I have heard one humorously saying that communication these days is wireless, leaders are shameless, youngsters are jobless, relationships are meaningless and many kids are fatherless. Earlier, windows meant openings on the wall or roof, crop meant large scale cultivation of cereal, fruit, or vegetable and play meant some recreational activities. Now the meanings have changed and changes continue. To be frank, the nature of gossiping also has changed remarkably.
But, have we changed? Never, except some alterations in dictating justice to oneself. By doing justice, I mean utilisation of all available chances in favour. A journalist in Bangalore was in a hurry to leave the pub after a few sips. It was then that he noticed a familiar face in one corner of the bar room looking sad and withdrawn. He could not easily recollect the face, though the man appeared close. He walked to him and found that it was Sadanand Viswanath, India’s favourite cricketer. This batsman – wicket keeper, affectionately called Vishi, was mostly responsible for India’s World cup in 1985. But he had disappeared after just 22 One days and 3 Tests. According to Sunil Gawasker, he was a ‘one day storm’. Opponents really feared this power man behind the stumps.
The journalist sat there at the table, facing Vishi. It seemed that Vishi also was happy to have seen somebody whom he also knew. He shared all his stories from father’s suicide to mother’s death by stroke and from his failed love life to all tribulations he had to submit to. The journalist heard him in full. But before leaving the table, he asked Vishi a question.
“Do you think that you have been true to yourself?” After a few years, when the journalist met Vishi again, Vishi was in the uniform of a cricket coach. The journalist was there in Chinnaswamy Stadium to cover a test match. His question had changed Vishi. Vishi told the journalist, “Not sure that I could be hundred percent true to myself. But I have stopped drinking!”
By the time Vishi had become a first-class umpire, managing a private coaching academy. He could retrieve his old enthusiasm, that is something which money can’t buy.
There is the story of a small bird in the court of Vikramaditya, which asked the wise men there what loss was. It was Kalidasa who finally gave an acceptable answer. He said, “Loss actually is that not given.” Enthusiasm also is more or less like this – will be lost if not used properly. In an enthusiastic move, nobody looks back to evaluate the past. Many of us are like the turtle, which lived suspecting others.
A turtle family set off for a long tour. Parents, grandparents, children, in – laws all were there in the tour team. They had also taken their food kits along with. After a month, they found a comfortable place to relax. They also decided to eat something. It was then that they noticed that they had not packed salt. Somebody had to go back to bring salt. At last, the youngest was assigned to go back for the salt. But he had a condition that none of them shall eat before he comes back. Everybody agreed to this and the young turtle started off. One month, two months, three months, the young turtle didn’t come back. The oldest turtle announced that it cannot hold its hunger anymore and it was going to eat something.
The moment it announced this, a head was seen behind a boulder close by. The young turtle had not gone for the salt. It was hiding there to confirm nobody was violating the given promise.
