The Gambler's Night

The dictionary defines gambler as a person who is willing to take the risk in hope of a desired result. A risk-taker is a gambler. A gambler doesn't necessarily meet success every time. Loss is always expected; the undesired result.

It was sometime during the month of May, summer vacations were on but Sainik school had called back its pupils for early onset of classes. The campus was empty except for the final year batch. The city of Bijapur bathed in the intense heat of blazing sun. The air near the surface of earth was so hot that it often resulted in mirages on the black velvety asphalt road. The days were hot; the nights brought relief with occasional rains and cool breeze.

It was not an ordinary night. It was raining hard and fast and it made a rhythmic sound as it splashed on the window panes. Mike and Saty were in no mood to study, they were sitting near the window and discussing about the smallest route that they could take in this rain to reach Reshma’s home. There were primarily two reasons why the duo regularly visited Reshma’s home:

• 1.     To play Delta Force/Watch TV
• 2.     To play cards

The game of rummy was enticing one. The duo were introduced to it by Reshma and Rohit( Reshma’s elder brother). Rohit for some unknown reasons was also considered as non-biodegradable Reshma on other hand was assumed to belong to a royal lineage. The brother and sister pair always enjoyed a better share of success in the rummy games. They boasted that they played this game since their childhood when other kids of same age still hadn’t learn to count. Mike was blessed with a good brain that had reasoning and logic imbibed in it. The same reasoning ability sometimes discouraged him to take risks thus making him more mathematical and predictable. Saty believed in miracles, he believed he could turn the game at any given point, he loved taking risks, he was fearless; he was the gambler.

There was a small room to the left of front door of Reshma’s house. A huge wooden table was placed at the center and it occupied a major portion of the room. Three plastic and one wooden chair were placed around it. The room had a big French window; which had drapes and tonight they were not drawn so that the occupants in the room could see and listen to the sound of rain. The effect was soothing and refreshing at the same time. This was the place where the game was played, a dedicated and reserved place for the gaming activities of Rummy.

Mike and Saty were in middle of an argument. Mike had suggested going through the 2nd barrack and exiting through its rear which could greatly reduce the distance and thus less time in rain. Saty on other hand just wanted to run through the open space jumping across the hedges and over the compound wall to reach their destination Reshma’s house a.k.a Casino Royale. Saty was comparing this moon lit night to some level of IGI: Covert Strike and was relentlessly trying to motivate Mike to run along with him. Mike tried explaining Saty that the whole point in IGI: Covert Strike was to remain hidden and move unnoticed which directly contradicted Saty’s plan. Then suddenly Mike’s phone buzzed. He opened it to see a notification which read – “1 message received”.

He opened the message and it read –

Rummy @ my place

Hurry up!

Defeat is eager to welcome you both

In the sender’s name it showed NONBIO the name Mike had stored in his contact list for Rohit’s number. Mike showed the cell to Saty and in a flash there were running in the rain, the ground was wet and their flip flops were slipping. The rain drops kept smashing across their face and spectacles which made every new stride hazier but their pace never lessened and soon they were at the doorstep of Reshma’s home. Before they could ring the bell Reshma opened the door and announced to Rohit that the players had arrived.

Soon the contestants of the game were in the room. Rohit wore a huge sleeveless T-shirt that helped him show off his huge muscles. Mike was in his night dress, the shirt and the trouser looked like they were sewn from same cloth. Saty wore an additional jacket on which he had inscribed words “NASA” by a Reynolds pen. Reshma was in her usual night dress but her face was glowing more than usual the credit for which goes to “Fair & Lovely” cream that she had applied. Two deck of cards were thrown on the table, Reshma asked Mike to shuffle both the decks. He religiously took upon the task and started shuffling. Mike at times went on shuffling the cards till someone stopped him. Today Mike too was eager to start the game and after what could be considered as good amount of shuffling distributed 13 cards each to all the four players. Before he did that Rohit had chosen a joker and it was laid downside under all the remaining cards. As the players bent forward to pick up their cards Saty said to himself that it is going to be a long night. He looked at his wrist watch to find the time to be 10:10 PM.

As the first game progressed with every player shifting and twisting in his chair anticipating the desired card Reshma suddenly announced that she had the pure set and now had rights to see the joker. Rohit gave a long stare and reluctantly showed her the joker in a way that only she could see it. Mike was next to follow, then Rohit and last was Saty. Everyone had seen the joker so now it lay face up on the table. The game was getting tensed and everyone was at the edge of their seats. Nine rounds had already passed, everyone feared the other would make the winning move. Mike was sitting right of Saty so the card Mike threw Saty had a choice to pick it up. At this juncture Mike threw an 8 of hearts, there was a glimmer in Saty’s eyes before he could suppress it Mike had seen it. At that very moment Mike knew he had done a mistake. Saty in one swift move picked it up and threw a 3 of spades face down and announced “SHOW”. Rohit and Reshma carefully inspected his sets ensuring he had required number of pure sets; this inspection was required because Saty sometimes made false claims and in the heat of the tension the opponents usually forgot to check. “People like to be deceived” Saty was aware of this fact and sometimes used it to his advantages but only in such trivial matters. It was established that Saty’s claim was true and indeed he was the winner in the first match. Others too displayed their cards, Reshma carefully counted their scores and noted down the same in the last page of her mathematics book. “Finally your mathematics book contain some numbers” Mike had remarked in a hushed tone that was unheard by others.

Game 2 began with Rohit shuffling and dealing the cards to every player. Saty showed disappointment when he saw his cards. Mike who was always eager to throw in some advice asked Saty to control his expressions if he wants to be a good player. Three rounds had passed no one had yet seen the joker that Reshma had picked from the remaining cards. There were some words exchanged between the siblings in which the younger complained that the other did not shuffle the cards properly. Amidst all this Saty again announced “Show” when he hit the table with a four of clubs. Mike was asked to scrutinize the claim and to everyone’s surprise Saty was right and he had won again.

Game 3,4,5,6 followed and Saty had remained undefeated. The other three were frustrated and cursing him. Saty never had such an unprecedented show even he was surprised at this feat. He was now in jolly good mood and had started humming the song – “Aazma luck Aazma” and stopped midway when others complained. Then in the silence of the night; in a deep voice he said – “Don ko harana mushkil he nahi naamumkin hai” which added fuel to the already burning flame in everyone’s heart. He continued with such self-made dialogues whenever he made a move of his choice.

Game 7 had to be played and everyone knew that it would be the last one for tonight. The clock already pointed to the hour of midnight and it was evident that they would pack up after one final game. Saty had dealt the cards and Mike had randomly selected a joker. First move was made by Reshma as she took the open card and threw an undesired card from her current set. Mike was sitting next to her after making some mental calculations he hesitantly picked the card that Reshma had let go and the game progressed. Meanwhile Saty was constantly flipping a calculator that had flap covering its display. He was trying to enact the opening scene from DON Movie ( Shahrukh Khan’s) and whenever the flap opened he would whisper to it Don, Don, Don. Making his voice to trail off like an echo. Mike and Reshma got irritated everytime he repeated this feat. Rohit on other side was enjoying the Saty’s antics. A moment came when Mike let go a Jack of hearts and Saty did not pick it instead he choose to pick the unseen card from the remaining stack. Mike was now sure that Saty wasn’t making any series above or below the grade of Jack of Hearts. In the next move he let go ten of hearts, Saty jumped into action because it was all he needed to complete all his sets. He took the calculator and in extra zeal flipped it hard it escaped his hand and went out of the window and fell into a small pond of mud water outside. Reshma gave furious looks and hurried off outside to collect it back as she was near to the door. By the time she came back she saw Saty had made the 7^th show of the night. Mike had his hands over his head. Rohit was nowhere to seen he had receded back to his room. Reshma couldn’t believe what had just happened. Saty was all smiles but controlled himself. Mike and Reshma hushed something in a low voice. They had decided that whatever happened today would remain inside these four walls. The world will remain blind to it.  Thus the game ended as Saty and Mike wished “Good Night” and retreated back to Adilshahi house. Mike had only one thing to ask to Saty – “Can she ever doubt that we cheated?”

Disclaimer

Some of it really happened!

Most of it is just exaggerated!

 ~Surya

The Gambit

Images of two fantastic games played in 90's and earlier years of this new century.

Delta Force & IGI

DELTA FORCE ENVIRONMENT

Famous scene from IGI