Natural Flair vs Coached Skills

I play quite a few games. Though not endowed with natural athletic abilities, even as a youngster (and definitely not now, when I am over weight by a mile!) I always had a very good hand eye co ordination, backed by a thinking brain, which made me a decent player in any game played with a racquet or indoor games that need skills, like Carroms.

 

I self taught myself on most of the games, with the sole exception of Cricket. I had attended numerous coaching camps, and have been coached extensively as a youngster, and was a decent bat.

 

I did learn to play Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis on my own, as also Chess and Carroms.

 

Recently, I noticed with amusement that my approach to other games, self taught, with respect to Cricket, was totally different.

 

I am a dour, defensive, technically correct batsman, who rarely takes a risk nor do I hit the ball in the air. Safety first is the motto. Perhaps I watched Test Cricket growing up and idolized Gavaskar or perhaps I was Coached as per the MCC Coaching Manual.

 

In contrast, I have a totally different approach to other games. I love going for impossible shots, or to hit the ball at acute angles, and am least bothered if the ball goes wide a bit, as long as the shot was executed as I wanted. I throw caution to wind while playing tennis, and try atrocious drop shots or dinky lobs or  backhand flicks that have a low margin of error. It is art for the sake of art. I back my natural hand eye coordination and court sense to pull these off.

 

Recently, I was playing caroms. I fluff the easiest of straight coins, while pulling off difficult cuts and third pockets with ease. I didn't have a follow for the red, but had two coins touching each other on the right of the centre in the board, and also had a relatively easy back shot option. I noticed a small chance of cutting the outer of the two coins to the left top pocket, told my playing partner I was going for it, and pulled it off as I wanted, with the bonus of the second coin going in at the left hand bottom pocket, which was not planned at all. I whooped in joy, and the opponents were downcast with eyes popping. It made my day. It is for moments like these that I play.

 

So does this mean that formal coaching kills creativity and risk taking? I have reason to believe so. Look what has happened to the Brazilian team. The Brazilian teams prior to 1986 were a treat to watch, playing flowing football and they could conjure up magic out of nowhere. During the last 25 years most of their players have migrated to the more regimental European league and this is being reflected in their football which is a mix of rigidity and staleness. And with a dour coach like Dunga at the helm, we are not going to witness the free flowing Brazil of yore anymore.

 

Some of the most exciting batsmen in the world today are natural strikers, who defy the coaching manual - A B Devilliers, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Sehwag, Dhoni, Steven Smith.

 

And would you rather watch the supremely naturally gifted Roger Federer or machines like Nadal, Murray or Djokovic? The less said about the clones in women's tennis the better.

 

Like sports, does our formal education system kill creativity? Food for thought

Significance of 108 in Hinduism

108 is a holy number for Hindus. When we do Pushpanjali to a particular deity, we chant 108 synonyms of the concerned deity as a method of pleasing him/her.

 

I have always wondered at the significance of 108. Why is it 108 and not 100 or 110 or 150? Knowing the wisdom of our forefathers, this could not have been accidental or something that happened on a whim.

 

Recently, I think, I probably found the appropriate reason. Life revolved around the sun during the Vedic Ages, to which we can assign the origin of the sanctity of 108.

 

108 is the result you get when divide Sun's distance from Earth by Sun's Diameter

 

149,600,000km/ 1,391,000 km = 107. 55 or 108 (rounding off)

(Data sourced from NASA)

It is also interesting to note that the Moon's distance from Earth/Divided by Moons diameter (382,500km/3485km = 109.75) is  more or less equal to 108, though slightly more. We can give a benefit of doubt to our sages who lived thousands of years ago, as they didn't have accurate tools to measure.

Amazing isn't it?

Crossing 50

Both me and my father were voracious readers. We used to finish lengthy novels in a couple of sittings. When he was well into his 60's, he will baulk at reading 800-900 page novels, which came as a surprise to me. When queried, he came up with the following response " You wont understand now. But when you are old, you lose the drive to take up the challenge of reading a 1000 page book. Once gets a sense of futility". I could not agree with him, but let it go.

 

I have, this year, turned 50, and have started realizing the truth in what he said then.

 

I used to drive my employees hard and was relentless in my quest for perfection, which created lot of friction. But of late, I am accepting slight imperfections, am more tolerant of mistakes and slightly less task oriented.

I still read a lot, but am more leisurely in my readings. I read when I am in the right frame of mind to do so, and am not worried too much if I take a week to complete a book, that I would have sat through and read in a single night in the past.

 

I am more into why people are behaving in a particular manner, and don't give out free advises unlike the past.

 

I have started enjoying even the slightest achievements, but at the same time am not downcast and devastated when I have major setbacks. I take it in my stride, and don't lose sleep over it.

 

I have started feeling the age at times, and strangely don't regret it.

 

I don't lose my temper these days, but on those times when I do, I take time to cool down.

 

In any case, I am less hated than I used to be in the past, which is not bad. But am I paying a price for it? I don't know!

 

Am I slowing down, mellowing? Is the above a good development? Will I get my old spark back? More importantly, do I want to go back to my good (bad) old days, when I used to be less popular?

 

Only time will tell.

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।

सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥

sarvé bhavantu sukhinaḥ , sarvé santu nirāmayāḥ |

sarvé bhadrāṇi pashyantu , mā kashchid_duḥkha-bhāg-bhavét ||

All of you be happy, be healthy, see good; 
May no one have a share in sorrow.

 

 

 

 

Your Happiness in

 

 

 is in your hands