THE MANIAC AND THE ANGEL





Pic.: Pradeep Nanda

Toughness and softness are two extreme worlds… So are anger and compassion… Sinfulness and grace. It is just like this world – the globe. If we see this on a flat world- atlas, we come out with the conclusion, that Japan is on one end of the world, the extreme East… and America is on the other end of the world, the extreme West… But, then, when we fold the same world-map and view it as a globe, we can’t believe our own eyes… “Hey, Japan is at America’s backyard!”

If someone told me when I am angry, violently angry, “Friend, you are inches away from compassion, grace, God,” would I buy that logic?

I would, I would!

To me, my anger is something already there inside me… I do not have to put it inside… And, every time the lid bows off… the maniac in me, the monster, comes out… that’s, also, the time, my heart melts the most, knees bend the most… God and grace make sense the most!


I have never watched a single episode of the WWE bouts….the Wrestlemania. “That’s for ‘kids’,” I would conclude. Or, “They are simply stage-managed.” Surprisingly, I do not remember even my son ever wanting to watch it as a little kid. Never even by default!

But, then, just this morning, I was glued to the story of one of the biggest fans of Wrestle mania… Connor Michelek, self nicknamed ‘The Stone Crusher’! Connor adored Daniel Bryan, the Super Wresting hero…

Connor died of Pediatric Bryan Cancer on April 25, 2014, after fighting bravely the terminal disease for four years. He was barely 9. Two years before he succumbed to cancer, when he was 7, the WWE officials and all the great Wresting heroes came forward to bring a smile on little Connor’s face when it was needed the most. They brought the little one to the stadium to meet all his favorites, particularly Daniel Bryan… They placed a robe around the little champ, brought him inside the ring… and got him ‘crush’ the dangerous Triple H!

Two years later, on April 6, 2014, as Daniel Bryan went on to win the crown of World Championship, little Connor watched, from the audience, the great moment along with his dad. As a fitting finale, the freshly crowned Wresting Champ, got off the ring and hugged his die-hard fan. “Connor, you mean a lot to me… You gave me a lot of strength… You helped me win this. Please keep on fighting!” These were the final words of the tough man – the wrestling maniac - while hugging the softest fan of his… The Wresting maniac, probably, had given two more years to little Connor to live on – like a true champ!
.



What if someone told me, “Friend, that, too, is stage-managed?” Or, “That’s kids’ stuff’?

What if someone told me, that there is a maniac in me alongside an angel, too?


GERLAD D’CUNHA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...