LET NOT THE WINNER TAKE IT ALL
"When
you win, say nothing;
when
you lose, say less.”
Paul
Brown
Some
days ago, when India staged an unbelievable win at The Gabba, Brisbane and
clinched the latest Border-Gavaskar Test Series, the high that we all received seemed
perfectly reasonable. After all, we had achieved the unthinkable – with a bunch
of inexperienced and untested boys. Just think of it: In the first Test, our ‘formidable’
squad had crashed at 36, the lowest in our Test-matches history. And, here we were,
on the last day of the last Test-match: Clinching a series, thanks to the boys
who were supposed to be ‘extras’!
Moral of the
story?
Nobody remembers
the humiliating defeat of our ‘formidable side’ just weeks ago… Everyone
remembers only the sweet victory…
All is well that
ends well…
Yes, winner
takes it all!
That day, when
we won at the Gabba grounds, I was teaching online, my room-door closed. But,
even with door closed, I could hear my 28-year-old son screaming, clapping, whistling
and jumping as our young boys were inching close to victory. When, finally,
they did – and all hell broke loose - I
came out to see (class, by then, was over!), what was going on… My 86-year-old
father-in-law, too, seemed ecstatic… My son briefed me on the heroism… as if it
was the bravest thing he had ever witnessed in life.
I stood there, in
the hall-room, for a while, listening to my son’s commentary and watching the
victory-lap… I, too, felt the goosebumps and, I, too, felt very, very proud.
But, within a few moments, I came back to my room, thinking in my mind, this:
“Whatever
happened to the 36-all out?”
Our
collective memory is not only too short, it is, also, too selective. When our ‘formidable
team’ had crashed for 36 just weeks ago, the nation cursed it and wanted to
parade the team on donkeys!
And now?
That’s how we,
as spectators, always, like to behave, while the Gladiators slog it out there in
the Colosseums. We are, more often, unreasonable, unfair… just merciless!
So, frankly, I
am not allowing myself to be carried away by a match-victory or a series-victory
like this one. Because, in Life – as in all games – ‘some we win, some we lose’…
Ojingiri Hannah says:
“If
you think Life is all about winning and losing,
then
you refuse the knowledge to learn.”
Is England the
next Colosseum?
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic’s.: Getty Images
Videos: 1. cricket.com.au 3. Shaun O'Hagan 2 & 4. SceneScreen
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