Game in Chess

Game in Chess

Part 1

 My chessmate would often be in a battle of wills with the virtual enemy, especially when the sun disappears at the horizon. This is the scene I often watch when returned from the battle field of wits. As his nephew once made a gambit (in his absence), he might be playing with my toy when I was out. Earlier I got his invitation to play the other (I was the other once or twice and he too, several times) . I rejected the proposal now, which, for sure, will advance to the battle of the sexes. Though I don’t like anyone to fail at the cost of my success, I don’t want anyone to succeed at the cost of my failure.( no sports(wo)man spirit at all !!)  So the strategic move is to abstain from the tug of war and be safe, I thought. My companion was compelled to be satisfied with the artificially intelligent partner, might have lost his spirit at the middle of the Game of Chess, not because he perceives himself to be Arjuna and considered the white king as Bhishma or Drona, but might be disheartened  that the partner, whose hand he held in ritual and moved seven steps around the fire, quit before the wrestling of calculations begins! (Do you know why the couple holds hands on wedding day? It is a routine gesture of handshake before Boxing: bets the sms mafia). Now and then his Abhimanyus would be caught in Chakravyuha and at this time I would encroach and increase the velocity of falling wickets, for that I would be suspended. I would think, then , that I should tell him this story : a queen in Swathi Thirunal’s palace, helped the King, who might fail otherwise in the Game of Chathurangam, by reciting the lines “undundu undundu undundu undundu undundundundu aaleyundu” in the tone of lullaby . Later, (it has been said) the king ordered Irayimman Tampi, the vocalist of the court to compose a lullaby in the same raga, Nilambari and thus the poet composed the song Omanathinkalkidavo. But instead, if showed yellow card, I would be an angry bird and would strike the ball back like a tennis player asking, ‘why did you listen to my commentary?’  My chessmate , being no cricketer who crosses boundaries with sixes ,already stalemated, without challenging me checkmate, would leave  the ground, whistle a humming in Nilambari, “mea culpa” “mea culpa”.

Part 2

 Even though the Game is over the ghosts of the white and black players on the black and white Ojo board haunted me. As Dr. R.V , the Professor I missed by being late at my birth , commented in his essay about games, margins and politics that the politics of games is hidden in the language of the games.  The unbroken hegemonic rules such as the whites should move before the blacks, the bishops, rooks, and knights should follow their predefined hierarchical pathways and the queen though be the most powerful should apply her game theory of calculations to make the powerless male patriarch, the king as the victor, the pawn, the marginal with the hard work if reaches the opposite goal post will be exchanged to another professed and confessed captain, wasting all its efforts etc. the game with injustice squared is everywhere and this binary game with mathematical board , no exception. The solution is gaming new games but getting them to be established is difficult. Equally difficult is to break the rules of the established ones. Even the technology’s sophistication is the helmet of the imposter, which without allowing the marginal to hit and rule , keeps the ruled barbed lines of battles. Let the bear and squirrel games be OUT and king and the queen game in chess be IN, with alternate roles; if one on  power, allow the ‘accomplice’ to win and keep on reminding the winner of changing mask: let me be the queen today, tomorrow is your day.

Part 3

Unless be careful, the track will either be a leg before the wicket  or the game will take its own diversions and the real game will begin where your chess board metamorphoses to  carrom board with collisions … later the player a  foot ball … a referee blows  the whistle proclaiming “ GAME OVER”. ..at the middle …