Brief Encounters: A moment of ethical dilemma

When you are not enclosed in an air-conditioned vehicle, the drill of treading in Delhi’s jammed roads on a sweaty July afternoon takes torture to a whole new level. Sitting in an endlessly stuttering auto-rickshaw, waiting for the signal to go green, I plugged in my earphones and switched to coke studio playlist to drown out the traffic cacophony. Just as Lucky Ali started humming into ‘O Sanam’, someone tapped on my knees.

Brief encounters: Elevator hunk

Like every morning I boarded the elevator dreading office as usual, when a distinctly handsome guy entered the same lift. So you know how it is always good to have a room with a view, the universe had strategically placed me at one such spot inside that 15 people carrier. Like a shy indian girl, I secretly admired him for an eternity of a few seconds, wondering if he by any chance he was in my company. His ironed formals told me that he was definitely not from Google, and lack of a blazer confirmed he wasn't from Michael Page either. He could be in Oracle or Amex but then we had passed those floors. While I was busy playing Sherlock, he spoke up. 

The 80's kid

That day of the year which God cleverly marked for us to do some introspection is our birthday. It’s the day when we open the log of all the things we gained and lost in the last 365 days. And sometimes that audit extends to the years lived so far. A recap of how everything around us, including ourselves, has evolved with time draws a colorful scrap book in our minds, and it spares no shades. That’s when we realize how far we have come in our lives.

A Soul Stirring Article By Harsha Bhogle

Remember when you failed an examination. How many people recall that,
your class, friends, relatives? You failed to make it to the IITs or
IIMs. Who remembers. How many times have you had the feeling of being
the best in your class, school , university, state….., you failed to
get a visa stamped this quarter…, you missed a promotion this year…,
how did it feel when you dad told you in your early twenties that you
are good for nothing…..and now your boss tell you the same...

You keep introspecting and go into a shell when people most of whom
don’t matter a dime in your life criticize you, back bite you, make
fun of you. You are left sad and shattered and you cry when your own
kin scoffs at you. You say I am feeling low today. It takes a lot from
us to come out of these everyday situations and move on. A lot???
really?

Now here’s a man standing on the third man boundary in the last over
of a world cup match. The bowler just has to bowl sensibly to win this
game. What the man at the boundary sees is 4 rank bad bowls bowled
without any sense of focus, planning or regret. India loses, yet again
in those circumstances when he has done just about everything right.

He does not cry. Does not show any emotion. Just keeps his head down
and leaves the field. He has seen these failures for 22 years now. And
not just his class, relatives, friends but the whole world has seen
these failures. We are too immature to even imagine what goes on in
that mind and heart of his. That’s why I would never want to be
Sachin.

True, he has single handedly lifted to moods of this entire nation
umpteen number of times. He has been an inspiration to rise above our
mediocrity. Nobody who has ever lifted the willow even comes close to
this man’s genius. His dedication and metal strength is unparallel.
This is specially for those people who would have made fun of him
again last night when India lost. They are people who are mediocre in
their own lives. Who just scoff at others to create cheap fun. Who
have lived in a small hole throughout their lives and thought they
have seen the oceans.

Think about the man himself. He is 37 years of age. He has been
playing almost non stop for 22 years. The way he was running and
diving around the field last night would have put 22 year olds to
shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was
breathtaking. He just keeps getting better which is by the way humanly
impossible. Its not for nothing that people call him GOD.

But still I don’t want to be in those shoes. We struggle in keeping
our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of
people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for
him, pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time,
knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either
bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep
before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and
still see expectations from a billion people.

And he just converts those expectations into reality. We watch in awe,
feel privileged.

Well I think its time that his team realizes that enough is enough.
They have an obligation, not towards their country alone but towards
Sachin. They need to win this one for him. Stay assured that he
himself will still deliver and leave no stone unturned to make sure
India wins this cup.

This is not just a game, and he is not just a sportsman. Its much more
than this. Words fail here.....

--- HARSHA BHOGLE