All in the Game

Sachin Tendulkar completes 20 years of international career and is still going strong..  Very rarely that one comes across a sportsman proving himself the best time and again… It’s so easy for critics to write him off if he underperforms even in a single match, but true to Sachin’s style it’s his bat that does the talking… Awesome records, controversy free career and 20 years of brilliance is no mean feat… 

Not long before Sachin’s accomplishment of 20 years in international cricket, one former tennis sensation and legend Opens up. Andre Agassi’s or Drugassi’s (courtesy: Amul’s hoarding taking a dig on current affairs) crystal clear career slam gets tainted with a crystal meth drug... Was it really the drug that did the trick for him of winning all four coveted Grand Slams?? Could it be that Agassi is giving credit to the drug more than its worth...

What made Agassi confess?? If the drugs gave only physical strength, then we all know the amount of mental strength needed to win matches that eventually went down into the history?? Its not that the matches he won were against some ‘never heard’, ‘never seen’, ‘never played’ players. He won against his equals. And when equals clash, it’s not the physical stamina alone that does the match winner… And if pills really help mental stamina, then why could not Agassi take one now to shut up?? 

Not sure if this goes on to show his integrity or goes on to prove that a true sportsperson can never run away from integrity. I admire you Agassi for coming clean, but I’m still not sure about the motive behind coming clean.  

If your confession is a way to make money, then I doubt if you could stoop so low to resort to such practices. I hope you don’t do this even if you were bankrupt.  I hope not.

If this is a way of riddance of a guilty heart and an effort to come clean to the world that gave you so much, then I think you are on the right track.  It takes a person of your stature to be really really strong to confess, knowing the consequences your confessions could invite.. But yea, there is nothing like a guilt and regret free life… Whatever you lose post your confession will only be far less than a guilt ridden conscience that you had to live for long..  I respect you and I still think you deserved those wins (at least the Majors, as you didn’t win any of those during 1997 when you tested positive for drugs).

But I wonder how this is going to affect the whole game of Tennis.  This coming from the only career Golden slam player that the sport has ever seen is agonizing. Why couldn’t you be a sport? you are a human too??  Yea, Right!!! You never claimed you are perfect. It is we audience who perceived you to be. You are not compelled to live up to others’ perceptions, are you?? Agassi or Drugassi, forming perceptions and accepting reality is at the audience’s disposal…

What next for Agassi?? Like Marat Safin says “give back his titles, his money and his Grand Slam titles”.  Would Agassi do that? Is he ready to trade off his titles for a guilt free soul? As far as giving back the money goes, who knows his book might just ‘Open’ up the gates to greater fortune… win-win either way?? Agassi knows best. Looks like some are born winners no matter what…

Not long after Drugassi episode, comes another ‘hand of God’ goal. This time from France’s Thierry Henry.. 

I know its not fair for Ireland.. Not at all fair... What you did is wrong Mr. Henry. And I still wonder how it can be ‘instinctive reaction’ that made you do the handball.. You are not playing soccer for the first time, are you?? Aren’t these rules ingrained in your sub-conscious mind considering the number of years you have been playing at an international level?? So don’t blame it on instinct Mr. Henry. It appears to be a very conscious decision and intentional…  Why did you do? Did you already embrace defeat in your mind?

And as a consequence if you are getting one year ban which may also prohibit you from playing in world cup, then I guess it serves you right. I apologize for being harsh on you (as if you care.. lol), but wait. Did Ireland get its due?

Some of the Ireland’s players probably have been deprived of their last or only chance of playing in the FIFA World Cup. One such atrocious ‘Hand of God’ goal is the culprit. Don’t we all agree that the pain of being denied is much higher than the pain of losing? One man’s ban is no healer for one whole nation’s deprived joy of watching its team play… 

What purpose will your ban serve, Thierry Henry? What have you lost except one year of non-playing and giving a miss to the World Cup in Cape Town. Your country and your team still go on to play the World Cup at Cape Town. Isn’t it fair to ban your entire team? If one man’s goal can send a team to world cup, then the same one man’s no goal should bring out the team from the world cup. Isn’t that fair?  If only players like you knew that such erroneous ‘instinctive reactions’ could attract such severe consequence, this would not have taken place.

Thierry Henry, I only hope this is the last time ever that a team gets advantage of such rubbish ‘hand of God’ goals or for that matter anything that is against true sportsmanship.. It’s a disgrace to the most popular sport of the world.. 

Also, I’m glad Mr. Henry, in-spite of your ‘instinctive reaction’, you were not ‘instinctive’ in denying the mistake.. 

Life is serious and that is why we love sports.. But if sports get dirty, where is the fun? Isn’t integrity the mark of a true sportsman?

Publish Post

Celestial Dance

Celestial Dance

Sounds divine! Reminds of the magnificent and mysterious Lord Shiva's dance... But what has it got to do with my blogging…

Alright here it goes...

I ain’t a great dancer. I just dance.. Recently through some divine intervention I was introduced to a type of exercise – dance as if you are dancing for the Gods in gratitude, dance away to glory as if you own the world, dance as if nobody is watching you, a moment to be just yourself… May be when you are dancing and a high energy engulfs you, you become oblivious of the world around you and derive a happiness that you longed for.. The happiness of being yourself - The Very You…

I often hear most of us giving a thought to whether we are our true self or we are acting in our everyday life… "Am I truly what I am? Or am I someone that ‘fine tunes’ myself to the changing people, situations, seasons and an endless list of entities that has hidden the true me from myself…"

Do I have this urge to be what I truly am? Do we fear to be ourselves? Are we confident of presenting ‘The Real Me’ to the world instead of ‘The Acting Me’ that the world loves to see… Blame it on the clichéd yet the most defensive statement called “man is a social animal”..

Agreed. But that doesn’t mean we reduce ourselves to Social Slaves.. Why do we have to take pride in being puppets that dances to the tunes of other entities (whoever or whatever).

Alrighty, now that we are talking about puppets, lets continue with the puppet analogy… Puppet dance, if you have seen one, gives you a clear picture that the strings are pulled by someone else, making the puppet look rigid as if it is being asked to dance at the gunpoint... Isn’t our situation similar? Haven’t we also become rigid to the extent that we feel odd to be ourselves..  However, we do have a choice to be ourselves. If only we dare to cut off the threads of inhibitions tied to us and stop ourselves from dancing to the so called ‘right norms’ created by the entities around us…

Now that very definition of "what is Right?" is debatable. One man's food is another man's poison, they say. But then give me a break! Let's define "Right Conduct" in simple terms - That what you wish others dont do to you, you dont do to others as well. Does that help??

So from now on we are talking of people who agree to this definition of "Right Conduct"... Others, you may choose to read, you can choose not to subscribe to my views, or simply leave...

Time now to continue... So does that help??? If yes, the next retort is "it isn't possible all the time.. There are so many factors that act as a constraint"...  Really? Fair to blame those ‘other entities'?? Shouldn't I be blaming myself for your inability to be true to myself.. I again hear someone telling me that life is a Zero Sum Game. For every winner, there has to be a loser... Even if that statement were to be true, shouldn’t we be proud to make ourselves the winner.. But No, our conditioning wouldn’t allow us.. Probably we have stooped to a ridiculous extent where in we take pride at the victory of ‘other entities’ that prevents us from being our true self... This could arguably be our worst defeat, yet we happily accept … At the same time we crib over all other trivial defeats that come as a package in our pretentious lives..

Have you ever given a thought on when was the last time you did something from your heart that made you happy.. Again, I would like to point out "we are strictly talking about people who agree to the definition of 'Right' as defined earlier". But again, if you are so much in to the system of suckers that you don’t even know the difference between the wants of your head and heart, then probably we are altogether tackling a different problem… Or probably you are the best example for this write up...

Why do we take pride in pushing our own happiness far below others’ happiness.. If we are a social animal, yes there are some so called norms we need to adhere to... keep the surroundings clean, dont covet others' property, family life will involve compromises... yes, for sure!! These are needed to keep the world grounded and for mutual harmony... But we aren't talking about the obvious... we are talking about being the very me.. very you...

Why are we succumbing to wrong standards.. Who on earth says, you are selfish if you think about your happiness..  Must have been a person who was uncomfortable in his own skin, must be a big time loser himself who has succeeded in making many more losers… And for years we have silently epitomized these norms...

It’s amazing how much we don’t mind our transition from ‘social animals’ to ‘social slaves’? It’s a regular thing to see a person’s happiness compartmentalized. Ex: A successful world class nuclear scientist with unhappy family; happily married person with unhappy social life or career;  a happily married person, with great career but a life of regret... Is it a difficult task to strike a balance and still be happy across all aspects/roles  we essay in life??

Of course it is!! Perhaps that is why we find very few who are happy and content. Still I guess its worth the try!! If we dare to put our priorities and principles ahead of others to make our own life perfect first, instead of living a life to please others…

We are social animals.. SO WHAT?? We can still strike a win-win deal!!

Ok, lets face the facts.. We all know what our problems are.. If we use our intelligence wisely, we will discover the cause for our problems and also figure the solutions … Every thing is right in front of us.. But if we choose to be blind, then God bless us (I admit, I am also one of the many that God needs to bless)

Why not for a change let the rational being in us take dominance?? We all have enough intelligence to figure out what is right and what is not right for each one of us... Why not we just dare to stand up and draw a line between the right and the wrong and not succumb to unwanted pressures from the peers, relatives, society, colleagues and all other entities of life.. If we want we can truly stand up to our principles by being amidst all the ‘other entities’ and yet stay unruffled. We can strike a balance between our principles and the world’s principles if we really want to. If only we believe in the strength of ‘me’ more than the strength of ‘others’.

Easier said than done?? Bingo!! But nothing is impossible.. Why give up before even begin...??

I want to break freeeee… Do I dare to??

Eeeks.. My first blog wasn’t meant to be sooooooo serious and soooooo long…

All I say is hope my blogging is a way to break freee (isn’t that the very purpose of a blog – as if it needed my testimony.. haha) .. I am hoping this celestial dance of mine gives me the same joy that I get, when I dance as if I don’t care who owns the world …..