The Man at the Window – Boxing - 5


I ring the bell and as I wait for it to be opened, I hear the national anthem on the television. Poppy’s wife opens the door; I greet her and walk in. I see Poppy standing to attention looking at the television. He glares at me, as if ensuring I don’t sit or talk while the anthem is being sung. Once it was over he smiles at me and sits down. Today he was not at his usual place, the window. “The badminton is on and India is playing “he said. I nod and sit down. We watched the game and to Poppy’s satisfaction, India had won.  Poppy’s wife handed me a cup of tea, as we walked to the window. “I love watching live games” he said. Then he points at his face and shows me the scar on his eyebrow.

Poppy’s father was 6.4 feet tall and had a towering personality. Needless to say he was “the” most influential person in Poppy’s life, even though he was not around as much as he would have liked. Poppy’s father used to box in his spare time and Poppy was his avid fan. He never missed a single match. Growing up watching his father, Poppy took a fancy to boxing, too. He played a lot of sports in school but boxing was his all time favourite. Poppy used to train in the school gymkhana daily after class.  Sometimes Poppy and a few others would sneak out at night and organize tournaments of their own. “We would bolt after lights out” he said with a sheepish smile. They enjoyed their practice sessions till the school nurse saw a lot of cases of facial cuts and bruises and they were caught.  

He had already aced it in the academics department and soon, Poppy started participating in school and inter-school boxing tournaments. When he would go home for holidays, his father would train him. Poppy loved these one- on- one sessions with his old man. I could tell from the way his eyes sparkled as he told me about it. Poppy was a light weight boxer and being 6.1 feet tall, he could throw quite a punch. Poppy was getting incredibly good at boxing and the times when his father was in the audience, egging him on, a victory was inevitable. At this point I was wondering why he had showed me the scar on his head and then came the explanation. Poppy was well known among his peers and even among other schools for his caliber on and off the field. His reputation had made him a few enemies, if I must say, for lack of a softer word. As Poppy prepared to fight the next tournament against the reigning inter school champion, his adversary was preparing for much more. On the day of the tournament, Poppy was in for more than he had signed up for. His opponent, Aldo by name, was a tiger by nature. The fight began and in the first round itself, Aldo had delivered the blow that left Poppy’s eyebrow open. Blood poured down his face. Time out was called. Poppy looked at the stands and there was his father, giving him the thumbs up sign. He had put up a great fight. Poppy’s father came down to the ring and whispered some advice into his ears. Meanwhile the nurse had finished bandaging his eyebrow; no he was not going to give up the fight. Poppy went back into the fight and won the next two rounds and the tournament. His opponent had a broken nose!! Poppy’s father was so proud of him and he wore his scar like a warrior.

Poppy showed me a few of his moves. Linky lanky Poppy had still had a lot of fight left in him.

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