“Salar! Salar! Salar!”

The crowd cheered wildly as Salar led his cricket team almost single-handedly to a massive victory. Salar raised his bat in appreciation as the crowd and his teammates cheered again.

“Salar! Salar!”

And suddenly the voices from the crowd united to form a single voice of his father, who was among the cheerful crowd. But only one voice echoed in Salar’s ears ... Salar lazily blinked his sleepy eyes to see his father towering over the bed where he was sleeping. He was saying something too, but Salar was too sleepy to understand the words coming out of his mouth.

“How many times would I have to tell you to wake up early! It’s already 8am and you are still sleeping!”

At that Salar woke up instantly, “It’s 8am? Oh no, my train!”

Salar’s college team was leaving for an international cricket match. Only a few of the best students were selected for this, and Salar’s passion for cricket had led him to lead this team. The problem was that his train was going to leave at 10 am, and the other problem was his father.

“I told you not to waste your time playing cricket or any other sport. Only one in ten people can make a career out of sports and I don’t see you having a bright future playing cricket. I am telling you, you are better off being a doctor or an engineer!”

Although upset at the disapproving words of his father, Salar started throwing his necessary things in a duffel bag and getting ready. His hand throwing his clothes in the bag carelessly stopped, and he looked up at his father, “I will not give up before trying or else I will regret it for the rest of my life.”

With that he made his way inside the washroom to get dressed. In ten minutes, he was ready to leave.

“Salar, eat something,” his mother shouted from the kitchen.

“Ma, I’ll eat something on the train, I don’t have time right now.” With that he kissed his mother’s cheek, said goodbye to his father and left.

It was already 8:30am when Salar reached the rickshaw stand. He got into one of the autos and asked the driver to drive him to the train station. In response, the driver pointed him to a sign in front of the auto. It said, “All drivers on protest due to high petrol prices.”

Salar couldn’t believe his luck.

“I would give you twice the amount of money if you take me to the train station in an hour,” Salar bargained desperately.

His coach and team members would be waiting for him at the station and being the leader, he couldn’t set a bad example and be late at important events. However, the auto driver didn’t take pity on him and stood loyally with his fellow drivers. Desperate, Salar started walking randomly through the streets, looking for a vehicle that could take him to the station.

It was 9:50 when a sweaty Salar reached the station successfully, he had walked for around 30 minutes until he had reached his friend’s house. Luckily, both his friend and his car were available and his friend agreed to take him to the station. Salar thanked him profusely throughout the ride.

Salar quickly jogged to the counter with all the energy he had and asked for the train to Lahore. The person looked up at him and politely told him that the train was just leaving in a minute. Salar ran towards the train, which started its journey with a loud horn as soon as Salar was near.

“Nooo! This cannot be happening! My career, my dreams!” Salar was heartbroken. Just then a thought struck his mind. He returned towards the reception and asked, “This was a down train, right? Coming from Lahore? The one going to Lahore from Karachi will be leaving when?”

The boy behind the desk looked up from the computer and stifled his smile, “At 10pm, sir,”

Salar couldn’t believe his ears, he had actually been 12 hours early!

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 21st, 2023