Ar amchea schoolchi ground topa itli kaath, ki match zalo mhunnet khali dhul urta. Taka pahun Mirpurche pitch kitli topa korta tea khatir, mhaka xekki zata — amchea gaonchea pora baxen, tanchi mann taka dhorun urta. Punn ‘away’ khellunk sodanch ek bhir konti asta, oso mhaka dista. Hea vorsa tanchea bowleran ek var porot beri korchi, zalear to dhul fokot ghorchea ghorak bhorun ravto.

Fuddem, chess ani esports—don’t think I’ve seen two things that live so different in one house. My students’ fingers fly over screens faster than I ever saw any of them move chess pieces on the old board our school kept. But yesterday, watching one boy—Rahul, the one whose father sells fish at Mapusa—he sat ten minutes staring at a single screen move, same as he stares at the board when it’s his turn. Speed or not, the pause is what matters.