continue horsing around

Today’s newspapers had an interview with the Indian cricket batsman Gautam Gambhir. He has been quite a revelation for Indian cricket and has quickly climbed the heights. The interview was after the Indian T20 world cup debacle. It seemed like a planned interview designed to elicit positive PR for the team. I am fine with the strategy. Positive PR is required and is many times an effective thwart against some really hostile press. But something he said caught me mind. The interviewer asks:

“I believe one Shaun Tait snorter left a crack on the bat, but you are continuing to use it... Yeah, it is there on the shoulder of my main match bat. I am using it because I want it to keep on reminding myself that I had an ordinary World Cup. It’s just a motivation thing really.”

My parents always encouraged me to go on stage and never bother about stage fright or anything else. I some how remember my dad a lot. He always encouraged me not to fear. I realise what Gautam is saying is not about fear. It’s about reminding yourself that you didn’t succeed. But I see it as a slightly different way. I see it as a means to come back. Not by erasing the past and wished it did not happen. By knowing and being aware and doing more.
Sometimes while batting there is some really fast bowling that one faces. It cant scare you. On more than one occasion I have faced bouncers that have whizzed past my nose. These are designed for you to go on the back foot. Arun, my captain and coach had also taught me to stand outside the crease for the fast bowler and negate most leg before decisions. After a bouncer that I managed to miss, I would tell myself “hey, I saw it. I could duck and weave out of the way. Sure I was surprised and I don’t have the talent to hook it but I have enough ‘eye’ to move out. Keep batting. Fresh guard will again be outside the crease. If you want me in the crease, you will have to risk your wicketkeeper nose by asking him to stand up”.
You have to face up to your obstacles. You have to go back and play it.

Once in Matheran, we had to go down the market. I asked Jasmine to carry on and I told her that Jispa and I would come down on the horses. With Jispa standing beside me I was mounting a horse. While I was mounting my foot slipped off and I fell. The horse was startled and he lifted his feet and bounced about. Luckily I was not in the way, nor was Jispa. But the horse sufficiently excited every other horse around and the other horse men had to hold on tight to the reins. Quite a scary experience and Jispa too was scared. I held Jispa tight and smiled. The original horse and his man quickly disappeared. A moment to gather our senses and we were going back on another horse. I thought about what my dad would have done. Walking out at the time would have taught my kid to be scared of the horse. I was not going to do that. Come on Jispa let’s get back on and ride another one. Jispa was a bit shaken. She was about 5 or 6. But I felt that she took her cues from me and she was on another horse confidently riding with me.

You have to get back and conquer whatever little fear you have. You don’t have to forget the past; remember it, learn from it. You have to get stronger. Resilient

I have had this tryst with horses my whole life. I remember all the time I have had bad experiences with horses. As a kid in Kashmir when the horses ran amok with my brother, me and another friend each on a different horse running in a different direction. With one horse man running trying to get them all in control. I was around 8 or 10 years old and the horse man gave me signal to pull the reins as he ran for the others. I pulled and the horse lifted his front feet and I must have looked like Sunny Deol. The horse came to a stop. I remember the incident clearly and I remember not felling scared. I was probably too little to be scared. The man then finally got all the horses under control and we got to the hotel. He kept telling my dad what a near brush we had had, how this little boy was very brave. I probably was too small to know but the incident has been etched in my mind. “I am brave on a horse.”
I have fallen off a horse near Yamnotri as the saddle broke. As it broke, I tried falling to my right as on the left was a deep ravine. Lucky me. On our honey moon in Nainital early morning, the horse I had wanted to be a little funny as well. I remember the horse man telling me, if I would have been a Bengali then the entire Nainital would have woken up. Hah. He doesn’t know what I have been through. I even remember my dad falling off a horse only to get back on top to ride with us. That’s the way we ride.

Wait a bit, young man

Age and experience teaches you the power of patience. Hot blood (Garam khoon) takes some time to slow down and cool over. It’s quite a different experience altogether to mellow down. You realize that your reactions are different. You wonder how you could have got this far and thank you stars for the amazing luck that your hot blood and head has not yet landed you in a fatal tempest. Its fun ageing, if you can call it that. In the light of the above I sometimes wonder why these there is so much noise about young blood. The countries general elections are around the corner and everyone is asking for youth. What is youth, what defines it, what are the qualities we are looking for in youth? Politics is not an easy game. Youth find themselves eaten and finished before lunch. I think people are generally disillusioned with politics and the old faces they see. What we want is not younger prettier youthful faces. We want right people with the zeal and the openness of a young man with the seasoned politics of a veteran. Sure youth brings some interesting stuff to the table, especially the power of asking stupid questions. No, I am not being sarcastic here. Stupid questions are important. They break status quos, question paradigms and (to plagiarize a line) boldly go where no man has gone before. So its good in that sense. In politics their role is an important one as well. Ask right questions, demand rights forgotten, push for new and adaptive technologies and ideas. But I would be very wary on them leading. Why do you need to be in parliament to make an impact? Aren’t you better off learning from grassroots for now? Too much power or even for that matter too much expectation thrust too early can cripple it and spoil it. In any case the youth we see today are mainly wards of politicians standing on shoulders of their dynasty not on their own right. I want youth that has bled on the street understanding India, and then coming in with experience, a practical view on reality and with concrete workable solutions honed by insights of someone who has tried and seen failure. Youth can impact a nation in many ways and must. How about older leader with young forces supporting him / advising him and an open mind to deal with issues?
On the topic of patience here is a nice story that I have narrated many times to quite a few people. It’s quite a parable:-

An emperor became cross with his minister and gave him death penalty. Tradition was that the emperor would go to visit the convict a night before his execution. Even so his minister had served him for life. So he went. He tied his horse in front of the jail while the minister is watching him through the prison bars, he came in, the gate opened, tears started to roll down the minister's eyes in continuous drops. The emperor said, "Crying?! You! You cry fearing death! I always knew you as a brave man, you fought so many wars, life and death were always plays for you. You cry?! I can’t believe my eyes that there are tears in your eyes!" The minister said, "I am not crying for my death penalty, I am crying because of some thing else - but now what is the use in telling you? Forget it! You have been very kind, than you for that!" The emperor said, "I won't let go like that, I want to know why are you crying? You have aroused my curiosity. I have never seen you crying."
The minister said, "There never was a reason to cry, today there is. Since you insist, I tell you the reason. After working hard for my entire life I learnt this skill to make horse fly in the sky, but the breed of horse I needed, I never could find in my life. And the horse that you came riding on is the breed of horse I have been looking for. I am crying because the hard work of the entire life time is gone down the drain, I have to die in the morning and this horse has come into sight, today.
The emperor's greed became active. A horse that flies in the sky! The emperor's fame would spread world wide: he has a horse which no one else in the world has. He said, "How long will it take for the horse to fly?" The minister replied, an year. The emperor said, "You quit worrying, you come out. If the horse does fly then I will reward you with half my kingdom and give you my daughter in marriage. If the horse did not fly, then no problem. You will be hanged after an year.
The minister reached his home riding on the horse. The wife and children were weeping beating their breast because the hanging was scheduled for the next day. The could not believe - they squinted their eyes to make sure that they were not seeing a dream. They said, "You are back!" He said, "I am back." "How did you manage?" He told them every thing. Hearing this his wife started to bawl beating her breast more rigorously saying, "You have created a bigger trouble! I know for a fact that you have never learnt any such skill. And if you really had to deceive then you should have at the minimum asked for ten years. One year! This one year would be even a heavier burden on our hearts - each day passing. Your death will approach with each day passing. The horse is not going to fly." The minister said, "You do not fret. Silly! what reliance can you put on one year's time? I may die, the king may die, the horse may die - is there any thing certain about the year? If I would have asked for ten years, he might not have ventured to allow me the time. That is why I asked for one. But one year is sufficient, any thing can happen!"