TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT 'GOAT' MEANS
“I am more worried
about being a good person
than being the best
football player in the world.”
You see, in my life, I haven’t played any
sport, either outdoor or indoor. Basically, it was due to my excessive shy
nature and low self-esteem in my growing-up years. I began to get hold my
myself much later in life... Yes, I bloomed late in my life.
By ‘blooming’, I mean becoming fairly successful in your
chosen field. If teaching, writing, training, mentoring are what my ‘fields’
are, yes, I had begun to bloom in these fields – in these gardens – only after I
crossed my teenage years.
Thus, I was simply bad at sports, elocution, acting,
singing and many such conventional fields.
Later in my life, I developed interest in sports, music
etc. But, my interest was confined to watching some select sports, listening to
some select music – I never attempted to play, sing, act etc. Like most around
me, I, too, began to idolize some heroes from the fields of sports, music,
movies etc. I remember my obsession with Pele and Maradona from football, Muhammad
Ali from heavyweight boxing, Marlon Brando, Elezabeth Tailor, Al Pacino from
Hollywood movies, Elvis Presly, Engelbert, Cliff Richard, Tom Jones from
singing... Here, our own Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore
Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, M.S. Dhoni and
Virat Kohli, and so on...
I had heroes from tennis to wrestling, from writing to
comedy – yes, like most around me.
I picked up the meaning of some expressions very late in
my life. Mostly, I had to ask a young boy or a girl to know their meaning...
One such expression was ‘GOAT’...
Once, in our Public Speaking session, when an eight-year-old
girl was speaking on stage about her most favourite sports hero, she said Cristiano
Ronaldo from Spain. “He is the GOAT,” this girl declared from the stage, with
incredible emphasis.
“He is what?” I asked instinctively.
“Sir, ‘GOAT’ meaning – THE GRESTEST OF ALL TIME,” the
packed class answered in a spontaneous chorus.
I immediately realized, that I was the lonely member of
the species, who still lived under the rock!
But, then, it was a debate... There were equal number of
young kids, who disagreed with this young girl, and countered, “Messi is the
GOAT.”
The young kids had introduced me to the expression ‘GOAT’...
I decided to introduce them to Muhammad Ali...
Many kids knew who Ali was, and many kids didn’t. I told
them about this colourful Heavyweight Boxing Champion... How loud he could be,
often, calling himself – ‘I am the Greatest’...
No doubt, Ali was the greatest in many boxing bouts; but,
in many other bouts, he was a sorry sight to behold. He had converted himself to Islam
and become more mellowed, mature and reflective towards the later years of his
life. Once, when someone asked him, if he still called himself ‘The Greatest’,
Ali said, “I am not the Greatest... Allah is.”
So much for our hosanna cries on calling our heroes – ‘GOATs’
... the Greatest Of All Time...
As Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer star, is
touring India on his GOAT tour, I can’t stop my heart from smiling... Even when
he is almost retired, Messi continues to amass loads of money... because, many
in this world still believe, and argue, that he is ‘The Greatest Of All Time’...
Just the way many of us had believed, and argued, that
Pele, Maradona were once, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino were once, Muhammad Ali
and Mohammed Rafi were once... Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were once... Amitabh
Bachchan, or any tall personality still is...
And, here, I am still smiling. I can still hear the words
the ‘Great’ Ali had cautioned the world with:
“It isn’t the
mountain ahead to climb
that wears you out,
it’s the pebble in your shoes.”
Pic’s: 1. wallpapercave.com 2.
Video: Messi Magic
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