" The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, and at the point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching."
It was a strange feeling as she stood there; a vast expanse of people stretched out ahead of her. They all stood. She stood glancing back. A million things ran through her head. Her vision blurred, her throat swelled. Yet she was smiling through it all. Smiling till her cheeks hurt, smiling till the tears started rolling down.
A small part of her brain told her she was grapsing the podium till her knuckles turned white. A small part of her told her she was afraid she might fall. Her legs had suddenly lost all their strength: All the strength that she had wound into a tight ball and buried deep inside. It had been the only thing she had clung to all these years…the only thing that helped her hold on just one minute longer. Today it uncoiled…spiraling out of control…it dissolved into a well of emotions…a bone deep ache of all that life had put her through. She’d opened her arms, taken it all and smiled. Today it gave way. Her walls had shattered. She desperately clung to the podium for support. Her vision blurring again and again as the tears welled up and streamed down in a rhythm.
She smiled distortedly at the deafening claps around her. They cracked on to her ears, whistling and sparkling through the air. She let it hurt her ears…the amazing decibel of it…she let it sink in.
It was just like the way she’s seen it in movies. The hero receiving the standing ovation. She’d dreamt of it. She’d dreamt of the glory of that minute. She’d imagined those claps countless number of times…piercing every space…enveloping everything.
Yet she hadn’t imagined the pain. It convulsed out of her. All those crumpled up years of hard ships raked their way out…seeking their escape. That tightly wound ball uncoiled and snapped. They reached out to those resounding claps of appreciation for the destiny she had worked so hard to fulfill.
It racked her very soul as she stood there, drenched in her own sobs. The microphone pierced them out in a higher pitch. She sobbed into it. It echoed her heart out. She’d never bothered to let it out before. They had hummed and complained…suffocated within her. Her sobs had been fighting too long. And she had fought back harder. She’d won usually…but not today. They came out in gasps of agony. It shook her, exhausted the very life out of her as they drained out.
The success didn’t matter. It did not count why they applauded her. What mattered was how she stood there and saw them do it. Saw them acknowledge her story. Today they saw her raw and naked…crying like a child. It did not embarrass her and it seemed to go on forever. She could not stop it…rather she could not care. She let go and let herself drown in it. The glory of that minute pulsed through her.
She just closed her eyes, smiled a full, fervent smile and wept.
--Angel.
