Talent dazzles, but faith sustains

The recent tragic death of the iconic footballer, Diego Maradona, is a huge loss for the sporting world. Of the many things that the great man did, the one standout attribute that is universally acknowledged, is the talent he had and displayed to the rest of us. I have been thinking about the following - what is it about talent that dazzles most of us to this degree? Why are we just awestruck when such phenomenal talent finds ways to express itself in whichever sphere it may relate to? I am not a psychologist or an expert analyst, but a few pointers come to mind. Let me start with some examples, and then illustrate my pointers.

Many of us have been dazzled by the sheer magical powers of a sportsperson displaying his or her skills in the middle of a sporting arena. Be it the famous Wimbledon final between John McEnroe vs Bjorn Borg, or the iconic Boris Becker shaking off traditions at the All England Club by diving around in Centre Court, or the magic of Sachin Tendulkar or the Sir IVA Richards on the cricket field - there are umpteen examples of how talent has dazzled us. There are more examples from other walks of life too - Harsha Bhogle (a classy cricket writer and a commentator who actually started the profession for people with non-cricketing background)), SPB (the most divine singer in the last 30 years who was not a trained singer) and so on.

Talent has a way of showing the rest of us the art of the possible. It has its own language which is unscripted and has no parallel. Talent also dazzles us because it shows us versions and expressions that are potentially not seen before, even if it is from the same field. E.g. a Gavaskar vs a Sehwag - both opening batsmen with different styles, and both effective in their own unique ways. 

The other thing about talent, is that it dazzles us with the incredible charm of seeing human ability in action. There is a lot of talent around, but it means nothing if not expressed and if not met with its counterpart i.e. Opportunity. It is only when talent is met with opportunity, can any of us even have a chance of seeing what talent can do. That is precisely where the breakdown happens and many a talent is lost to the world or is never seen. Imagine a world where sportsmen, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, people in creative arts, journalists, and many others that we have seen, had not gotten an opportunity. 

Talent clearly pushes doors open and creates ideas that were not seen before. It has a way of demanding opportunities to create new vistas. I am always reminded of the famous Indian newsmaker, Dr. Prannoy Roy, who struck such a chord when he launched world news in our TV rooms in India in 1989 - I am of course referring to the famous The World This Week on Friday nights. He was talented, and by his own admission, perhaps struggled to get an opportunity to showcase his talent. But, when the final outcome presented itself, we entered a world of 24 X 7 news channels. That is what talent can do - open frontiers that did not exist earlier.

Which leads me to another point. Talent is not restricted to the world of creative arts, sports, or such professions which lend itself to more expression than others. Talent exists everywhere and in every field. The absolute key, is for talent to chase opportunity with the faith that the marriage will sustain. Only when raw talents that are harnessed and sustained over a long periods of time, will the audiences will continue to be convinced. Expression of talent, therefore, almost needs a certain form of serenity, concentration, focus, practice and training. That is how perhaps, big names are made i.e. not just by the slew of advertisements that we see. One needs tremendous diligence behind the core talent, in order for conviction and repeated opportunities to set in. After all audiences do have short attention spans. 

One can think of so many examples where such sustained expression of one's talent has dazzled so many of u. And they are not the easiest stories, behind the flash. E.g. MS Dhoni, Viswanathan Anand, A.R. Rahman, the Bansals of Flipkart, Dr. Verghese Kurian (Amul), the fingers of Dr. Zakir Hussain, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Prakash Padukone, SPB, or radio jockeys, art museums, the masons who built the Taj Mahal, your class topper, the amazing professor who can simplify the most complex subject and make it engaging. After all, what will an ad man do, if the very core that is advertised, is not good enough?

Back in my high school, we had a motto that was ingrained into us - Faith and Toil. That is perhaps the root of how talents can emerge. And be remembered. It is almost a given that talent will diffuse after a point and one has to keep it alive with tremendous amount of effort and diligence. Sachin Tendulkar did that and show us how it is done. He fundamentally taught an entire nation what one can do with one's own talent. I guess they told us the same thing in my school, but I perhaps, didn't grasp its essence! ;)

Lastly, I am convinced that talent is one of the core pillars for the progress in this world. What would this world be, if not for new talent emerging in every generation and taking the world a tad forward? We would all be stuck in Stone Age, otherwise!

While Diego Maradona dazzled us with his skills on the football field, it is time for the world in 2020 to define, identify, and nurture the talents we need for the next century. COVID-19, will come and go. Some other disaster may strike us again, who knows. But, we should not stop dreaming of what talent,  faith and toil, can do for this planet. Talent eases us, pleases us, and even makes life pulsating and energetic. Perhaps, that is what we are missing right now. Let's keep the faith for a better tomorrow, as no epidemic or disaster can stop human talent, which is far more powerful than the enemy (whether known or unknown).

Just remember Maradona's talent, though it is sad that he is not with us anymore. But if what he showed us on the football field is anything to go by, here is still hope for a better tomorrow.

MS Dhoni - the art of the possible!

This is a timestamp that will be recorded for posterity - 1929 hours on the 15th of August 2020. At the potential peak of the COVID-19, and on India's 73rd Independence Day, an iconic cricketer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) announced his retirement from international cricket. The mightiness of this extraordinary cricketer simply lies in the narrative he changed, both today and when he played for India. As a cricket fan, there are a few things that I learnt from MSD that indicated the art of the possible.

He changed the narrative in the initial days of his career itself, with his long hair, pulsating strokeplay lower down the batting order, only to be matched by extraordinary glove work behind the stumps. That combination alone had not been seen on a cricket field before. We never knew about anything called a helicopter shot before he played it, either! MSD  proved to us that being unorthodox, creating your own brand of cricket, and yet sticking to the high standards of the game are perfectly capable of co-existing with each other.

Needless to say, his iconic rise to global stardom from small town India is now part of cricketing folklore. That aspect of his great career alone, made many subsequent Indian cricketers and Indians from various walks of life to believe that their skills could also matter on the world stage. He taught us to dream, and to dream big for a better tomorrow, to be recognised for your skill and for who you are.  His hometown, Ranchi, which was considered an after-thought as a cricketing venue, got one of the greatest sporting facilities in the country and a pavilion named after MSD! Clear impact of the man and what he delivered as a cricketer!

In the context of the world entering the great financial crisis, in 2008-09, with many people losing hope, MSD offered hope. Simply because, he showed us the ability to bounce back. The Indian cricket team did not qualify for even the quarter-finals in the ICC World Cup in 2007 and that is considered a huge setback for the team of that time.  From that disappointment, the team went on to win the coveted trophy on that famous April night in 2011 in Mumbai. The photograph of MSD's supersonic six off the Sri Lankan bowler, Kulasekara will be etched in the Indian sporting memory forever. What is even more interesting is that MSD was hardly seen in the post-match celebrations and he left the stage for the other cricketing icon, Sachin Tendulkar, to own his moment. MSD, will be known for that winning strike, but he will be remembered even more for his leadership in Indian cricket, especially on that night. 

That's the endearing aspect of what MSD did. Yes, he was the captain of the Indian cricket team for nearly 6 years of his career. But, he never looked (from the outside) to be asserting himself on players, seemed to back many cricketers, created and gave small town boys the opportunity to express themselves on the world stage, and build a team that exhibited its skills well. And he was such a quiet man, per media reports. Which tells you a thing or two of how well he must have engaged with the team for them to believe that the decisions he took as a captain would be in their best interests: Another abject lesson of how leadership should be!

Interestingly, his first big win in the T-20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, was perhaps a pre-cursor of things to follow. The greatest evidence of that accomplishment was the emergence of the global brand called IPL. He was one of the key players who has changed the narrative for 20-20 cricket in the last 13 years. There are endless number of games when MSD kept us on the edge of our seats, in nail-biting finishes in IPL cricket! But what was even more impressive, was the way he was universally accepted by audiences all over India, even though everyone knew that he was the captain of the Chennai Super Kings team. Hardly have we seen a cricketer whose name is chanted in a cricket stadium, when you know that he is the opposition captain. MSD allowed us to celebrate him, as we were cheering our national cricket captain, even though he was playing IPL club cricket! Universal acceptance, is another great thing he taught us. 

I have often pondered, what is it that this incredible cricketer did, which many others with gifted backgrounds sometimes fail to do? While I have never had an opportunity to meet the great man, as a keen follower of cricket, I am convinced it is the sheer hunger to maximise his skills and find solutions to construct the art of winning, is what fundamentally made MSD reach where he did. And that, to my mind is an extraordinary lesson he gave us - find a solution with what one has and can utilize, to win, in any given circumstance.

Nowhere else is this hunger better manifested than in the title of the greatest 'finisher in limited overs cricket' that he earned. Realistically, before him, limited overs cricket did not have too many considerations for the art of winning games from impossible, and nearly losing positions, in a cricket match. Till the time MSD was at the crease, clearly, opposition captains and bowlers would never be able to estimate if they even had a chance of winning. Why and how MSD made them feel that way? That is where I believe the power of his mind to think of solutions to win a game, from any situation, was limitless. A lesson for many of us.

Obviously, as is well known, his temperament is increasingly taking on the flavour of becoming a great case study in psychology and management of emotional intelligence. We are all used to hearing EQ being more important than IQ, when one is at the highest level or at any given level in an organisation. In the case of MSD, to have played his brand of cricket with free expression and an uncluttered mind, with such extraordinary balance and poise, is truly a hard act to follow. It may well be in the realm of a psychological case study on how to stay calm, and maybe he could contribute to some pioneering research in that sphere alone!

In conclusion, MSD is a legacy that will stand the test of time and will be cited as a fantastic example of cricketing greatness. Future generations of cricketers will undoubtedly be advised about the MSD school of cricket, which is hard to replicate and incredibly unique. We must take a moment to recognise that we have in our midst a champion cricketer, who cascaded into our homes with a smile, led the country's cricket team to unimaginable heights, and showed us the merits of free expression of talent and poise. Difficult to get such a combination again. 

Thank you, MSD! You will be missed!