On my morning walk today, sensing the coolness of the air and twirling my baton, I marveled at how fortunate I was to live in a part of Bengaluru, surrounded by trees. The sense of well being was heightened when joined by an acquaintance with his dog on a leash. We got talking about our respective families and why we had chosen to live in 'an out of the way place'?
Well, the reason for him was that he wanted his kids to study in the 'Valley School', which is a stone’s throw away from us and a well talked about school, particularly for returning exapatriates. Knowing the answer I asked him -'Why Valley School?'He said that it kids are kept away from the mundane competition that kids in other schools face.
Which brings us to the fundamental question, is competition bad? Why does one Sachin Tendulkar, still run around a cricket field, in a creaking body, thrilling us with his genius? Why does, an all time great like Rahul Dravid, have to be advised by a bowler like Shane Warne, on his batting ( He took it in quietly )?Does Bill Gates work for the money? Behind a calm facade, the guys are competitors and will compete with you to the death, if you throw them a challenge! The world celebrates these guys.
Which brings us back to the point, as to whether competition is bad? The fact is, in my opinion, we should be teaching kids to deal with success and failure in life with equinanimity and grace, because the world is neither a fair place nor life one rollicking party! Shying away from competition is like sending our soldiers to fight at Siachen in sneakers. Ill equipped the battle is lost even before it begins.
Australian Keli Lane, a golden girl who was a water polo star was recently convicted in a court room filled with drama, of murdering her baby daughter in 1996, because, she feared that the young kid would jeopardize her chances in the 2000 Sydney Olympics! She has been jailed for 18 years!Can you think of anything more horrendous? Did her competitive spirit lead her to murder or was it a lack of values?Was it poor upbringing? As collective Australia, scratches its head, one can only wonder.
As our conversation was warming up, we were surrounded, by a bevy of dogs, in all shapes and sizes, threatening the little dog on the leash, causing us to beat a hasty retreat.The little dog, did not attempt, to show aggression even once. Not very competitive...............
Street dogs are not something we can talk about with pride in Bengaluru, I reflected!
I explore the last frontier..............humans!
3 comments:
Competition is driving force in every way of life and work. Without competition world would have stayed back in every aspect. It is the driving force behind every success. It doesn't matter whether competition comes from streets or palaces but if we don't face it then we will be the losers.
I really like the way your post ends. When the little dog did not retaliate- "Not competitive" !! Lol ! Coming to the topic, the unsecured father will not do much justice to his kid with "Valley School". In times to come, his son/daughter is thereafter expected to flee to America/UK for further studies. In India, where parents have a sword in hand on the day of final report cards, a father like this is very rare, but at the same time, is our education system correct enough? I have personally faced bad experiences and many of my peers are still struggling. However, as he wants his child to be in the safer shed, I think the reason will be much more than mere competition. Since you shared a chat with him, definitely, you are the better judge :) .With random thoughts coming to my mind, I would conclude, the post is really interesting and I am game with your views sir.
Nice observations......Chandru & Sandeep.
Ciao!
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