'WINNING'! IT CAN BE A HUGE STRAIN WE PUT ON OURSELVES





Pic.: Pic.: Umang Pahwa 
(Cricket mania — at High Street Phoenix.)

I just returned after taking a training session for students in a Mumbai college. I was there with them for almost three-and-a-half hours, helping them to build their self-confidence. Almost all of them had watched the T-20 finals (India Vs. Sri Lanka) last night, and almost all of them – like me – were disappointed, sad and yes, angry!

I said, “Like me”!

So, it means, when it comes to ‘losing’, none of us likes it!

“All the world loves a winner, and has no time to spare for a loser.” I was a young-man, like my students today, when I had first heard this slogan...

So, last night, like everyone else, I, too, left everything and sat before the TV with the great hope that our team would win... Like everyone else, I, too, was tensed through the match... all the time giving my own commentary... particularly about poor Yuvraj and even Dhoni... and  our ‘pathetic’ bowlers...  Had Kohli tanked, last night,  I would have coolly forgotten all his contribution for this tournament... just the way I had forgotten, last night, the amazing feat that we had reached to the finals not losing a single contest... and, winning it like Gladiators... Just forgetting the fact that it was Yuvraj who had made us all proud in the World Cup 2011... It was he, who had fired our imagination by hitting six sixes in an over, which, couldn’t have been done except by a brave-heart... Just  forgetting the fact that what MS had done, as a player and the skipper of our team, was simply exceptional...

Oh yes, that one defeat in the finals... made us forget who we really were... We sulked, we stooped... yes, very, very low... last night!

Well, one has to play to win, and play with all the fire in his belly... I hope, we did that  last night... But, sometimes, it just doesn't happen... We can’t win all the times, all the matches... Look at once formidable West Indies, or Australia or England or Sri Lanka or Pakistan.... Why can’t they win each time, everywhere? Why can’t they be the world champs for ever?

Last night, like all my country's cricket-fans, I, too, felt like a loser when our team lost to Sri Lanka... But, then, it took just a few moments to get over my depression and remind myself that it was simply a game of cricket, no matter whatever meaning I had given to it... that, one team had to lose, and last night, it had be ours... because, Sri Lankans played better than us... and, that was it!

For me, the greatest scene to behold – immediately after every match, and no matter who wins or who loses – is when the two sides line up to shake hands... when losers congratulate the winners most sincerely ‘Well-done”... “Well-deserved”... Only the real winners can do that... The grace and dignity to concede one’s defeat to the better player of the day...

Similarly, when the winners pat on the losers’ back and say, “You did your best,”... “Better luck next time.” Yes, only the real winners can do that... The humility and magnanimity to show honor to the vanquished on the day...

So, though, like my students, I, too, had felt sad and mad, last night, today, I found myself telling them: “Look guys, in life, we all have to play to win... give our best.... and, then, be aware of the truth that ‘we win some, we lose some’... In Victory, we should be humble and magnanimous... In defeat, we should be graceful, dignified and more accepting... Strong.”

‘Winning’! It can be a huge strain we put on ourselves... Too heavy to carry... Neither necessary, nor worth it!
















Pic.: Pic.: Umang Pahwa

(After India Loses!)

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Beena Roy said…
Loved the post sir. too good... Beena Roy
Rajiv Ghatak said…
Sports without sportsmanship is no sports at all!
-- Rajiv
Anonymous said…
An eye-opener!!!! Sheeba

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