Transcend

Sachin has just completed his 100 th century and this is the interview that follows.

Harsha  - "Sachin that is some achievement...the first person in the history to score 100 100s.How do you feel.?"

Sachin " It seems like the first one...believe me the feeling is similar."

Harsha "Great...How do the other guys in the dresssing room feel. Gambhir also scored a 100 this match..but it's you who gets all the limelight, and this has happened for the last 21 years. How do the other guys react to it?"

Sachin "It's not about me alone..it's always been about the team...If We would have lost today....i think i would not have been this happier for my achievement. I couldn't have made it in these 21 years without my teammates."

Harsha "That's  really humble of you. It has been 21 years in international crciket. When are you planning to retire ..A lot of  teams would sigh a breath of relief.  You have really tortured them for long now.."

Sachin "(Laughs)  No it has never been that way...I have always enjoyed healthy competition . See the game of Cricket is above all ...all the players are its students. All of us are serving the game."

Harsha " Sachin i am seeing a pattern in all your answers...however i'll not discuss that right now . WE'll go on with the interview ."

Harsha "Sachin a lot of players like ...Baichung Bhutia....Saina Nehwal...Sania Mirza... have told about how they take inspiration from you. How do you feel when people from different sports tell you that?"

Sachin "See the basic ingredient for success in any sport is the same. You should be able to handle pressure..you should be able to handle the success humbly and you should be ok with your failures. Thiese values are the core for any game...and this DNA transcends all games. You got to be a fighter and if you understand this ...you'll do well in any sport .   "

Harsha "Infact we can extrapolate  this to crores of non - sportsperson who derive a lot of inspiration from you. They also like to emulate your work ethics....
Thanks for all these 25 years."

Thanks Harsha I feel it was all possible because of the  GOD up there...he has been really kind to me.

Sachin thanks for the lovely interview....i would like to share the pattern that i recognized in your answers.

When i tried to discuss the personal aspect of your achievement and compare it with the other team members you transcended your individuality and gave credit to the Team.

When i tried to compare the various international teams ...you transcended the various teams and gave all credit to Cricket as a sport.

When i tried juxtaposing Cricket with other games ...you transcended Cricket and took it to a higher abstraction of Sports.

When i tried comparing sportsmen with other profession people. I knew your integrity and profesionalism has transcended that boundary as well.

Sachin i think whatever you are doing is exceptional and you have transcended as  a human.

Thanks for taking birth at a time...when we could experience the phenomenon.

A Champion Performer

In that awe inspiring speech from Harsha he made a very profound point about how champions behave.

If you are a champion your performance is not at all proportional to the troubles/obstacles you face in your way.

A champion batsman will never say that I play well only on the Ahmedabad wicket but I’ll go 9 down against Australia at Gabba.

A champion bowler can never say that he is only good at the Indian pitches…because if a player says  so ..its not the player that’s good.

 It’s the conditions that were favorable.

I tried testing myself on this tenet of Harsha…and I found that I usually cycle my way to office almost twice a week…and this makes me feel like a champion. Riding 60 kms on a single day…and that too in the traffic of NH-58(Ghaziabad-Badrinath Highway) gives you a lot of confidence .

But there are times when I have pressure on me…work load is too much..and these are the days I give cycling a skip.

The excuse that I provide myself is that you need to have a peaceful mind to ride in that traffic….and as the work load is too much you might be thinking too much about the work and hence putting yourself in a trouble in that traffic.

But that’s not how champions do it. They play Bangladesh and Australia with the same tenacity.  They keep a peaceful mind in the toughest of situations….in either case I am not going to lessen the workload while I am reaching office..so the excuse stands null and void.

Thanks Harsha for the beautiful lesson…Work load or no work load…I’ll perform.

PS: Cycling can be replaced with any activity that you feel like extrapolating this tenet to.

Score - 140/6

Last Friday was awesome...Make my trip had its semi annual Town hall meeting...i met Harsha Bhogle...and yes i made a Debut on acting front.( Link to nautanki).

Harsha was as usual brilliant...just wanted to share a part of his speech.

"There are two types of teams...
1) The teams that are playing not to lose.
2)The teams that are playing to win.

At first i thought it's the same thing...in either case you win.
but than he delved a bit deeper into the concept.

Being in the first frame of mind can be disastrous for the team/individual/company.

Following is the example that Harsha gave to make this point...

Australia Vs Bangladesh Test match was going on.

Bangladesh was asked to bat first and they surprised everyone by making 350/4 on the first day.
Scoring at almost 4 runs an over and losing just 4 wickets would have been an amazing achievement
for the best of the teams.

At the end of the day Mohammad Ashraful was congratulated by the media for the team's performance.

One of the interviewers asks Asharful
"You are in a really good position...What is your strategy from here on?"

Asharful "Another 100 runs tomorrow and we are safe."

I mean when you are not in the habit of winning..you just don't believe that you can win.
Even after being in such a good position he wanted to be safe...he just didn't believe that his team could win.

Next day they were bowled out for 427.
and Australia was 140-6 at the end of the day.

Gilchrist came for a similar press conference.
Bagladesh 427 in first inning and The super power australia 140 /6.

"Gilli what do you have to say for that kind of performance?"

Gilli "Yeah mate we have dug ourselves a pretty deep hole. it's going to take some effort to win it from here."

This is what champions do...they play to Win...
They are not playing for not losing but to win.

Next time whenever i find myself in a soup...i would surely remind me of the scoreline 140/6 and ask myself this question...

"Comeon mate how do you win it from here."


Gilchrist scored a 144 in that inning.
Australia won that match. by three wickets.
that's the match http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/238171.html





"

ये उड़ान जारी रहेगी...

संभल के चलो
गिरने से डरो
रास्ता चुनो वही....
...जिस पे मंज़िल
किसी ने तो हो देखी |

हारना बुरा है
उड़ना बुरा है

देखना वो.... ,
जो किसी ने ना देखा...
...पाप है|

ऐसे जियोगे तो दुनिया क्या कहेगी..
-----------

उड़ना रोज़ है मुझे
देखनी हैं मंज़िलें नयी

चलना संभल के बुरा नहीं..
...पर रास्ता क्यूँ हो वही ?

खुश हूँ मैं
हारकर ,गिरकर
शर्त बस इतनी है..की सड़कें हों नयी|

जीना ऐसे...
की एक मिसाल बन के रहेगी..

लाख रोको मुझे ज़मीन पे..
ये उड़ान जारी रहेगी...

Scale Or Intent

I am looking to buy a new car, and i am discussiing various nuances(technical/financial) with my friends.
One of my friends is in DRDO and he has recently bought a car.

I asked him for his opinion as to his experience with the model that he bought.
He told me  that the car is realy good and he had bought this car from the CSD..
Canteen Store Department is the army canteen and you really do get a handsome discount on your stuff.
He asked wether i also want to get it through CSD.

As the difference in amount was 40-50 k,
i agreed to it.
That same evening i told my fiancee about it and she also agreed to it.
I told my parents ,they also agreed to it.

In the evening i was watching some news channel and they were discussing the
Adarsh Society Scam.

The society was meant for the Widows of Kargil war Martyrs but was being used by some other influential people.It was(is) a painful news.
I really cursed the people behind it.

In next few moments...
A kind of analogy dawned on me.

Getting a car through CSD is almost similar to getting a flat in Adarsh Society.
Neither of the parties deserve what they are availing..

and moreover me ,my fiancee and my parents
were not even aware of the contribution that we were making to corruption
....the scale was really small i think.

What is 40k in front of 1000s of crores.

but is Corruption defined on SCALE or on INTENT?

Sycophancy

Praying,Worshipping and asking for Favours from GOD is the highest form of sycophancy.

The most able creation of yours bowing and begging in front of you would really be a painful sight.

Instead of spending 30 mins ...burning incense sticks...chanting esoteric mantras..
Won't he be happy if you act and do some meaningful work.

I belong to a state which is called the DEV bhumi and there is a temple in each and every corner.
People are bowing,praying,worshipping and BEGGING for results.

The more people pray to god,the more coward i assume that group of people to be. In a way the group is
humilating GOD by telling him that he has created a species which is not able to survive on its own
and needs help at each and every step.

ACT ,PERFORM, EXECUTE rather than PRAY,WORSHIP,BEG.

If some one feels guilty if he didn't worship for a day, it is very much similar to a sycophant feeling bad if he
hasn't payed a servile visit to his master.
I know the visit is totally driven by my own needs and nothing else.

If i would have made such a visit to my BOSS everyday...i think that would have  perfectly categorized as servile flattery.
Similar is the case with GOD.
I think we don't need to pay him those expedient visits rather we need to start taking action.

GOD would be more than happy if i forgot him totally for a month and engaged myself in passionate meaningful work.

After that month of passionate work

Don't bow ..Stand upright...
Don't close your eyes ...look straight into his eyes
Don't Pray for results but announce your achievement
Tell him that i'm doing great on my own.

Thanks for creating me.

Amma jiiiiii ......Amma Ji.

If you happen to remember Amma Ji... she is our maid.
It's almost an year that she is working with us.

She is a very God fearing women and religiously visits the temples and the gurudwaras. There are a few beliefs that she dearly holds true and accepts those to be nothing less than the universal truths.(सर्वभौमिक  सत्य )

Those beliefs can not be(absolutely SHOULD not be) questioned by any one at all.
I ,in my utmost innocence somehow happened to stand opposed to her beliefs at a few moments.
What follows are 3 incidents when i had to face the wrath and fury of Amma Ji just for falsifying her universal Truths.

Summers 2010-  Delhi's heat was beating on us and we were almost embarrassed of asking for cold water from our neighours. Not that they refused anytime but still disturbing someone on a Saturday some 20-25 times is shamefully embarrassing in itself.  We (me and Suresh) decided to get a refrigerator the very same day. We got the cash and we had made our research on the Fridge that we wanted to take. We waited for the evening and just when we were about to leave  Amma Ji comes for preparing us our meals.

She complained a bit about the heat and told us something about the electricty cut that they had at their place.
She notices us getting ready and enquired about it.

We tell her that we are getting her a new refrigerator today and she now nomore needs to throw the old sabji or daal.
First expression was "Oh wow!!!! Great...."
Second was  "Oh noooo!!! You fools don't do that."
I asked her about the disapproving expression that she gave.

She said "Aaj mat lo."
Suresh "Kyun amma ji?"
Amma ji "Shaniwaar ko loha nahi lete."
(it was a hindi version of  -- "Bloody Freak  you don't buy freaking Iron on a freaking saturday.")

A moment of silence
and then it was our turn to express.
First Expression "Desperation,Frustration... all synonymous and very close to WTF."
Second expression "A look at each other followed by a I-give-up smile."

The look that she bore suggested that she was in no mood for a discussion and indeed shaniwaar ko loha nahi lete to nahi lete.
Amma Ji 1 We 0. :(

October 2010 - I was just back from office and Amma ji asks about what she should prepare for dinner. she checks the refrigerator - (The same one that we bought  on sunday.) for some vegetables. She tells me that for the next 9 days she won't be using Onion in our food.

On enquiring further she says that "Navratras have started and she doesn't touch Onions in navratras."
This was too much for me and i disagreed to that...may be i would have agreed to her some other day but not after her having her way in that refrigerator incident .
I got rebellious .... Fridge came on sunday and now onions will be used in Navratras.
(It was more of a childish stubbornness then a rational opposition.).

She agreed to it but said that now she needs to change her clothes when she gets back as she can not sit in a Aarti after touching those onions. Irritated i was but in that moment of irritation i tried to restore some rationality ,i asked her to do the Aarti before coming. She agreed to that.  I had my little moment of victory.

Amma Ji 1 We 1. :|

Whenever Amma ji gets angry with us she kind of goes quiet. Not that she will make the food any less tastier but she won't talk to us. You can feel the cold war type tension in the house.

 We were into the third navratra and she arrives for making  breakfast. I had forgot everything about the onions . She asks in her usual way "Beta ji kya banana hai?"
"Paranthe bana do aunty."

Amma ji "Aaloo to hain nahin...."
We had had this kind of discussion earlier also...

I forgot we were in the middle of navratras and i totally forgot we were in middle of a cold war.
I was shaving...and while shaving only ....i went to the kitchen....looked at the tokri and in the most casual and obvious tones suggested   "Aloo nahin hai to Pyaaz Ke Bana do".

She slowly turned towards me fuming.
She felt i was doing this on purpose.
I immediately made out that i have committed a sin and now i shall be punished. 
In all this tension i felt that she was almost about to slap me.

After a few tense moments and a cold silence between us. 
She comes out with this....
"Rab se daro beta ,thoda to daro. Paranthe to main bana deti hun....kam se kam Tuesday ko to Shave na kiya karo."

Amma ji 1000 We 0. :)