ABBA OR BOXING












Pic. Vimal Tulsiani


“Gold medals aren't really made of gold.
They're made of sweat, determination,
and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”
In the latest Bollywood movie, Mary Kom, there is this scene... Mary Kom has just won the State boxing-championship and is home with her Gold. But, her father - who has been against his daughter’s pursuit of Boxing, now realizing that she has secretly gone about it against his wish - is so upset, hurt and angry, that, he storms into the room, picks her precious possessions, her boxing gloves, and hurls them into the burning fire! And, as a shell-shocked Mary Kom and her mother stare at the smoke, the father roars: “You have to make your choice, and make it right now - Abba or Boxing”...
Mary is speechless...
“Abba or Boxing,” the father thunders, once again...
“Boxing,” Mary declares!
I can feel the lump in my throat as my heart gasps for breath! I can, clearly, sense that in the darkness of the entire theatre, too!
Mary Kom’s father, despite being a wrestler himself, doesn't’ want his eldest daughter to get into boxing. “It is a manly sport... It is brutal... It wouldn't take you anywhere,” argues the father with his daughter, who is simply obsessed with the blood-and-sweat sport... “It is what I am naturally inclined to do in life,” she pleads with her father, “I believe I can be a champ.”
Mary’s choice – between her father and her passion, Boxing – is the most decisive moment in her life. She loves and respects her father; she believes, deeply in her heart, that, her dad’s objection stemps from his fatherly love, concern and fear for his daughter and not from anything else... She believes, that, if she remained committed, focused and proves her mettle in her field, her father would, one day, feel proud of her and relent...
And, that’s exactly what happens, as Mary Kom goes about winning one championship after another...
Yes, the father comes around...
Yes, the daughter’s choice is the right choice... It has not gone in smoke!
I am a great advocate of the Life-principle – ‘Follow your heart’. For, that’s the easiest way, for all of us, to find the required motivation to succeed in life. 

If you do what you love, nobody needs to motivate you... Nobody needs to remind you, coax you, even support you... I have been telling this to young-ones, for years... “If you are clear about what you want to do in life, your parents do not interfere in your choice. The clearer and more determined you are, the lesser they oppose.” I add, “They interfere only out of their parental concern and fear... You need to be absolutely clear and firm to melt away their resistance to your choice.”
So, when I watched this scene - ‘Abba or Boxing’- in the movie, ‘Mary Kom’, I felt a lot relieved... I wished, very, very deeply in my heart, that every parent and every son and daughter should watch this film... Yes, if not for the sake of gritty Mary Kom or amazing Priyanka Chopra, for one’s own sake, at least...
Yes, to me, Mary Kom - the movie or the woman – is not about the boxing!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Sanil Kumar said…
God bless you sir!
.. Sanil Kumar

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

"WE CHOOSE OUR JOYS AND SORROWS LONG BEFORE WE EXPERIENCE THEM."

WHEN A BIRD IS ALIVE, IT EATS ANTS... WHEN THE BIRD DIES, ANTS EAT THE BIRD

THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...