The Big Loser!!!!!

In masculine societies like India to be seen as second best is painful. Our people are not only aspiration filled but also very competitive. The scramble for success is evident in almost every walk of life. In fact you rarely see a person walking these days. They are either cutting corners, jumping Q’s or traffic lights, in order to get wherever they have to get first.

The American’s, masters of jargon, went a step further and called all those who were not first as losers. There are no prizes for being second best as far as they are concerned. And nothing hurts more than being labelled a loser. The term is a slur which is indefensible and once labelled a loser one simply slinks away to lick his or her wounds, because there are no comebacks.

So today I was taken aback when one of my colleagues said he was a ‘Big Loser’. I admired the man’s candidness and was inclined to agree, but still, where did the nonchalance come from? Was society in flux? Just to get to the bottom of this rather strange admission, I decided to cosy up to him and complimented him on his new svelte look. His face lighted up and he described his exercise routine, in deep detail. The flow was so good I hadn’t the heart to stymie it and I did not.

I was beginning to nod off, when he suddenly stopped and said that, that was how he was the big loser. ‘What was that again, I asked?’ As if addressing a person with limited cognitive ability, he said, that the Gym he frequented had awarded him the prize of ‘The Big Loser’ for having lost the most weight amongst his peers at the Gym, over six months. So the loser tag here was a prize and he was proud to wear that badge of honour, despite what people think of being called a loser.

I too ‘am a pretty competitive guy, and the battle of the bulge is one battle that I would like to lose or should I say win and what the heck, I even will not mind being called a loser in this respect!