AMAN KI ASHA




“Don’t’ be pushed around by the fears in your mind. 

Be led by the dreams in your heart.”

Roy T. Bennet

 

I have not been following the ongoing (Cricket) World-Cup matches. The occasional updates have been coming from here and there, like from ardent cricket buffs, such as my son or some of my students… and, sometimes, even from random cricket buffs, like an Uber driver…

However, the maximum updates, during this World-Cup edition, has been coming to me from my student, Aman (First year Banking & Insurance). His father is a sports journalist, who gets to attend matches at every venue; and, here, our Aman gets to know some finer nuances of the game…

Last afternoon, Aman was excited to tell me about the unveiling of Sachin Tendulkar’s statue at the Wankhede Stadium. I learnt from him, that the ceremony was held the day before...

“Was your Dad there to cover it?” I asked Aman…

“Yes,” Aman said proudly…

“Are you a Sachin fan?” I asked…

“Yes,” came the fastest and the shortest reply from Aman, who is a master-blaster of mono-syllables! He is, also, a master in the game of ‘speak-first-and-think-later’. I ask him a question, and phut comes his answer… For example: if I ask him, “How much is 1,05,000 minus 55,000?”, Aman looks at me confidently and tells me, without even blinking – “9,50,000.” …  And, that’s according to his calculator… not his mind!

By now, you must have realized, that Aman is not alone in such difficulties, in what we call – doing the ‘basic calculations’. We know how the Master Blaster himself could not do it inside the classroom; but, could do what he did… through his blazing bat, outside in the ground!





For me, Sachin Tendulkar’s records are irrelevant… They are already getting broken, and many others will be broken, soon. His ‘Bharat Ratna’, our country’s Highest Civilian Honour, too, is irreverent for me… The Statue that is erected at Wankhede – it has no significance for me, either…

What is relevant for me is the fact, that this simple boy from a colony in Bandra East, who wasn’t good inside the classroom, could find his way to the shining stars… What is relevant for me are his 23 missed-centuries, 3 of them at 99 in a single year… What is, also, relevant for me are those thirteen one-rupee coins that he had bagged - his 'most-prized possessions’, by his own admission… (The story goes like this: Achrekar Sir, Sachin’s initial coach, would place a one-rupee coin on the middle stump and encourage the bowlers to bowl him out… If they did, they would bag the coin; if they failed, Sachin would take it home… He took home thirteen of them!)





There is something, every Sachin and every Aman can do brilliantly in life, no matter how ‘poor’ the world thinks they are – yes, inside their classrooms…

I call it ‘Aman ki Asha’ – the hope of every Aman, and every Sachin.

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s.: 1. www.merepix.com 2. Getty Images

Video: Laureus

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