Thursday, April 28, 2016

Rama Loves Squirrels Too

There is merit in picking one area, one project, which we are good at and can create an impact on the ground, and keep at it. But sometimes, we forget our dharma and lose the basic ability of sticking to a message.

An old cricket article by Mike Selvey that recalls fast bowler Ottis Gibson's first ever cricket match, for the Barbados team:
"...He was recalling his first-ever match for his native Barbados, throughout which, as the great Malcolm Marshall stood by and watched, he had been getting a run-a-ball tanking.

In the second innings, Gibson recalled, he came and stood at mid-off. "What are you going to do?" Marshall queried after Gibson had bowled a rare dot-ball at the start of an over. Gibson remembered his response. "'I'm going to bounce him' I said, and Malcolm would just say 'Why don't you just do what you did again?' And I did and it was another dot-ball. 'Now what are you going to do?' 'I'm going to york him.' 'No, do the same thing again'. And so he talked me through the first maiden over I bowled in first-class cricket. He taught me to construct an over."

There you have it then, in a nutshell: the simple art of bowling from perhaps the greatest fast man who ever drew breath and not a mention of good areas.
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The anger against the corrupt ecosystem and its Hinduphobia cannot be myopically expended in a jiffy on sloganeering and wild, emotional ideas. It can be channeled into long-term, sober, and meaningful effort. Even if it seems lonely, boring, or insignificant in comparison to others. The tiny squirrel that contributed its bit in support of the Sethu was eventually touched by the transcendental hand of divinity.