Team India

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

This famous quote from Alan Cohen exemplifies the experiments and methods, tried out by Greg Chappell in the 20 months of his existence as the Coach for Team India. The more I read about the so called lunacies of Chappell - as mentioned in numerous Cric-sites, channels et al, the more I am convinced that here is a man who dared to think radically or rather tangentially in a nation which thrives on cliches and road often used. Behind the veil of culture and traditions we tend to hide our inability to be creative or being courageous to try the road untravelled. Here was a man who has been branded all sorts of adjectives, which in Websters or any thesaurus means a plain blank lunatic, for being unconventional, or Un-Indian by being a straight talker. Maybe Chappell would be history w.r.to Indian Cricket post the World Cup, but to me he has done enough to germinate the thought in many minds that Cricket can be developed in this country only if we are creative and not conventional.

Hey, I am not here to advocate for Greg Chappell, he doesnt need that. Neither am I here to publish a report card on his behalf, I am too lesser a mortal for doing such a thing. What I am contemplating on is - What is it that raises the blood pressure of the so called pundits of the game in this country, at the mention of the name Chappell?

To underline a few points:
1. He chose to do the unthinkable - not once but twice. Once, when he suggested to Saurav Ganguly to step down as a Captain and Second, when he sent a mail, a stratght forward dossier on Ganguly's lack of seriousness towards the job at hand to the Board. The fact that the mail leaked is not a coincidence but a well thought out Political stunt which is so Indian. The thought that we could not digest an outsider asking for the head of our captain is another testimony to the Indianness. This is evident in every walk of life - Politics, Corporate Sector, Other sports, Films etc. Our heroes should never be touched by outsiders, we can create riots for that reason.
2. He chose to be unconventional - courtesy his numerous experiments. On this count the so called cricketing greats of yesteryears too lost sleep. But we never understand that cricket today is all about being unpredictable, being able to out think the opposition and being versatile. Hmm...arent we talking stuff which is so UnIndian? No wonder, he got pasted when Team India lost.
3. He preferred youngsters - cmon, at the cost of some heavy weights? How dare you?
4. He showed finger at us - Oooooh...so un"cultured". But the so called TV channels never dared or bothered to turn the cameras or rather the volumes of their microphones towards the crowd which instigated that. The expletives used by the waiting population deserved far more alarming response from a man from down under.

No, I am not trying to give Chappell a clean chit. I am trying to advocate a point that do we understand the term "Professional" or the much elaborate term "Professionalism". We lack it in every walk of life. We go out every morning to be one but end up being a fat egoistic, diplomatic, bureaucratic, closed minded slob. Thats what India today is all about. We cannot cope with professional tough talking, meaning-business set up. We want to talk, reason out, dekhenge-karenge attitude. Thats where we are good at. So Greg Chappell is just a represetative of all those professionals who intend to take up a job of reforming set ups in India but will always be branded a lunatic, uncultured hag who cannot understand Indian Traditiona and Psyche...my foot!!!

What is the realistic time needed to cleanse the present Indian Cricket setup? 4 years or may be 5 or even a decade!!! and How much time do we give to Chappell? Well, 20 months or so. He tries to find the most gutfilled cricketers by posing variety od situations to each one of them, throws some stagnant minded cricketers at the right time for them to come out of their mental cobwebs at the right time to be ready for the real test.

But these are all cock and bull for us. We had tried our hands at having a foreign mind in other sports too, meeting the same fate. One exception being John Wright, who was blessed with a relatively long tenure and a situation where trying new blood was the only alternative as half the team was banned for match fixing.

Chappell is not the issue. Our stale cliched Indianness is. We need to be more creative and professional in the real sense of these words. We can go on ranting about our culture etc. but then didnt our history and culture throw up tell tales of die hard professionalism. We have to get away from this given up fram of mind, that we Indians are the people with brains and not muscles ....bull shit.

Unless we can adapt to change or be thorough professional in our profession or be open to criticism to act on them and improve, look at ourselves in the mirror and accept that we need to come out of our mediocre cells we are not going anywhere. Our failure at winning internationally in any context stems from this clogged mind rather than our culture or work ethic or body composition etc.

Monsters of Inferiority

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission” and I agree because I have lived it.

I was born in a family where it was a matter of fact, being talented. My father, a government employee by profession, had talents of being a good orator, had excellent command on languages like English and Bengali to the extent that he used to read, write and discuss literary works, being an accomplished playwright, an ardent poet and a voracious reader. My mother, a homemaker, has expertise in Drawing, Painting, Handicrafts, Singing apart from being an accomplished cook. My brother, who is 6 years elder to me, used to be a competent Cricketer (which he gave up in due course), is a voracious reader, a very versatile actor, a columnist and is actively participating in Debates. And all three of them had excellent handwriting.

So I was born, under some huge shadows of highly talented individuals at home. And it took no time for anyone to realize who the black sheep was in the family - I wasn’t good in any language, I was miles away from anything remotely similar to the act of reading, I used to play cricket but loved to play it in an unorthodox manner, so no question of being a master at that, I was acting in plays but got the roles of a tree, a mountain, a king who was mute etc etc. Outside home in my friend circle I was prominent; I did accomplish a few negligible feats like winning a debate competition occasionally, winning a quiz competition once, being the school captain for a couple of years, being a compere in a school orchestra and at home each of these feats generated a lot of surprise as if they were never expected of me. I had grades that only I could have been proud of because I was aware the Herculean effort I put to get them, for others it was just about average.

Now, I did not have a lonely ridiculed or troubled childhood, as it may come across. On the contrary I had a wonderful childhood amidst loving parents and a very caring brother, but even though it was never made clear, I could get the feeling that I wasn’t as good as anyone else at home. …..Or maybe that’s what I told myself. I didn’t worry too much about it though. It was just there in the back of my mind.

And then one fine day my worst fears came true. I was out of the comfort zone of my home, my parents and had to go to a newer and bigger city for my college. I had to meet strangers who spoke in a strange language i.e. English and that too with amazing fluency. They even cracked jokes in English!!! They saw English movies and listened to English songs. It was a completely utopian planet for me. I found myself to be the most lost alien in this planet. I was increasingly quiet during friendly conversations; in fact I never initiated conversations because of the fear of using wrong language with people. I never spoke in a group because I didn’t know anything about western music (which was the most common topic of engagement) or MTV or Star TV and M.A.S.H. To top it I started finding newer avenues of making myself feel like a misfit, like I didn’t have a great dress sense, I didn’t have a hip hairstyle, I didn’t have a good pair jeans and all these emotions made me increasingly silent and clumsy and most importantly severely under confident. And it never got easier. I went for movies – English ones, and didn’t understand a word and could never participate in the post movie analysis. I had to even chicken out of a date (can you believe it) because I got scared. All in all, I had myself in a hole and I was making it bigger and deeper by the day.

Dramatic it may sound, but its true, that I do not recollect my college days with any fondness or nostalgia. When I completed college I had grown down rather than growing up. And it took a humiliating experience for me to realize that I was not going anywhere. I went to Mumbai for attending the Group Discussion and Personal Interview for getting admission for MBA in one of the reputed colleges. And in the Group Discussion I just kept quite, because I was scared. All my fears were in full splendor. I got completely bottled up and finally (as if this wasn’t enough) I was asked to leave the room. I knew it was all over.

During my journey back from Mumbai, in the train I did some thinking. I realized that the reason I was in this state because I had let myself into it, in fact I had forced myself into it. No one had ever told me anything derogatory like I was clumsy, or I was bad or I was incompetent, it was me who did that continuously to myself.

I knew I had to change.

I got into my first job. This was in year 1993 and without being bothered about being right or wrong I started speaking. It was a sales job, and I had no option but to speak. My bread and butter depended on it. And I tried hard. It was painful, to think in Hindi and speak in English. But I kept at. Closed myself in a room and kept giving fictitious interviews as if I am the Indian Cricket Captain, or I am the next Bollywood Superstar, I even tried being an Oscar recipient once. Thankfully I met some great people on the way who would go onto become some of the best friends of my life, who made me realize that I am extremely talented - That I am a very gifted singer, I have a good voice, have a good sense of humor, I can mimic people, I am creative, I write well, I have a good taste for music, and I cook well. I realized how much I have, yet I was ignoring. All of a sudden I realized I wasn’t a loser after all, it’s just that my perspective was flawed.

Today, I train hundreds of people in English. Have worked for close to 14 years and have been a winner as Sales, Marketing, Strategy and Training professional. I see English movies, without subtitles and understand western music from Beethoven to Bon Jovi. I read literary works which are as abstract as Occult and as normal as Frederick Forsyth. I talk to people without any hiccups, in fact the impression people get is that I am a complete extrovert. I paint, design, make PowerPoints (have been awarded internationally for that), act (both in theatre and movies), write (blogs, columns, am even trying my hand at writing a book), do calligraphy and of course I don’t chicken out of dates anymore, though they are only with the most precious person of my life, my wife, who everyday makes me feel proud of myself the way I am.

Today the monsters have gone. They have been put to rest. But I thank them that they were there, so that I recognize them well. I can see them in other people and that today enables me to walk upto these people and say “Hey, no monster can make you feel inferior, without your permission!!!!”