An Iyappa devotee offers to be a driver on a wanted guy's family trip. Only a little time back was there the reported incident of a driver losing it while the occupant escaped unhurt. But as with all journeys, there are bumps here and there and things don't go as planned. A Santro car with Check Mate written over it is seen on the way and the driver becomes jittery, more so because he is on austerity. He has only agreed to help because this was an important emergency. The family however has no idea of why the driver is polite at one moment and irritated in the next. When confusion gets coupled with indifference, hunger and apathy, he threatens to leave the trip half-way through. The guy knows that this is just a threat and tries to reconcile the two. Somehow they all manage and on the return journey, when the guy is alone with the driver, he tells him that even though the family doesn't appreciate him, he appreciates what he is trying to do. There is a just the briefest twinkle of understanding in the driver's face and he says that even though people like him look rude, they will even give up their lives if necessary for a cause. He mentions that if the journey could be successfully completed this time, others will not be a problem in future. With some maneuvering, he manages to get back the family to safety taking with him some souvenir of the trip so that his own case doesn't get blocked. A thank you note awaits for which the guy wants to give Rs.10 thinking it to be a request for charity, oblivious of the fact that a network was busted because of the trip. Some weeks later, Iyappa devotees clash in the street and a couple are dead.
Recently, in the build-up towards the Cricket World Cup, an idea somehow originated in someone's mind that Team India should play win the cup for Sachin Tendulkar because this was going to be his last world cup. In India, all things are possible and so this type of strange question was also caught up and put up for discussion by the media. Some people did support the idea but when it was put before Kapil Dev, the former Indian Cricket 1983 World Cup winning captain, he thundered that the world cup was equally important to everyone including him, you and me as much as it did to Sachin. Later, Steve Waugh, another World Cup winning Australian captain said the same thing, though in a milder way. It's good that the issue got clarified because the motivation to win is a very strong factor in a game and when one identifies a wrong motivation, the strength goes down. How Sachin masters his game is his fun but cricket, is a team sport and hence he has to tailor his game to his team's success and cannot expect the team to be tailor-made for him. If he doesn't like this, he can take up tennis or chess where there is individual glory. While the media was making all this fanfare, Sachin must be wondering why all this fuss because he was no longer the arrogant one he was some years back. But that is karma to you and so he is just reaping whatever image he had created. A fallout of this media hype is that it has affected the team spirit. Already on the tour of South Africa, Dhoni made a very stupid statement that Sachin is not as important as the media has portrayed him to be. While this is partially true, it is also true that Sachin is the anchor of the team who took up all the sledgings of the Aussie bowlers while the others got their job done. Sachin's may just be a figure head and may not even be the main factor in the team's subsequent victory, but all the same, Dhoni going out in public and claiming that the team can mange on it's own without Sachin's help will make Sachin wonder why he should play for a team that doesn't acknowledge him while many fans do so. Whether Sachin thinks this way or not, he should know that every extra year he is given as being part of the Indian team automatically preempts another person from enjoying that position. There are those who play so hard from their young days in the dream of one day being part of the 11 in the country's team of a billion people. Many of them just keep dropping out in division 5, division 4...division 1, Ranji Trophy etc. And even there are those who land up in a team only to be as a back-up. When such aspirations get killed, some of these players commit suicide. So it is left to Sachin's conscience whether he plays for himself or for the team. But I also wonder why Virat Kohli has already signed two commercials before the world cup. No wonder he has played some fantastic games and a little incentive can boost his self-confidence but looks like the relatives of players want to encash whatever investment they have made raising him up. It's also a prestige issue to be the most valued player commercially because it is supposed to reflect their attraction of the masses. But I will rate a Steve Waugh who raised money for the poor Indians any time higher than Sachin or Dhoni.
I'm not really Putin supporter as much as some people are in the old forum. Russia is greater than Putin, the world is greater than Russia and the universe is still greater than the world. But this doesn't mean that one should not take a stand on the right side at that moment in history because that is allowing evil to flourish. So puny things like you, me and including Putin must have the discriminating power to know our loyalties. It's not without reason that one is born in a certain country or holds a particular belief or lives a certain life-style or is a relative of a particular person because all these things are chosen by one in the past. But it is equally important to outgrow any limiting groups since people are always evolving and are not the same all the time at all the places. Ananya Bhakthi (exclusive devotion) is knowing where to be devoted to and by developing the skill of placing the devotion at the right place at the right time, one eventually finds that one can be devoted to everyone at all the places at all the times.
If there is one quality necessary for a leader, it's sensitivity. Mohammad Bin Tuqlaq is still being mocked at and being blamed for changing the capital of the Mughal Empire on a whim between Delhi and Hyderabad. The same people however didn't find so when Mahatma Gandhi stopped a planned uprising rally against the British Raj because there was an internal fighting among the Hindus and the Muslims. Leaders aren't chosen for their charisma or intelligence or eloquence etc. The mass chooses the one whom they can identify with and whose aspirations are the same as theirs. Amitabh Bachan, considered the numero uno of Bollywood, was adored because he was the angry young man in the movies who fought for justice. So Indians forgave a lot of his faults like unusual height, bony physique, coarse voice etc. People even started liking these things in him and saw the negative as positive. But then today, what is he? I have not seen him acting in any movies as a poor man but most of his movies are shot in exquisite locations around the world. He makes money out of commercials but this only cheats his fans into buying products that he wouldn't himself buy. Just an appearance in "Kaun Banega Crorepathi", makes him a Crorepathi whether this makes the contestant one or if the audience becomes any wiser watching the show. I do not say that he is bad or anything...he is a lot better than a majority of Bollywood people and this is why he has a lot of followers in the north like Rajinikanth in Tamil Nadu. A Prime Minister's or President's job is not very difficult once in power as much as when canvassing for votes because they are given a simple list of responsibilities in which they get aid from the experts. When the country spends billions of rupees or dollars or whatever in security, a little devotion to just their duty goes a long way in justifying as well as appreciating the efforts of the many. And once the ball is set rolling, even re-election isn't much of an effort if he or she desires to contest because the work will speak for itself. The great secret in constructive change is the understanding that a single piece of good work not only results in a good result but also strengthens the tendency to do it more effortless the next time, eventually leading to absolute effortlessness in doing good. This is very important to understand because without the job getting easier and finally effortless, there will be no motivation in just keep getting back always as a return the same amount of energy one has invested. People explain Karma Yoga in many ways that are all true and to me, this is Karma Yoga.
Positions keep changing in a team but membership always remains and so it is critical which identity one chooses. And when the team is understood as the universe, there is eternal tranquility.
