As soon as they reached home, Vinod checked the time. As if he had received a high voltage electric shock, he quickly opened the door and dashed to his room and switched on his television.

The reason? He was a Cristiano Ronaldo maniac. His previous life was a tough one indeed but the only thing he excelled in was being a football fanboy. He loved and was a big fan of the North London club a.r.s.enal FC to the core but his favourite player was the then young Portuguese sensation Cristiano Ronaldo who transferred to the English Football giants Manchester United FC from the Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.

Now, thanks to his background, his room could be described as a mini library of football as from his fourth birthday he started collecting videotapes, magazines and posters and meticulously organised them too. And the date was 1st of November 2003. This was the day Cristiano scored his first Manchester United goal which was a free-kick against Portsmouth FC.

There were two reasons he was eager. One was the obvious one - He was a Ronaldo fanboy. The second was that he wanted to find out whether because of his actions he had triggered the b.u.t.terfly Effect yet or not. He was a one hundred percent sure that it was going to be different when compared to his previous lifetime, he just wanted check when was it going to start getting different.

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The match was over. The Red Devils won it with a score of three goals to nil (3-0). He was happy. Ronaldo scored his first goal for Manchester United and the events also remained the same as before. As he was about to go to the kitchen to eat something an old lady opened the door of his room and said

"How much more time will you watch your T.V. for Vinnu? Won't you eat anything? Or is it that are you not hungry?"

"Grandma!!!" shouted Vinod with a chuckle.

"Yes I was just about to come down to eat something. You know, you know!! Ronaldo scored his first goal! My favourite Ronaldo scored his first goal in the Premiers.h.i.+p!! I am very very veeery happy you know?" said Vinod with a hint of childishness.

Because of the gruesome experience in his previous life, he cherished each and every member of this family and this grandmother of his was at the top of his list. Coincidentally she was the one who lifted him up from his cradle after he was born and naturally she was the one who pampered him the most. While going to the kitchen, he talked of everything that happened - how they played and how he scored the match winning goal. She calmly and quietly listened to whatever he was saying with a smile always in her face.

The Gaekwad Household consisted of Vinod, his elder brother Mukund, his mother Ankita his father, his uncle's family and his grandmother Kasturi. His uncle's (younger brother of Mahesh) family comprised of him Suresh, his wife Sarita and his child Gauri. Gauri was one year older than Vinod and Mukund was one year older than Gauri.

By this time they had reached the kitchen and his grandmother took out some cookies and when she was about to give it to Vinod the other two children also came in. So she distributed it evenly and the day pa.s.sed on.

The next day Vinod's father received a very big shock. Early in the morning, when nearly everyone was asleep, Vinod woke up and started writing(scribbling) something on a clean sheet of paper and when it was the time for breakfast, he went to his father and said

"Father can you check whether what I have written is right ?"

Mahesh was a bit surprised. He took it and started reading. He was getting more surprised as he went on reading and asked

"Who helped you writing this Vinnu?"

"I asked a bit of help from my teacher and she told me the spellings of some of the big and difficult words. The rest were written by me itself. Why dad, is there something wrong in it?" replied Vinod.

Mahesh was rather pleasantly surprised and immediately asked him "The letter is perfect! So what do you want me to do with this?"

"Well, can you mail it so that it reaches Ronaldo? Will it be possible daddy?" asked Vinod again using his childish appearance with a curious/excited face.

Mahesh immediately agreed to it as it was not that big of a deal. Immediately he started showing it to everyone in his household and everyone started looking at him in a different light.

The letter was ---

Dear Ronaldo,

My name is Vinod Gaekwad. I live in Kolkata. I watched your goal against Portsmouth and I am very very happy that you have scored at last. I hope that you become the best player in the world and if possible, reply to this letter.

Your Greatest Fan,

Vinod

Who would have known that this letter would become the starting point to one of the best fan-player (later player-player) relations.h.i.+ps in the footballing world that would inspire many in the forthcoming generations.