Power without Responsibility....

Wow! What a victory 2 days back!!
Great character displayed by the Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Men in Blue to win the Cricket World Cup 2011! Since the loss to South Africa in the group stage, Dhoni was abused and criticized like never before but the man with his frankness, his fearlessness and with his huge reservoir of self belief overcame all that was thrown at him and defied pressure to inspire the Team to its greatest tournament victory ever. Being an ardent cricket lover, I have followed the world cup keenly; in fact like most of you, have not missed a single ball of India’s matches after the group stages. What has intrigued me the most are the reactions and responses to this journey throughout the World Cup right from the loss against South Africa to the Final victory against Sri Lanka at Mumbai. There are a few questions which arose in my mind and I find them worth sharing as they reflect human psychology.

After the loss to SA it was hilarious to just listen to people from all age groups going hammer and tongs about Dhoni as a leader, as a player and as a thinker. It was amusing and I couldn’t help notice how many people seriously believed they knew so much more about cricket than Dhoni did. Then, the comments and discussions on Facebook were an enigma to a point they defied all boundaries of logic and understanding. The same people are now hailing him as one of the best captains we have ever had. (there is no doubt that he is; form is temporary but class is permanent; and Dhoni’s class would stay so forever-it was so after the defeat against SA and will stay so after the World Cup) How come we curse our players with a fumble and tend to ignore our gravest blunders? Why is there such a great expectation of them to win every match with some fans even expecting (ridiculously!) a six of every ball?!! They are not our bloody servants to do all that we wish, right? After the win against Pakistan, the country had gone ballistic. Yes, the emotions of beating Pakistan are indeed great but nowhere that should hamper the god-given process of discretionary thought! I remember many young boys literally blocking the streets late that night and creating a ruckus! A slight opportunity at expressing our emotions and we go break chairs, damage property or cause inconvenience to others; and these scenes were right at my college gates thanks to some hostel students who unfortunately call themselves future engineers – despicable! A simple question then, is there any difference between us and the politicians we curse if we are going the same way? Our system, our government is a reflection of who we are. Though I never love it, I have no objection what so ever over bursting of crackers, roaring and letting out emotions at such occasions of great national wins; but why should it affect others in a negative sense? The biker gang style street honking and waving of the national flag was still acceptable to a certain limit, but when this blocks an ambulance with a blaring red siren, is it correct? What explanation do such young boys have to the relatives of the patient who was being transported? Shouldn’t there be a sense of responsibility with the actions one performs? The intentions matter much more than actual actions; even if the actual results turn out pretty bad after sincere efforts, we can understand; but this? Nope! Is this our "civilized and honourable" society?

There is this concept of “The Need for Heroes” It states that a great mass of people need heroes to mask their own low self belief. They need ‘em to feel that glory of victory and they need ‘em to dispense the pain of loss. If our heroes win, we can bask in their victory and savour the win as we see ourselves winning and enjoy that feeling. When they lose, we see our losses in it and feel glad that we can curse someone for these losses and absolve ourselves of any responsibility. The point here to highlight is the tendency of the masses to enjoy “Power without Responsibility” We want the power of decision, the power of win, the power of dissipating loss onto others, the power to enjoy but along with it we don’t want the responsibility associated with our decisions, our wins, our losses and our lives. We want Dhoni to accept his mistakes; improve on them and deliver immediately but we don’t wish to do that on a personal level. We want Dhoni to win the world cup but cower at the thought of winning the world cup of our respective lives. We want Dhoni to do everything correct, be Midas and turn everything to gold but we conveniently neglect the tremendous pressure of the process. We want the same glory for ourselves but refuse to face the pressure. We envy Dhoni and the boys for the cash they earn and the lives they live but we refuse to put in the same level of efforts for the same. Just as a hypothetical case, like Dhoni said at the post-match presentation of the Final, had India lost the match, questions would have been asked or rather insinuations would have been made about the decision to play Sreesanth; the decision to promote Dhoni before the inform Yuvraj and many more would have been searched from all niches and Dhoni would have been portrayed as the world's biggest idiot - that is the hard fact of our society and a rather bitter and hypocritical one! Nothing comes easy and it never came for anyone. If someone has got something easy, realize that he/she has committed a mistake and it is a matter of time before Karma catches up.

It is indeed patriotic to enjoy and savour such a great triumph, I do too; but with it, with the power of enjoyment, doesn’t the responsibility of change come along as well? It is appreciable that we are one when it comes to cricket, why is it that each and everyone is not “one” with him/herself and in turn one with the nation? I believe that if each one of us gives in even 1% of the passion we demonstrated yesterday, Bhaarat will rise at an exponential rate! or is it still the case that we go back to our lives of slavery; the slavery of our senses, the slavery of job/education with a sense of “Karna Padta Hai agar Zinda rehena hai” instead of the pure love and passion for it? Are we going to instill the passion in our lives and “live life” instead of pure existence; are we going to enjoy and execute our powers of thought and claim responsibility for their subsequent actions or is it going to be the same story all over again?

Jai Hind!