To control the outcome...

We often believe that life is what happens to us when we are busy planning our moves in life. We think we cannot control what happens to us in our lives. Many of us believe in Destiny and Luck. To be honest, even i do, but that is no excuse to not work your way through for what you want. I cringe when people say - "I had no other option left, i had to do it."

I strongly believe, there is always an option that one has not thought of earlier. There does not exist a problem in this world that does not have a solution. It's just the incognizance of the solution that forces us to believe that the problem is insolvable. Every door has a key; every business can be turned around; every question has an answer; every thought has a reason. It just needs to be invented or discovered.

If Alexander Graham Bell had not invented the way to talk to other person over a phone, we might not be as technologically advanced as we are today. If Sir Issac Newton did not have the urge to find the reason behind the apple falling on the ground, we would perhaps be still unknown to one of the biggest discovery in physics - Earth's Gravitational force.

I am a staunch believer of the famous theory - if one door closes another one opens. I opine that if we are surrounded by problems and if we are being pushed around by our boss, our peers, or our life, all we need to do is Rebel. If we allow any of them to continue pushing us around, we will persistently feel helpless. Instead of pitying ourselves, we need to think different. We need to ask ourselves - what can i do to control the outcome myself? Einstein defined insanity as 'doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result'. Sometimes, all it takes is a change of perspective to find answers to the biggest questions.

At the end of the day, the outcome of any situation depends on how one looks at/reacts towards it. No matter what happens, it's on YOU to control the outcome; it always has been.

Sachin Tendulkar - prodigy personified!

In India, the sport of cricket runs in every Indian’s blood. In a nation where people follow more than a dozen religions and yet stay in harmony, there is one abstract religion that binds all of them together - Cricket. Though the game was first showcased to the world by the British, we Indians take pride in being its largest followers. Indian cricket team has produced many masters of the game, but there is one name that defines this sport in India; that name is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar(SRT).

There are many cricket followers who believed that he would turn out to be a cricket prodigy even before he played cricket as a profession. In his school days he has broken records, made new records and he continues that trend till today at the age of 38. If a person tries compiling all the records he has made or broken till today, in a book, probably the book will run into pages equaling the entire Harry Potter collection. I am not his most ardent fan, perhaps I would not even be counted in the top 70% of his fans, but the respect I have for him is no lesser than any other Indian might have. And the reason is, if anybody truly deserves that respect as a sportsperson in India, it’s him.

Being from a middle class family, he always believed in his dreams and his perseverance got him where he is today. In the game of cricket, a batsman is judged by the centuries he/she makes. Harsha Bhogle once said - good batsmen make 10-12 centuries in their entire career, great batsmen score 20-30 centuries. Legends of the game make 40-50 centuries in their entire tenure as batsmen, but this “Little Master” (as he is renowned) has a whopping 100 centuries under his belt. A hundred hundreds! Any person having a decent knowledge of the game would be aware that he is an epitome of perfection in this game.

People who follow cricket as a religion in India consider him God. They truly believe it, without a speck of doubt. He is what Michael Jackson is for pop music or what Pele is for football. Bowlers all across the world feel privileged to have bowled to him and the ones who have taken his wicket in any international game consider it a feather in their cap. Even with such an extravagant track record, with fan following from every part of the world, and being the greatest pro the game has ever seen, he is as humble as a child. This virtue of humility and the urge to learn and enjoy the game even at the peak of his career is what led him to become the greatest maestro of this sport. I truly bow down to his dedication, his talent, his attitude towards the game, his incredible humility, and to himself. SRT, aap jaisa na koi tha, na koi hai, aur na hi koi hoga!(There wasn’t, isn’t and never will be any one like you!)