I am a ball. A small, red, furry tennis ball. Teenagers love me, they play with me, they protect me and sometimes even fight for me. I am lifeless, I cannot feel, smell, eat and drink. But what if I had a life? Things would have been different. How?

I know I am a ball and I am made to be played, to be hit, to be thrown here and there on hard walls or on the soft green surface or even in a drain.

When I am at rest, I talk to my friends resting with me. The green plastic ball says, “I can jump very high making a sound when I hit the ground.” The tennis ball replies, “True, but I still cost more than you.” The plastic ball gets a little offended and says, “You are worth nothing. I can even take revenge and hit back at my owner if he tries to overuse me.”

Tennis ball replies, “I am humble enough to not do that. After all he is my master, he bought me spending his money and so I am obliged to serve him otherwise I would have been stuck in a pack of six balls at that Ganesh fatso’s general store with other similar creatures like me.”

The green plastic ball was silent but then made a point. “You too hit your master, no? In fact, you hit them harder than me. Don’t show your double standards by giving me such lectures,” he said angrily. The tennis ball said, “My friend, it is so because of my master’s mistake. I never intended to hit him and take revenge like you. The wicket who was now awake by their chit chat said, “You bloody balls, I am the one who suffers the most. You come and hit me 20 times in total in a cricket match. Have you ever realized what pain I go through?”

“But you also enjoy cricketer’s excitement and hauling once they win the match no one asks us after that,” said the tennis ball.

The wicket went silent.

The bat who was listening to all these catfights said in a manly voice, “You retards, why the hell are you guys disturbing my sleep by discussing this silly topic when you know your life’s not going to change.”

All of them unanimously said, “Sir, we are just sharing our sorrows. Don’t you have any?”

The bat laughed devilishly and said, “Well, none! I am the one who keeps you both away from meeting. My dear wicket, you should be thankful to me that I keep thrashing these balls when they come to hit you at a great speed. The wicket smiled in gratitude. Both the balls were disgusted after listening to this. The green plastic ball being naughty said one thing which blew away the bat’s mind and mood. He said, “Mr. Bat, how does it feel like to be broken into two parts in the middle of a game? Don’t forget sometimes we unlucky balls bounce back as well.”

There was a complete silence after this question. The bat was blank and girly giggles of both the balls were heard sometime later.