Rajan stood watching them play - he, the one who could not run about like them all. He, who didn't have to pay attention to what his teacher has saying in class because he didn't need to; he, who could have told you what the largest twin primes less than thousand were even when abruptly woken up. Such was his fate. He resigned himself to watching them. The unexpected happened.
One of the boys looked at Raman, and decided it would be to his own advantage if he were to persuade the others to let Raman join the game. He knew cricket was not a game that kids afflicted with polio could really play, but he thought he would try as well as not since he definitely needed Raman’s help in preparing for the rapidly-approaching exams. At any rate, he had nothing to lose.
He spoke to the captain of the other team. Since they were both good friends, they asked Raman if he was interested in joining them. His eyes lit up as he nodded. They told him he could only be the umpire. He agreed gleefully. After all, being part of their group, even as a non-player was much, much better than not being included at all.
