MS Dhoni and the useless one shots I like to come up with

Achilles Heel

I got this idea from Atif Aslam's interview. Well more like it was a catalyst to everything that had built up inside me? Atif was talking (more like said a line) about how difficult it is for him to keep friends. Most people leave. Most people don't care. And well, at some point of your life, you would have experienced that mutedly disheartening feeling when your dearest friends just grow away. You try to reach out hold on, you try to act the same because you still feel the same for them. You love them, still, despite the distance. But the response from the other end is so cordial, so formal, so unfamiliar, it gets harder and harder to hold on to what once was. Slowly time passes and you try to see both sides of the story, try to see where you might have pushed them away, try to see if you could fix something. But you realise, if you pushed, they never held on either. If you fucked up, they were never secure enough to question you on it. Even if you didn't fuck up and they are still hurt, they never considered your side of the story, never considered that you might be going through something too. Anyway, went too deep lol. Just read if you want.

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Every man had atleast one vice. He knew realistically he had many. He had learnt to accept them, work on them where he could and concentrate on his strengths. His approach to cricket and his approach to life were one and the same. Cricket had been his greatest teacher, it wasn't a big surprise that he applied so many of its philosophies in his everyday life. And just as in cricket, everyone not Sachin Tendulkar had this one weakness that looked like a terrible weakness but could be made to work around their strengths. A manageable flaw that could be converted into an asset.

He had one such vice, a flaw he actually didn't mind keeping around much like his questionable technique. See Mahi was not the best person when it came to letting people in, letting them know his heart. He thought he did his best in inviting them in but as life had proven to him, he hadn't had much success. Loving people was so easy, them loving him? Not so much. What he did know was once somebody managed to love him, he was like a goddamn burr who refused to fuck off. Once those boundaries of love opened to let him in, he refused to acknowledge that there might be a door. So whenever he wanted, whatever be the time, Mahi dropped by people's houses. For most part it went down well- Cheeku was always ecstatic to see him, Ro was just as delighted, Bhai jokingly threatened to change his address while dragging him in countless times, Pajji rolled with it as if it was normal, some of the others got jealous if he didn't drop by as a surprise after doing it to somebody else and Dada, well Dada threatened him too. Mostly with bodily harm when he dropped by in the middle of the night on a bike.

It had been a while he had done it though, with the Covid and everything, it had just had to take a backseat. Now though, he was free. He had hosted Sonu and Ojhi for dinner, like he had promised that he would once he was free. He was planning on slowly working his way down the list of friends he needed to catch up with. But before he started all that, he couldn't resist the urge to gatecrash his brothers, one of the elder ones. It had been too long since he had met them plus he kept annoying Sakshi who was this close to blowing him up. So there he was, giving into his vice and saving his life, two birds one stone.

He honked twice at the gate, waiting amicably as the watchman rushed out to see who it was and after recognising him, rushed back to open the gates. He grinned as he rolled the car inside, wondering if he should call up Bhabhi so that he could give his brother a proper scare. His grin dropped down the next moment as he saw a familiar figure jog up the drive way, an exasperated look on his face. The watchman had snitched, he thought slightly disappointed even as a cheeky grin took over his face, he must be a new one, the last one even helped Mahi climb up to his brother's bedroom. He rolled his window down.