Friday, November 4, 2011
Ah, okay. Hmm.
This was all I managed when I learnt of Pataudi's passing in September. I didn't feel any pangs and was almost sure the man had had a full life.
Yet, I felt pretty low when the eulogies started pouring in.
I felt sad for not having learnt enough about an incredibly talented sportsman and an inspirational human being.
I was irritated with the media for not bringing to life pages from days gone by. At a time when most youth icons are morally bankrupt and staggeringly mediocre, when we latch onto anyone with a faint shimmer of talent, we could do well with revisiting our past and learning about men who have reshaped the sport(s) we worship.
While I love what Dhoni does and what Ganguly did for Indian cricket, I am equally keen to understand and appreciate the long forgotten, albeit, equally or more talented sportsmen cricket and other games have produced in India. There is much the lives of these men and women will teach us, if we are willing to spend time and dig.
Their stories need to be re-told so we learn that the human spirit is capable of achieving a lot more than what it settles for. And that cricket has been a lot more than its glamourous, media crazy avataar today.
I am embarrassed I mostly knew Pataudi as Saif Ali Khan's father. And I think most others of my generation won't fare any better.
What a loss.
This was all I managed when I learnt of Pataudi's passing in September. I didn't feel any pangs and was almost sure the man had had a full life.
Image courtesy : Sulekha
Yet, I felt pretty low when the eulogies started pouring in.
I felt sad for not having learnt enough about an incredibly talented sportsman and an inspirational human being.
I was irritated with the media for not bringing to life pages from days gone by. At a time when most youth icons are morally bankrupt and staggeringly mediocre, when we latch onto anyone with a faint shimmer of talent, we could do well with revisiting our past and learning about men who have reshaped the sport(s) we worship.
While I love what Dhoni does and what Ganguly did for Indian cricket, I am equally keen to understand and appreciate the long forgotten, albeit, equally or more talented sportsmen cricket and other games have produced in India. There is much the lives of these men and women will teach us, if we are willing to spend time and dig.
Their stories need to be re-told so we learn that the human spirit is capable of achieving a lot more than what it settles for. And that cricket has been a lot more than its glamourous, media crazy avataar today.
I am embarrassed I mostly knew Pataudi as Saif Ali Khan's father. And I think most others of my generation won't fare any better.
What a loss.
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