AFVOA Newsletter of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 01 / 2021 Page 62 of 123 “Yes, that was unfortunate. Shakuni is an expert. Had they taken lessons from him, then the crime would not have been noticed. What is going to happen now, Sanju?” “Guru Drona is asking Duryodhan to give his opinion on the matter.” Cheating on a good person is like throwing away a diamond and picking up a rock. ~ Unknown Duryodhan, does not waste any time. He called the three members and inquired into the matter. He was ready with his judgement within a trice. He looked at his Guru – Dronacharya and said: “All three members have been involved in a single instance of cheating. Of that there is no doubt. Let us not forget that men will be men. After all it is said that ‘all is fair in love and war’. Test matches are at par with wars. What they did was no worse than what we did when with the help of the master Shakuni, we tricked Dharmaraja in the game of dice. Hence it would be appropriate to sentence the three and suspend them from one match and forfeit the match fees for the match where they were caught.” Guru Drona then looked at Dharmaraja and with an enquiring look asked ”Do you agree with what Duryodhan has decided?” “Guruji, with due respect for Duryodhan’s wisdom, if you permit, I would rather inquire afresh and make an independent judgement, than rely on what Duryo has said. If you agree, I shall then go ahead.” He then looked pointedly at his Guru – Acharya Drona. “By all means, go ahead, the eldest son of Kunti.” Dharma briefly interviews Bangers and pronounces that the cricketer is guilty. However, as he is quite inexperienced, he suggests that Bangers should be warned, and maybe suspended for a couple of matches and his match fee for the present game forfeited. This information is also conveyed to King Dritarashtra. Next on the list is Bull. Dharma talks to Bull and spends more time with him and probes him further. Bull agrees that he was one of the plotters who were with the core leadership of the team. As they had lost two games, they decided that this was one of the options that they could use to strike back at their opponents.