Freedom of Everything
Competition is said to be the "whetstone" of success. Some of us seemingly have it encoded in every red blood cell possible. I think it is undeniable that in the arena of businesses a competitive spirit will keep us alive and kicking corporate butts.
But should competition have no bounds? Is it healthy and spirited under all circumstances? Would you wrestle with your siblings in order to determine control of the TV remote and expect your parents to cheer from the sidelines? If the answer that echoes unequivocally inside your head is a 'no' then ask yourself where you draw your line. When exactly does it stop being sporty and start spewing animus?
I have asked too many questions and hence thrown too many challenges to the reader. I think I am crossing my own little line here. The time is ripe to send in the balm of a few answers. To agree or not is the reader's choice.
In sport as in life it is impossible to play secluded. The veritable complexity of life lies in that we must consider many things before we decide on anything. So during a game or a competition or in any situation that spurs the Tyson within, pause for a while and decide your priorities. Are the need and the desire to win paramount? Or are you playing to build relationships too? Are you playing for ‘world-peace’ or to take the opposition out ‘piece-by-piece’? There I go again with my questions!
In the past week, we the Class of 2007 were the organizers, players and audience to a large number of cultural and sporting events. Sometimes as players we fought with a seemingly ‘devious’ opposition or an ‘unfair’ umpire/referee. At others, we exasperated when the opposition created mountains out of molehills or protested against the chair’s decision. There was loud cheering and jeering amidst high tension games and competitions and then there was also the round of appreciation after a good performance. At both ends, I the Nero of the Laidback, was at the receiving end for not spotting unfair play and also for not protesting vociferously enough. But the point, my dear (and soon to be dearer) batch mates, is that I wasn’t playing to win at ANY cost. On my list, making friends in my new college is primal. Winning was of course important, but not at the cost of spilling bad blood over a lush green (albeit cheese-holed) football field. What victory would be satisfying if the opposition came not and congratulated me for a good game? None I say, especially when the opposition comprises of those that can soon be friends.
One question I get repeatedly thrown at me is whether IIT culture is about excessive drinking, smoking pot and the amazing metamorphosis of studious geeks into molesting miscreants once a few pegs are down. Once and for all, the answers is no, it is not. What is surprising to me, another seven point someone from one of the IITs, is that people should have such an impression. IIT culture is so much more about hard work and the desire to produce the best at all times. More about that later. So will my alleged "IIT Culture" percolate with me into these precincts? Of course it will. We all have come from different corners of our country with a baggage of assumptions, cutlures and perceptions. Here we will mix, match, sieve out and keep the best of all. With beautiful traditions set by generations of XLers before us and the assimilations from the new ones, only good can happen to XLRI.
But should competition have no bounds? Is it healthy and spirited under all circumstances? Would you wrestle with your siblings in order to determine control of the TV remote and expect your parents to cheer from the sidelines? If the answer that echoes unequivocally inside your head is a 'no' then ask yourself where you draw your line. When exactly does it stop being sporty and start spewing animus?
I have asked too many questions and hence thrown too many challenges to the reader. I think I am crossing my own little line here. The time is ripe to send in the balm of a few answers. To agree or not is the reader's choice.
In sport as in life it is impossible to play secluded. The veritable complexity of life lies in that we must consider many things before we decide on anything. So during a game or a competition or in any situation that spurs the Tyson within, pause for a while and decide your priorities. Are the need and the desire to win paramount? Or are you playing to build relationships too? Are you playing for ‘world-peace’ or to take the opposition out ‘piece-by-piece’? There I go again with my questions!
In the past week, we the Class of 2007 were the organizers, players and audience to a large number of cultural and sporting events. Sometimes as players we fought with a seemingly ‘devious’ opposition or an ‘unfair’ umpire/referee. At others, we exasperated when the opposition created mountains out of molehills or protested against the chair’s decision. There was loud cheering and jeering amidst high tension games and competitions and then there was also the round of appreciation after a good performance. At both ends, I the Nero of the Laidback, was at the receiving end for not spotting unfair play and also for not protesting vociferously enough. But the point, my dear (and soon to be dearer) batch mates, is that I wasn’t playing to win at ANY cost. On my list, making friends in my new college is primal. Winning was of course important, but not at the cost of spilling bad blood over a lush green (albeit cheese-holed) football field. What victory would be satisfying if the opposition came not and congratulated me for a good game? None I say, especially when the opposition comprises of those that can soon be friends.
One question I get repeatedly thrown at me is whether IIT culture is about excessive drinking, smoking pot and the amazing metamorphosis of studious geeks into molesting miscreants once a few pegs are down. Once and for all, the answers is no, it is not. What is surprising to me, another seven point someone from one of the IITs, is that people should have such an impression. IIT culture is so much more about hard work and the desire to produce the best at all times. More about that later. So will my alleged "IIT Culture" percolate with me into these precincts? Of course it will. We all have come from different corners of our country with a baggage of assumptions, cutlures and perceptions. Here we will mix, match, sieve out and keep the best of all. With beautiful traditions set by generations of XLers before us and the assimilations from the new ones, only good can happen to XLRI.
Shutting out anything is an extreme step. We cannot and should not shut out competition. Neither should we throttle the seeds of friendships just to win a football game (for instance). We cannot shut out cultures either – simply because we carried these cultures into XLRI with us. Now we must depend on the good senses of a community to sieve out the bad and assimilate the good of it all. Let us all be free and fair, in our judgments, aspirations, choices and relationships. Ah, what a wonderful world it will be then!
posted by Parth @ 2:15 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Hey Parth,
I'm with you on that front too. But the dilemma is that i don't know abt IIT much...if u say so, it might be like that. But here we are. We who are resposible to carry the resposibility which XL expects from us as their students or should i say, their children. Let us make the promise to keep upto the responsibility.
Beautiful
hey partho...
very thought provoking article dude... especially the first bit
and although the culture bit did seem a bit misplcaed i (also being form one of them "engineering colleges") can tell u the that the culture u are referring too probably thrives even more extensively in the DU colleges.
In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still,
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot,
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not.
Truly amazing article....
parth darling
there is nothing wrong with smoking pot.
there is nothing wrong with drinking either.
what IS wrong is not being responsible for your own actions, whether you are sober, drunk or stoned. deal with the fact that you have disgraced a great institution and deal with it like a man. not a blogging mouse.
Hehe anon darling,
For one, I wrote about an incident and was not part of it. Secondly, you find it disgraceful, go ahead and hang your whatevers in shame. I refuse to join your bandwagon.
And lastly, mice like me, blog with a name and an identity, even in the face of pretended desecration. Some others comment in anonimity. What are you then - ball-less mice?
Good stuff........though I feel that you tend to get a bit lost in the flowery language.
Though I do appreciate the way you write...but the flow of words is a li'l less gripping than it could be otherwise. The tone of the passage keeps changing very often and instead of following your thoughts, the reader manages to drift.
Hope you would take the comments in the right spirit.
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