Life Vs Sport Again...

“At one point in your life you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don't.” – Anonymous

Life is a game of choices, the choices between the compromises one takes in the journey of finding the inner self’s true identity and the obligations to his loved ones. Sport is nothing more and nothing less. In fact, Life and sport are microcosms of one another, with each trying to outwit the other. In this realm, being a professional sportsperson is not a gift, not a state of bliss, it’s a choice.

Beneath the facade of fame, happiness and successes of an athlete, lies a plethora of unimaginable pain, sacrifices and endurance that materializes the outcome. Sport is so cruel that only the outcome matters to the populace and the entire pursuit underneath becomes a travesty. Euphemists like to attribute this fact to call sport a leveler, but the greatness of the sportsman lies in accepting this iniquity before becoming one.

Sport presents the afflictive artist’s paradox, although innocuously. It fosters the conflict between the art and the artist, each priding to be greater than the other. Most cases, the art has the last laugh asserting the artist that there can be only one masterpiece and it is for which the artist was born and not the vice-versa. It ruthlessly devours the coup de grace of his battles and leaves him pondering the impact of time and age.

Here comes the decisive to part to answer why a sportsperson chooses to be one. He derives only the solemn pride and joy that is truly his from pursuing it. It’s perhaps the only thing he wants.

A Journey from the streets of Tirunelveli to IIM-B

Wed , 10th April 2013 - The day I will always remember even in my death bed. The day I had made into an IIM after a lot of travails and toil for 5 long years. The infinitely long nights spent trying to comprehend the  techniques of solving mysterious Quant problems and doing religious readings of the everyday "Hindu" editorials  had come to an end. The picture had reached its eventual 'happy' climax albeit its numerous signs of not reaching one. An eventful journey had ended and another one beckons.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is going to be an emotional post capturing my journey from a kid in a small town to the hallowed portals of IIM-B. This will be a long post and will be updated as and when I find time over the next 3 months. I will also be posting the same on AIWTSAC in Pagalguy. I hope someone can get any inspiration out of this

A night to remember...

2nd of April,2011-The greatest moment for an indian cricket fan,the moment every fan yearned from the day he understood the meaning of runs and wickets,a moment profused with ecstacy,pride and self-gratification.the moment of culmination of the journey from "A bunch of 10 little Indians and a star" to "A cricket team with an inspiring champion and a great leader ".Cricket for a fan in an inexplicable way is linked with the natonal identity ,though it does not play any miunuscul part in potraying the true image of a nation.Cricketing victories gives the fan a sense of pride,a feeling of joy and a infinitesimal moment of running away from the materialistic world.This victory is the consummation of the little unsaid dream in every cricket fan's heart, the apogee of Mt.Everest,nothing more and nothing less.

There was this 8 year old kid witnessing India vanquising Pakistan in the 1996 world cup and then being agonisingly kicked out of it inspite of Sachin's heroics throughout the tournament.It was the birth of the kid into yet another indian cricket fanatic.The Indian team was then a bunch of people with two or three individual big-guns trying to maintain its reputation of being the ambitious hosts and the disgraceful tourists.Alas the kid was blessed enough to be a beholder of the making of the greatest batsman of his generation.Sachin was the superman both the kid deserved and needed.The kid even never minded his hero's failure to rescue the team as a leader,as the kid knew that his hero was destined only to be the batting God and nobody else.Roger Federer cannot hit home runs,can he ?

The indian cricket team saw the arrival of two promising and intriguing young men,one left-handed with the greatest of timings and the other right-handed with the purest of techniques.The team started earning respect outside the country ,but still a test victory seemed a far fetched dream.The 1999 world cup came and went with flashes of brilliance from the team but the dearth of talent,energy,focus,consistency was clearly evident.During the course of the tournament ,the kid had become a holistic cricket lover and enjoyed watching one of the greatest one day innings from an Australian who also incidentally was the architect and inspiration for the world cup triumph.This australian captain(widely known as Stephen Rodger Waugh) who was an epitome of hardwork and perseverence was given a special place in the kid's heart.

Then there was the change of throne and the prince was made the Maharaja of Indian cricket.The attitude changed,Balls were chased till they reached the boundary,Men started diving in the field and teenagers started getting a place in the Indian dressing room . Even the master was asked to sacrifice his opening position for the team.There was a vision,a plan and a path.More importantly,the path was steadfastly pursued through victories and defeats.Two youngmen fashioned a historic run chase in the mecca of cricket.The kid had grown into a boy and knew the nitty-gritty of the game now(thanks to Harsha Bhogle and the bunked classes at school).The Indian team put a proud display of grit and tenacity at the 2003 world cup and ended as the second best team of the tournament.A billion hearts crashed(including the boy's) when the punter produced the innings of his lifetime to bat India out of the world cup final.But the boy knew he could walk with his head held high without shame.All these years ,there were two great statesmen decades,one be-spectacled engineer who also bowled mesmerising leg spin and one stylish Hyderabadi artist who also hit those boundaries English batman would never play even in their dreams.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian.The Maharaja seemed to be at the helm more than his time.The ODI format never needed the impregnability of the wall anymore .The boy had gone to college and was denied the chance to see the 2007 world cup in his hostel.What did he do?He started standing infront of tea-stalls,hotels and even spent a night in a barber shop, only to see his beloved team going toothless and bowing out in the first round .It was one of the darkest moment in Indian cricket history and the team was desperately in need a saviour.Indian cricket was due for an overhaul and needed fresh legs to carry it farward.The prince decided to move on .Wait,what has he done to indian cricket ?He just built an indian team that will conquer the world one day.(In the names of Shewag,Gambhir,Yuvraj,Zaheer,Harbhajan,Nehra and Dhoni).Meanwhile the test team grew from strength to strength,the batting order became the best ever in indian history.The disgraceful tourists became the most feared.

The master made the masterstroke again,this time off the pitch though ,by choosing the next leader of the Inidan team.The 2007 T20 world cup broadcasted the arrival of something positively suprising to Indian cricket,a leader whose demeanour was calm and confident and a team that had the courage to take bold decisions without the fear of losing.A hardworking veteran was made the coach.Throughout all these changes in the Indian cricket,the boy's hero remained a constant.There was this aura about the leader and his team-a blend of aggression,street-smartness,youth,experience and they finallly started playing for each other.There were ebbs and flows,so were patience and perseverence.Here came the 2011 world cup,the man from Ranchi showed the world what differentiates a leader from a captain..Finally the hour of joy arrived,the moment belonged to the master,the cup belonged to the captain and the rest to the ordinary cricket fan.It is truely a night to remember.....

A sport called Life

Life can neither be defined nor does it be understood with time or energy but can be felt and experienced by our titanic pursuits of realizing its glorious uncertainties. Sport like life has its own share of victories and defeats, fame and misfortune,moments that take us to the apogee of ecstasy and agony. Both Sport and Life have an inexplicable aura and charm associated with them that it becomes easier to contemplate the similarities that one possesses with the other. It will be an interesting and fascinating journey as this article tries to explore what some of the most enchanting aspects, principles of sport if applied in life can make it more exciting and pompous.

The most intriguing persona about sport is its unique way of handling failure. How sport gracefully accepts failure as a part of it and moves on is by far the most enviable aspect of it. Tendulkar with all his might and genius could never be a great captain while Ganguly with all his vulnerability to hostile bowling attacks could become the most successful captain the

country ever had. Failures taught him to think better and gave him the ability to empathize and thereby get the best of his men. Failure, besides making success sweeter gives a whole new perception and dimension to Life. After all it comes down to one single question. Will a smooth sea with its pleasant voyage make a good sailor?

Another dramatic insight is from how sport effortlessly handles the eternal dilemma “Which is more important? The process or the Result.?” Sport emphasizes in making the process of achievement supreme and the result irrelevant. A sprinter has absolutely no control over his opponent in the adjacent lane and the best he can do is to concentrate on his performance

and let go of things out of his control. Sport enunciates how sometimes ambition can turn into anxiety and affect one’s performance and foments on the principle that giving 100% every time is more important than being on the winning side It is an interesting thought that matches are won or lost just because one team does not play to its potential. Sport edifies us to chase

our performance or professional goals relentlessly and letting the result take care of itself. Ian Thorpe, one of the world’s greatest swimmers, once said “for me losing is not coming second. It’s coming out of water knowing you could have done better.”

What makes a man play, toil and give his heart out for victory even if he holds all the records of his sport? Why does a Federer still fight hard in every match he plays even though he has the most number of grand slams than any other man in the planet ever had? It is the appetite to conquer greater heights that have never been explored by fellow men that drives these men. It is about challenging oneself and coming out on top. The joy, curiosity, energy and the child like passion towards the game with which a Tendulkar,a Federer,a Schumacher confront new challenges coming their way is what every man has to emulate in every endeavor of life.

So, next time when you see a sportsman perspiring in pursuit of giving his best, spare a thought for him and spare two for what you can take from him.

Roger does it ....in vintage style

"The higher you soar,the smaller you appear to those who cannot fly"

Words that Nirmal Shekar quoted nine years ago when Sampras won his 14 th Grand slam when people around him said he was "a step and a half slower" and had lost his firepower .He battled all odds and did it when it mattered the most.

Things similar to what were said of Federer before the French Open. Roger ,like Sampras ,has proved his critics wrong and shown the world why many consider him the best ever in history.

The killer forehand was missing, the first serve percentages were having a negative slope,the unforced errors were suprisingly on the higher side than his opponent.Roger could have easily given in to a persevering Hass or a mercurial Del Porto or even a nameless Tom who stretched him to five sets ,but he found his own way to manufacture winners that came from nowhere.The shots had the necessary friction,speed,spin,momentum,direction,swing when it needed the most.

When Roger lost his Wimbledon crown to Rafa last year ,it took a while for us to sink the result into our minds.He plays with his heart.That was why he wept when he won his first Grand slam, wept after losing the Australian Open and wept after crossing the final frontier.When the going is tough,when people start thinking he is done and dusted ,when people doubt his supremacy on court,he comes with his genius and asserts he is still the best craftsman on the court.That's what make champions and Legends.That's what make Roger Federer.

When Roger could not cross the final hurdle at Roland Garros,.someone asked "Is Federer destined not to win the French open ?".And only with time we came to realise "Federer is destined to win the French Open as his 14 th Grand Slam,making it the greatest victory of his career".....How beautiful is sport...!