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Attitude is everything |
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By: Shishir Joshi |
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Date:
2008-08-25 |
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Place: Mumbai |
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I wasn't over the moon when Bindra brought us our first gold. I am no less patriotic than Aamir Khan in Rang De Basanti or Mangal Pandey. "Wow" was my first reaction to Bindra's gold. But my glee wouldn't last long. "What's the big deal?" I saw Bindra telling an eager TV journo, a few hours after the victory shot. How will you celebrate, asked the scribe. Shrug. Aren't you excited? Shrug. What was your first reaction? "Stupid question."
I desperately resisted snatching the medal from Bindra's hand. "Snob," I muttered, angrily. Every time I switched on the TV, it was Bindra and his indifference that stared me in the face. What does this chit of a lad think of himself? Can't he behave, or pretend to share the country's joy?
But the next morning, I was amazed at myself. His attitude had begun to sunk in. And I had begun liking Bindra. Here was a boy who had defied the system. Sorry, system? There wasn't any. Here was a boy who had worked his way up. Yes, he had the resources. (But, there are many who have the riches, but don't move a muscle.) And ignored by most, till suddenly he was the nation's hero.
But his indifferent remarks to the scribes somehow seemed pertinent. Day in and day out, we hear journos asking anybody, and then everybody. "Aapko kaisa lag raha hai?", "Aapka pehla reaction?". And while we would see the page ones, twos and threes grimacing at these questions, none had the nerve to retort or request that better questions be asked. Because they so desperately needed to be in the limelight themselves.
Bindra defied it. Maybe his tone or manner may have been offensive, But, here was a guy, who not only held the gun, but had the guts too. To stand up against a bunch of pampered scribes who had grown up asking irrelevant questions. But then, that's what we can expect from a guy who defied a (non existent) system and returned home with India's first gold. I like your attitude, Bindra. |
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