Forgive me for starting with another allegory on cricket! No, I am not going to talk about why we lose, or if the present captain is worse than the previous one (well, I might get on that topic sometime later, when I am in a more sombre mood and the bitterness of the recent defeat has faded into the past), but I'll start with a report that the Australian coach Greg Chappell had a very stern dialogue with the team and told them in no uncertain words to come out of their comfort zones, get rid of the "attitude" and exhibit workman like discipline. Where the coach has got it all wrong is that the in the sports field it is the sense of adventure that drives the collective set set of individuals forward, that spirit of discovery and rediscovery of themselves is why people are addicted to sports, and Greg should remember this, not long ago he was a great player himself. What this Indian team lacks is the getting out of comfort zone in order to get into that adventurous mode. Responsibility can drive an individual to state of heightened upper echelons of mediocrity but only the zeal of charting newer paths drives him further, and the Indian, as a collective whole lacks that.
Take another example, can you ever imagine an Indian becoming the next J K Rowling? We are no less educated, at least the urban India, but how many mothers (that too single parent) can ever imagine of giving vent to her imagination through creative writing for children? How many individuals can take up any good idea to become venture capitalist, the big corporate houses like SUN Microsystems, Google, Microsoft, etc. all started out as garage ventures of students of varied calibre, but in India it will be extremely difficult for anyone to even attempt give shape to his ideas. So the natural question that needs to be asked is that there has to be a socio-economic factor that prevents the Indian mindset from coming out of his stupor. Given the massive success of Indians established in the developed nations, the factor should be macroscopic in nature. Of course you will find many writers trying to shout that Indians are coming out of the closet and stepping into the big world to rediscover their dream and realise it ...blah .....blah....., the number is minuscule given the volume of our population.
Trying to probe for the reason why the Indian mind set is so 'closed', I was desperate to find an answer, because I realized that I was also similarly cocooned, not coming out to realize at least some fraction of dreams that I had for this life time . I want to write, to excel in music, to travel around (that requires money!), and also do science! Now, why is it that I am simply sitting around doing nothing worthwhile (except trying to motivate myself at my job, a scientific research job, that I love to do anyway, but losing the interest at a very rapid rate!). The reason is simple, I am looking for financial stability for my family. I know my wife earns enough to support me and my son, but still it is not pardonable in our society that I take a year off writing a couple of novels which are desperate to come out of me, to translate a particular book by Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay (and the idea is gnawing my being to the core), while my wife is keeping us well fed and clothed and sheltered. And ditto for any venture in music, I don't want to be a professional, but would love to sing my heart out and learn the "howabouts " (this word is coined by me!) of it from learned people, but.......Because it will take years for me to establish myself in any field, with very little financial emoluments in the field of writing for a struggling writer, I need the protection of a "permanent job" before I can venture out myself in any such endeavour. Also, continuing with science along side doing anything else is unthinkable in our set up!
Now, if I compare myself with, say J K Rowling, the question that hits me is: why is it that she was able to write to her hearts content (before becoming a millionaire, ouch!) and I am unable to? The answer is actually simple, she had the support of social security, which is non-existent for me. Social security, as the terminology specifies, is not just the meagre amount that is doled out to the individuals of the society to support themselves and the minor family members in the household, but also acceptance of such people in the society. I am lucky my wife is there to support my day dreams, had she not existed I wouldn't have dared to dream either, of writing a novel or translating one or singing myself silly to glory! Had there been social security, I would've trekked to the Himalayas lugging my laptop along, hooking on to the internet via the mobile and researched for my next novel, a fantasy set in a world different from the earth but entrenched in the political activism similar to that of the 2nd half of the twentieth century (of the earth), where individuals discover themselves through the eyes of two protagonists, one male and the other female, growing up in disparate sections of the society of 'haves' and 'have-nots', rather the 'ruling' and the 'ruled class', interchanging their respective classes in the journey of their lives......(the story goes on, I won't reveal any more here :-) !) .........
Well, I hope the day comes when despite of lack of social security, and with only the help of spousal security, the novel will come out. Till then I will only marvel at one Indian cricket captain, who in recent past was able to muster this feeling of adventurism in the Indian cricket team (and also to the general populace, including me!) where the individuals were able to shed their insecurity to strive to reach beyond their perceived limits. Perhaps the fact that he was pretty rich, and never felt the insecurity that the bearer of the middle class mentality do, helped him in his cause! But this is not to take any credit out of his natural capability and nature, every individual, no matter what his position in life is, always battles against his insecurity, and he who wins (even a few battles, if not all) is worthy of all the respect!!
1 comment:
I accept your views that lack of social security is quite a serious hindrance for any person to be adventurous or daring. Now for time being let us assume every individual in India is socially secured (may be in dreams!!). Can it produce a huge chunk of Steve Irwins emerging out. I doubt. Still I feel there is a serious issue in Indian psyche which prevents him to be adventurous. It is "Individuality". Our social structure is mended in such manner that an individual is lost in the family bondings. For an individual to be adventurous he should have enough time to answer the question "Who am I?" which is almost impossible in a family centered society where most of the time is spent to satisfy others wishes. Still if one wishes to come out and reach for stars he should possess enough inertia to drag with him all those burden or else should have enough potential to break the barriers and come out. I really wonder what percentage of Indians do have this either? I can sense an urgent requirement of social reformation where every individual is respected (of course along with social security) to push this great country forward in time. Until this happen I don't think we can produce many great masters (except occasional one or two who have the potential I mentioned above)
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