adityakrishna's Xombytes

If there is one reason why cricket has acquired such a great popularity in India over the past decade since 1996, then it is nothing but the collective exploits of the big five of Indian cricket, namely Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and V.V.S.Laxman. Time is such a cruel thing that, it is going to end the careers of all these great men over the next three years, as these cricketing warriors have entered into the twilight of their careers with all of them crossing the age of 33, where, the careers of the peerless Gundappa Vishvanath, the stylish Sanjay Manjrekar and the resolute Ravi Shastri ended. Having grown with these cricketers, for most of the Indian fans, whose average age is 35 years, it is certainly very difficult to fathom that the careers of these cricketers are going to end sooner than later. If one goes down the memory lane, here are some nostalgic moments of each of these cricketers and the lesson to be learnt by the common man from their attitude to cricket.

Aravind was a 38 year old father of two sons aged 15 and 12 and working in a financial services organization. His wife, Pramila, was a lecturer in a local Government college. He had no problems or issues to be resolved and life was moving on smoothly for him. His daily routine included waking up late in the morning and getting ready to go to the office very lazily. That ate up most of his mornings but once into the office; he was a real thunder and lightening in finishing off his jobs as he had an amazing knowledge and grip over his job. He was a good chess and Carom player and spent his evenings by relaxing with these two games. His wife was very co-operative and allowed him to pursue his interests .Every thing was in place for a peaceful life for him and then at that particular juncture a 34 year old Pratibha joined into his office upon transfer from a different place.

From times immemorial, man has been toiling hard to improve the living conditions. Up to the late fifteenth century mankind was under the grip of deaths due to disease, war, famine and pestilence. However, the mortality among the high and middle class people was not that alarming. So Scientists, Scholars, Philosophers, Kings, nobles and businessmen were said to have lived long due to their obvious better living conditions and thus were able to contribute significantly to the improvements in the social conditions but as history reveals, the life of majority, that is, the people who toiled hard to make the lives of others comfortable, was miserable. Over the years, scientists researched and invented medicines to overcome death due to dangerous diseases like Small- pox, Cholera, Plague and finally eradicated them from the face of earth. Thus Man looked at LIFE as Look Internally and Forward Externally.

There is a famous proverb that “there is a woman behind the success of every man”. What does this mean? In simple terms it means that to achieve any goal what one requires is a good and selfless subordinate. Successful people pick their parents, better-half, fiancée, lover and so on as the reason for their success. Given below are some examples (both from History as well as mythology) where people achieved stupendous success because of the role played by selfless subordinates-

Any sportsman will have his share of ups and downs in his career and some just fade away into oblivion after facing a drop in form. This feature is more prominent in cricket, where one needs to concentrate on the game for much longer duration (than in any other sport) during the course of the match. Now-a-days, we label Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag as the great come back men of Indian cricket as these cricketers have resurrected their careers with wonderful performances against the Aussies down under in the recently concluded test series. However there were cricketers in the recent past who, not only made valiant come backs but also played a calm and significant role in javelining the Indian cricket to the present dizzy heights. Given below is a brief description of one such cricketer.

Prakash was retired defense service personnel who worked as an Airman. He retired at the age of 33 after serving a fifteen year bond. While in service; he pursued his academic interests and completed A.M.I.E. degree and developed software skills also. Thus he could land in Software Company immediately after his retirement. While in service, his daily routine included going to the office and staying back in his quarter after the office hours. He never ventured out and had no one to visit. Thus he remained aloof. In a way he did not know much of the world outside. Therefore he did not get married and did not feel the urge also.

It is now an established fact that the average age of the population in India is 35 years and now-a-days, due to several reasons like acquiring a minimum guarantee in life due to changes in economic situation and the job opportunities, most males and females do not prefer to get married until they crossed 30 years of age. The situation up to early nineties was a bit different. There were jobs in the offing in the Public sector undertakings and Government and marriages in the age group of 28-30 years were considered to be late marriages.

India is a vast country where plenty of land is available for different uses. For a long time up to the independence and a short while later, the country depended on agriculture to earn its livelihood and it occupied the major chunk of the Gross national Income. Ever since independence, the founding fathers laid stress on Industrialization and automation of various jobs in order to lessen and divert the burden on agriculture and to generate employment opportunities to various sections of the population in rural and Urban India. The quantity of land available for sale was quite less, as people did not prefer to sell land even in their worst situations partly because they perceived it to be a goddess and thus had a sentimental attachment towards it and partly because they had practical approach to life with a feeling that their life depended on the possession of land. This was the situation until the advent of Software boom in the year 2000.

Every child in the eight to fourteen age groups develops a passion towards sports, arts, movies or some other hobbies. So it is important for parents to monitor closely their child’s interests and to see that they do not turn into obsessions and thus damage their academic careers. Now-a- days viewing of cricket matches continuously on the Television and watching movies in the theatres is the single-most significant reason for a child’s drop in grade in the exams.

Ever since the famed Indian middle order started showing signs of ageing and wear and tear, Indian cricket team required for some one to take up the responsibility of not only shielding them but also to slap the opponents’ bowling attack right from the word Go .It is really fortunate that Indian cricket could unearth a cricketer of the caliber of Virender Sehwag, who can not only make the best bowlers look ordinary but also blunt the attack for long duration and at a blistering pace.