘ Oh , you are also sports quota ?’ Piyush looked at both of us , surprised at the familiarity . ‘ Yes ,’ I said , one of the few English responses I could give with confidence . ‘ State-level player . Watch this Bihari ’ s game and go ,’ Piyush said and guffawed before he left .
I could have taken offence . He had used the word ‘ Bihari ’ as if to say ' Watch , even this poor little Bihari can play ’, despite being a Bihari himself . However , he had helped me without knowing it , so I was grateful . She looked at me and smiled . ‘ No wonder you gave those tips .’ she said .‘ State level , my God ,’ ‘ What is your good name ?’ I blurted out , without any context or sense of timing . Also , who on earth says ‘ good name ’ these days ? Only losers like me who translate ‘ shubh naarn ’ in Hindi to English . ‘ Good or bad , only one name . Riya ,’ she said and smiled . Riya . I loved her short little name . Or maybe when you start liking people , you start liking everything about them — from their sweaty eyebrows to their little names .
‘ Your name ?’ she said . For the first time in my life a girl had asked my name . ‘ Myself Madhav Jha .’ That was my reflexive response . It was only later that I learnt that people who construct sentences like that sound low class . You see , we think in Hindi first and simply translate our thoughts , word for word . ‘ From Bihar ,’ she said and laughed . ‘ Right ?’ She didn ’ t laugh because I was a Bihari . She laughed because Piyush had already revealed that fact about me . There was no judgement in her voice . I liked her more and more every second . ‘ Yes . You ?’ ‘ From Delhi itself .’