The Shiny Side

On 12^th August 2013, at 31, Sarah Jane Elliott showed the world that a women’s career is anything but over once she gets married or gives birth to a child, by scoring a century in a Test match. Barely a month after giving birth to her son, Sam, in October 2012, she was fit to get selected in the Australian preliminary squad for World cup and just 10 months later she scored her debut Test century in Ashes. Her son was still on breast feeding, and she took care of him during breaks. She was on 95 not out at stumps on Day 1 of the Test match and with just a little sleep that night, she completed the ton which ensured Australia retain the Ashes.

On 11^th September 2013, Yuvraj Singh, Indian flamboyant cricketer, successfully made his comeback to the international cricket after fighting a stage-1 lung cancer which kept him out of cricket for almost a year.  A year later, he looks fitter and confident enough to make his comeback count.

On 27^th March 2013, Jesse Ryder, NZ cricketer, was beaten up at a bar in Wellington and was in the intensive care unit, battling for life for 3 days following a skull fracture. Last week, he celebrated his comeback to professional cricket with a well-mannered century.

On 24^th November 2013, Joginder Sharma, the famous Indian bowler who handed India the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, met with a fatal road accident in Delhi which led him into the ICU for head injuries, clotting and fractures and warranted a head surgery, 40-45 stitches and non-quantifiable trauma. His doctors had claimed that there was no guarantee that his head surgery could be a success. In a year from there, he returned to Ranji Cricket and last week in Tendulkar’s last domestic match took 5-14 in the first innings for Haryana.

The above is only a list of recent cricketers whose lives were thrown into a seemingly give-up position but came back stronger, fitter and with even more hunger. I am sure that history has many more people who made it great from ‘impossible’ situations. 

What did these people go through when they were pushed against the wall by life? What kept them motivated to get through their toughest phases of life and what gave them hope that they could go back to their prime? Except for Sarah’s case, all the others have gone through life-death situation. What could have convinced Jesse Ryder to keep his will strong enough and not lose hope through the three days in ICU? After his head was broken and was advised not to take up a physically and mentally very demanding sport like cricket, how come Joginder Sharma defied all odds to come back strongly?

Yuvi’s case is a classic. Chemotherapy is a very painful treatment and considering that he was struggling with a rare cancer, many might not have advised or expected him to get back to international cricket, atleast not so soon. He was backed by a nation of fans and cricket enthusiasts. A lot of people visited him in the US to show their support and keep him motivated. His friends and ex-cricketers personally visited him to show their concern. But, was all this show of solidarity enough to ensure that he made such a speedy recovery and play at the highest level? No.

Many sports persons by nature are like soldiers. They always have a war to fight in every match. They are trained from a very young age not to give up, play and live with discipline, though some fail to learn any or all of them and end up at lesser heights. The work-ethic and attitude they develop with their profession get into their DNA and there is every possibility that they apply the same solutions to real life problems too.

For instance, Virender Sehwag is a belligerent batsman who wreaks havoc with his bat when in prime form. His ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ attitude is seen in the way he talks and behaves outside cricket too. Also, the serene and classy attitude that can be attributed to Rahul Dravid outside cricket are also the defining characteristics of his batsmanship. It is very difficult to assess if every sportsperson responds to these challenges with the same intensity. It mainly depends on how connected they are to their profession and how committed they are to fulfill their dreams they might have seen and developed through their formative years.

It can be argued that Sarah Elliott could have postponed having her baby to fulfill her dream to keep playing for Australia but, the way she decided to take her dream along with her, through her marriage, pregnancy and continued working to make it true teaches us a great lesson. Many of us bound by the customs, trying to fulfill the family or social commitments drop our dreams somewhere in between and live in a false notion that we have sacrificed our life for someone else. Sarah has proven it otherwise.

The celebration of Yuvraj’s comeback by the  fans and media looks justified on the face value considering the comeback itself was a major achievement and the connect he has with cricket fraternity and their emotions about him but, the below the par performances by his own standards has proved that life doesn’t offer any freebies based on our past glories or tragedies. Irrespective of our past or the strength of our dreams, it is our performances ‘on the field’ that drives us into glory. Elsewhere, in the world, I hope the talented, yet troubled, Jesse Ryder is learning this too.

IN SEARCH OF THE SAVIOUR

It's a fantastic feeling.

One day in the later part of 1990s, when I first saw Rahul Dravid, batting in a Test match in South Africa, I saw him defending the express bowling from Donald and Co. For me, in some instances it looked like a soldier fighting the bullets and when he got out finally it looked like as if the war is over and the opposition had won it. During the power-cut break, I went into our ‘vast’ playing area of around 27 yards length and 15 yards width, with an intention of taking up that responsibility of ‘saving the nation’ from the ruins and winning the battle. With the new bat in my hand, that my Dad had gifted that summer, I covered my head with a white cotton towel covering the ears and tied it under the chin to save myself from the ‘bouncers’ and covered it with a sky blue cap on which  it was written ‘INDIA’. I knew what I was going to score and what I would do at the end of the milestone with that cap. It’s a fantastic feeling, honestly.

That afternoon, I played a magnificent innings, which Ravi Shastri had called, ‘innings of a life’ when wickets were tumbling at the other end. I contributed more than 150 in that double hundred partnership with Nayan Mongia by around 4 PM. It was a difficult job to see my favorite stars losing their wickets on the other side while I was trying to do something to hang-in there and score runs. It was even more difficult because, batting and commentating simultaneously are two different jobs and I thought I was the only one capable of doing that effectively till Shane Warne bowled McCullum round his legs in a recent T20 match in Australia. But, somehow, I did it, I did it so perfectly in that tour that even during post match presentations I didn’t have a problem of answering my own questions like, what I amount of hard-work I had put in and how I felt when the batting on the other side was collapsing. But, one thing I couldn’t do on that tour was taking enough wickets to win all the test matches. All-rounders in cricket are not made in a single series, of course. 

Life after that wasn’t easy, I played a lot of test matches for India in the next 5-6 years, sometimes early mornings, and sometimes late nights, sometimes to take a time-out from my 10^th exams preparation, sometimes to prepare for the next gully cricket match held in our building. Most international crickets come back and play lower standard matches for practice. I did it the other way around. I played in Australia in 99-00 series, scored heavily and took enough wickets to win India’s first series in Australia. I went to England, played at Lord’s and brought so many laurels, had an altercation with Flintoff at Leeds and hit all the six balls to six different sides of the park. Yeah, I had a deja-vu feeling when Yuvi did the same in 2007. 

These guys kept winning and I had to retire.

Some years later, I retired from all forms of cricket not because, I was tired but, there were enough players in the team who could do that and I felt happy that I wasn’t needed. I am glad that I exited in glory.

When Rahul Dravid was fighting his life-saving war against English pacers again in his life, he was fighting all alone. If only I could announce my re-entry into cricket. For the first time I rued myself for having not born in Pakistan. What a privilege they have.

Dravid: "I know buddy how much it hurts when you dying to win and your team doesn't back you up"

When Virat Kohli was fighting against the Australian tide in Perth, I knew I would have helped him not only complete his century but we would have made Australia look like Australia in India. I know, he need not had to slog in Adelaide after his century to score quickly nor he had to throw away his wicket to save a night watchman. To be frank with you, there wouldn’t have been a night-watchman requirement there in the first place.

I was told during my formative years of what I call now ‘iCricket’ that when ever there is a deep crisis and the situation couldn’t go any more worse, a small hope is created by the God. Those small hopes can create big wonders and they are called ‘Miracles’. That was how I bailed out the crisis of Indian Cricket then and since the situation cannot get any worser, I guess, The Miracle is just around the corner. 

Friction

When an object moves forward, it does itself a favor by pushing things into the past. It moves forward with a lot of support from within itself and a bit from the external world. The most important of the external world is the friction which physics say is a force developed at the contact point of the object and its path. But, friction may have nothing to do with the contact point or the shape, nature or smoothness of the path the object takes. Since, Physics cannot prove the thinking patterns of that particular object and physics, like law science also lives only on recorded data and assumes the case(object) is dead. 

But, I am sure that when the Latins first used this word(which I dont have a clue if they did), did not know physics and were talking something that is not related to an object moving or rolling up or down. It was not that difficult for that man to say, that overcoming the resistance needs just a unit more than its opposition.

I just wonder what would have happened to that object had it had the power to think, analyse and then act. Will it remain the same courageous object and try to push itself against the opposition? Will it be ready to do it even if its analyses say that it is going to be the opposition that is going to win it? Will it be ready to to take a risk and move forward even though its predecessors never did it?

The object's case is similar to a kid who is walking for the first time without the help of the accessories. His limbs develop and instinctively, he starts walking. He doesn't know the implications of his attempts, nor he has any previous records. But, the very attempt of his transforms his life into a mobile object. 

The power of thinking is always challenged by the frictional forces that comprises different forms of fear. The fear of losing what my conscience calls as Black Blanket, is the Mother of all. Fear is more of an emotion that is in the disguise of caution. Caution is created by the past happenings recorded or possible dangers that exist on the road. Caution is the child of thinking often mistaken as an off-spring of fear.

The ability to challenge the frictional forces is the only reason why mankind(read thinking objects) have been so successful today. The people who unmasked the black blanket long ago are already waiting on the other side teasing us. The difference is you will not be able to see it unless you uncover yourself.

When Nietzsche said "Man ties himself to a yoke and then runs around in circles" probably, he meant the yoke is the resistance to do the newer things which is caused by the programming set in your mind by your parents, teachers, religion etc. Just free yourself from that yoke and you gallop in any direction you choose to instead of going on circling the yoke and complaining about the pain in your neck.