I'm back!
Well, finally I have tasted victory on the field!
Yes, after countless number of attempts at trying to emerge triumphant in a match, IIT Madras has finally won a match. The last time I was part of a winning eleven, I was, a naïve young boy, finding my feet in the team, and all I cared about was to see to that I don’t make any mistakes. Things have changed significantly now, (indicative of how long it has been since this victory!) with me having become an integral part of the team.
I am expected to keep the spirits high even during tough times and my performances tend to play a significant role in match outcomes(although today despite my non performance, we emerged victorious; that’s why they say, “ There is no I in a team”) Moreover, when I made my debut, I was purely a bowler coming at No.11 to bat, while now, I am looked at as a bowler has can contribute a quick 20-30 to the side and keep the scoreboard ticking over.
All these are just the superficial changes. At a deeper level, the game has taught me a lot of lessons. Yes, I might be sounding all philosophical and all, but It is true. I have learnt how to handle setbacks, both in sport and life, in a more sedated manner. During the course of the last year, I suffered a fracture of my thumb, which sidelined me from the game for half the year. That period was extremely frustrating. Sport has been an integral part of my life from a very young age, and this was the first time that I was in a situation where I had to stay away from the field for such a long time. Initially I found it difficult to divert my energies towards other aspects of my life and learn to live a life without sports. It was during that phase of a wavering mind that I developed a very good friendship with two people, whom I count today amongst my closest friends. It was as if they were my guiding light during that phase of my life. Both of them inspired me to look at other aspects of life and widen my horizons. I have learnt a lot from both of them, and friendship with them has been one of my biggest gains of life. Due to the sudden void that had developed in my daily schedule, I suddenly found time to do a lot of “other” things. I found that I could spend time with my academic work and suddenly I developed this great desire to learn more from each one of my curriculum subjects. I discovered the abundance of wealth of knowledge that was present in the library, of which I had absolutely no idea until then.
One of the close friends I talked about earlier, kept me constantly fit, by getting me to start running. Running, contrary to popular opinion, is more a challenge to the mind than to the body. Like they say, “If you think can or if you think you cant, you are always right.” When you get tired after running for a while , your body wants you to stop, but you have to tell your mind to step in and take charge and push the limits of your body.
It taught me to keeping increasing my pain threshold and to still keep going, while enduring the pain. I learnt to enjoy the pain beyond some point and suddenly no distance seemed insurmountable.
Thus, today when the winning runs were scored, all what had taken place during this long time period started to hit me in my head. This spontaneous emotional outburst was at some level due to the magnitude of changes that had taken place in my life over this period. All the losses have made me wiser and more mature. Truly a momentous victory!
