MAY WHAT HAPPENED IN SYDNEY, TODAY, REMAIN IN SYDNEY

Pic.: Chetna Shetty

In one of THE DAWN CLUB debating sessions, the topic was cricket craze. A young boy blasted, without quoting George Bernard Shaw, “A famous man had said, cricket is a game played by eleven fools and watched by eleven-thousand fools.”

“Whoever had said that,” thundered another young-man “was the biggest fool!”

Today, like billions of ‘fools’,  all over the world, I, too, stayed at home to watch the India-Australia World Cup Semifinals. Right from the first over of Indian innings, my heart was telling me, “You fool, you should have gone to work!” After the fall of seventh wicket, I switched the TV off…

Ashwin, a 12^th-standard (ISC) cricket-fool had his last Board paper, today, at noon. At around 11, I saw his FB status. “Angry… Ind-Aus Semifinals… And I am supposed to write my last Accounts paper today!”

In the evening Ashwin called me to say that the paper was good. “Are you still angry?” I teased him.

“Not at all, sir,” Ashwin was quick, “I am happy I missed the match!”

In fact, like all my fellow-fool-beings, I did not want to miss anything. So, I watched all the pre-match analysis, assessment and predictions. I loved the way Ravi Shashtri was answering the questions. He was the ‘Director’ of the Indian squad… He had to be absolutely positive and upbeat. “That’s past,” he quipped to one of the questions when reminded about some of our past debacles against Australia, “We will leave behind the old baggage… It is a new day, a new contest.”

I do not know how Shashtri and our players are feeling now… Particularly, Virat Kohli, who had the crushing weight of a billion hopes on his shoulders. When he came back with that one run, my heart choked!

Will Kohli sleep tonight?

For fools like us, there have been countless jokes on social media… Sai Baba reminding the devotee who wanted India to win, “Beta, it is Sydney and not Shirdi.” … The joke on the tyre ad,  where the girl reminds Kohli, “Virat, I want you back in five minutes!”… The teaser, that to see that one run, Anushka had travelled all the way to Sydney…

Yes, I loved all that… Like a true fool, I have, now, put behind that match… Frankly, I am not at all feeling tensed now as I was while watching the match…

For many fools, it may not be so easy… They must be still ‘carrying’ the young-beautiful woman, even now…

Even if you know this popular Zen story, allow me to share it, here, once more…

Once, two monks were crossing a river. The water was knee-deep. A young-beautiful woman was frightened to cross the river. The older monk gently offered to help and she seemed a lot relieved of her stress.

The monk gently lifted the young woman with his hands and carried her to the other side. Once they crossed the river, he gracefully placed her on the ground… The young woman profusely thanked the monk and they continued with their journey in different directions…

Hours later, the older monk, sensing a great deal of disturbance in the younger monk, asked, “What’s weighing you down, my brother?”

“Sir, our tradition prohibits us from touching a woman,” the distressed young-monk said to his senior, “I am sorry to say this: but, you not only touched this young-and-beautiful woman, you ‘carried’ her in your arms all across the river!”

“My dear bother, I have dropped that woman hours ago and miles behind,” the older monk said to his junior with a gentle heart, “but, it seems to me, that you are still ‘carrying’ her in your mind!”

Hope, all my fellow-fools have dropped behind this young-and-beautiful Sydney-woman. Like another famous man had advised, “May what happened in Sydney, today, remain in Sydney!”

GERALD D’CUNHA