Page 75 - Sanidhya_2024

The Game-Point!

After the passage of CoVID pandemic, I shifted to Bijapur, situation in the game that opponents
Chhattisgarh, where my father was posted. There, my are continuously earning points and
evening routine had changed from surfing reels on social your graph stands stagnated at a
media platforms to regularly playing badminton on the specific point. During this phase, you
court with one of my dearest friends, Aarav, who was almost are unable to find a way to cap the
six years younger than me but still, his sports skills were opponent’s hike and raise your points.
perhaps six times better than mine. Actually, his father too This also happens in our personal,
was a fantastic sportsperson, and utilizing this opportunity, professional, as well as social lives.
Aarav also started taking lessons from his father quite early. But I feel that what we need to Shivendra Kumar Jha
So, this was bound to happen. If I talk about my win-loss do in such situations is not to lose S/O Shri Dharmendra Kumar Jha,
Commandant 236th BN, CRPF
ratio with him, then it must be something close to 1:4. But our cool and concentrate on the
even winning only a few matches against Aarav gave me game to just gain a single point. Once you get a point, you
some philosophical understanding of relations that I wanted get the ‘opportunity’ of service in the game, and if you utilize
to share. that opportunity wisely and serve a beneficial service, you
In the game of badminton, even if you again get another opportunity, and this cycle goes on, which
gain a head start and maintain your lead till 10, 15, or even ultimately drags you closer to victory. And vice versa, once
18 points, there is no guarantee that you will certainly you lose your cool, you get caught in a trap! So, in the game
win the match. The winner would be the one who crosses of our lives also, we should try to gain or wait for the right
the benchmark of ‘21’ first. No matter if you surpassed opportunity to act or react. Responding in anguish would be
your opponent at every checkpoint and you were leading again falling in trap of the opponent. And please note that if
throughout the match, you would NOT be the winner if the we fail to recognize the opportunity or miss acting according
opponent reaches the final point of ‘21’ earlier than you. Yes, to it, then it would be again us who would have to face its
you would have been the winner if the match had ended at consequences. One opportunity would subsequently lead you
10, 15, 18, or 26 or 31 points, but that isn’t how it happens. to the other if understood and utilized properly. Hence, we
You have to be ahead at the right moment. The same stands can argue that success is the result of a chain of opportunities,
true in the case of our lives also. If one is born with a silver utilized properly.
spoon or say if one has some advantage over you, there Thirdly, as I mostly play doubles in
is no surety that the said person will turn out to be more badminton, I came to understand that trust and coordination
successful in the future. He may have topped all the classes between you and your teammate are of utmost importance
throughout his school life, may have numerous certificates if you want to come out victorious. No one is perfect and
in his appreciation, and whereas you may be just any other absolute. Each one of us has some advantageous as well as
mediocre boy/girl with not much fame in the school and your disadvantageous traits. The focus should be to build a proper
locality. But at the end, you may turn out to be someone like strategy according to these traits and overlap each other’s
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Mark Zuckerberg, M.S. Dhoni, Hafeez grey areas. You would not always get to choose your team.
Contractor, Nani Palkhivala, FM Sam Manekshaw, or even You have to mold yourself accordingly and act strategically
more distinguished, and such possibilities are really endless. with gaining confidence of other stakeholders of your life.
Though these examples were of a bit high intensity, we can Lastly, it’s failure that makes you mature,
also take examples of our military, bureaucracy, politics, not success. I have noticed that few people get intoxicated by
entrepreneurship, etc. where academically not so strong victories and success. They are not able to handle even a small
people have given out the best results, both in service and in defeat. Either they never accept the fact they are defeated
the examinations. These extraordinary names were also the or they react to that defeat so aggressively that it ultimately
ones who were far away from their opponents at some point causes harm to them only. Whereas people who have earlier
in time, but they knew that winning the checkpoints like that failed or lost, tend to have higher emotional intelligence and
of 5, 10, or 15 doesn’t matter, but rather crossing that ‘21’ act in a much more mature manner. I am a strong believer
does. They understood that life is a marathon, not a sprint. in the notion that life is indeed the greatest equalizer. At the
The match of life doesn’t end after school, college, or even end of the day, I have observed everyone to be almost on
after securing a job. It offers you many innings and provides the same pedestal. So, let’s just live with the flow; things will
you with ample opportunities to shine as a winner. So, we automatically fall into place.
should always have some zeal and enthusiasm saved to play
some unexpected innings of life and utilize the opportunity
to come out as the final winner of the game.
Secondly, sometimes there comes a