When time stood still

This was something which I experienced quite some time back, but remains forever etched in my mind. it is almost beyond my limited capabilities to capture it in words, but well, there is no harm in trying, is there :)

It was one of the many corporate soccer tournaments in Hyderabad in which Microsoft was playing. It was the semi-finals, and I was lucky enough to be playing as a striker in the team. We hadn’t really been in the best of form, having been eliminated pretty early in our last tournament. Mid-way through the 2^nd half, I somehow managed to sneak in behind their last defender, one of our excellent mid-fielders spotted me and raked in a pin-point through pass. The ball was at my feet, the opponent goal in front and their goal-keeper in between. That’s what I remember. The next thing in my conscious thought was the ball nestling at the back of the net. What happened in between is something I have never been able to remember or fathom or understand. It was like a trance, beyond conscious thought and feeling, bereft of emotion; the world seemed to have come to a standstill. I have no memories of how the ball was hit, which way the goal keeper was moving, which way the ball travelled towards the goal. Time paused for a moment….

And the next moment, exhilaration…… :)