The Evening That Reminded Me Who I Used to Be | by Shivansh | Nov, 2025

Today wasn’t just another day.
It felt like life quietly trying to remind me of something I had forgotten.

It started when my roommates said, “Chalo bhaiya, cricket khelne.”
I said yes instantly maybe because somewhere inside me, the old version of myself woke up for a moment. The kid who played under the afternoon sun, who never got tired, who never said no to cricket.

They asked me, “Are you a batsman or a bowler?”
I confidently said, “Batsman.”

Then in Ground

Teams were formed, the match started, and we got bowling first.
I don’t bowl, so I went for fielding.

Then came that moment.

A shot was played straight towards me.
My friends shouted loudly, “Catch bhaiya, catch!”

But the ball slipped.
Once.
Twice.
Four times.

My timing was off, my calculation was gone it honestly felt like I was playing cricket for the first time in my life.

People laughed… loudly.
And something inside me feels…. embarrassed.

Then came my batting.
First ball a leg cutter.
And I got out.

The boy who once played fearless shots… was scared today.
The boy who once lived cricket… couldn’t even trust his own hands.

I felt disappointed, more in myself than anything else.
It made me think what I was in school… and what I’ve become now.

Back then, I could play for hours in the heat, without caring about anything.
Today, I couldn’t even hold on to one catch.

But somewhere inside all this disappointment, I found a small truth…

We all lose ourselves sometimes.
We stop being who we once were.
And then life gives us a moment a small embarrassing, painful moment to remind us of what we’ve lost.

Maybe today’s match pushed me down…
But it also reminded me that I once knew how to fly.

And maybe… just maybe…
Tomorrow I’ll find that version of myself again.