The Tug of Togetherness

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"Yayy!!!" they tugged hard. 
People shouted and cheered while both the teams expended their best efforts trying to bring the rope towards their end of the white mark. The grass got trampled, people sweated profusely and a light breeze brought much-needed relief to the players of the famed tug-of-war. Even before a minute had passed, I heard overwhelming cheers erupting from our side of the mark. I craned my neck and saw that our group had easily drawn the others to themselves.

"It was a walkover!" they exclaimed ecstatically. My colleagues and I clapped and cheered. Our group had won. It was an easy win, it seemed.

"You had G! You could have easily won, you know!" someone from my group said to the other. "I mean, the heavyweight champ G on your side and you couldn't win! That was a first!"

Discussions ensued and there were friendly squabbles and good-natured punches. Tug-of-war has always been a much-awaited event, be it in school, college or at the workplace. This was my first experience at the workplace and I was loving it.

As the players rested their aching muscles and downed gallons of water to replenish their energy reserves before the next round, I was transported back to my college days. Hadn't it been just a year? And yet it seemed so far away. 
It suddenly struck me that I too had once played tug-of-war during the college fest. I remembered how we had pitted ourselves against a group of hardy tough senior-year girls and despite all of us being prickly thin, we had stretched our muscle, nerve and sinew to end up bringing our seniors to our end of the line. How sweet was the victory and how precious the moments! The way we pitched in our efforts together, all sweaty, huffing and puffing, and yet relishing it all- the excitement, the cheering, the surroundings and everything that came with it. We had actually made it to the subsequent round! In the second round, we were faced with a group of girls one year junior to us. With a swag and a confidence resulting from our latest win, we plunged into this one, all ready to claim yet another victory.

Predictably, that day was to see a sliding of ranks. Sure enough, before long, they managed to pull us to their side. We fell in a heap on them, clutching our sides and laughing like we had never laughed before. Reminiscing those moments made me glow with nostalgia. I had a sudden urge to replay the moments and experience them once more. Looking now at my colleagues bantering with each other reminded me of the beautiful times my pals and I had spent together in the park- playing, cheering and laughing our heads off.

I drank some water. Emboldened by the pull of the fresh breeze and spurred on by memories, I said to one of my teammates, "Any space for me?"

"Most welcome, madame!” a happy-go-lucky guy said. “We need the likes of you to win!"

And we all burst into hearty peals of laughter. Everyone knew how useful I could be to them in a battle of strength! :wink wink: 
Nevertheless, we placed ourselves on our end of the line and prepared to pull hard. The breeze swept our faces and someone patted me on the back. A friendly exchange of words brought a smile to my face. If this isn't real togetherness, I don't know what is.

This post has been written as a part of the 'Real Togetherness' initiative by Kissan India http://www.kissanpur.com/