Retired Hurt

Retired hurt is a popular expression that is used in cricket to describe the predicament of a batsman, who while batting gets injured in the process and has to leave the field not to return. When his score card is read, it is mentioned against his name: ‘Retired hurt’, while against other batsman, it says how they got out. In politics, however, it can have different connotations, largely explaining the agony of not getting a party nomination to fight elections. We are witnessing plenty of such instances these days where persons ranging from septuagenarians to nonagenarians are being shown the door from parties they considered their own. It is only natural that they would feel hurt, more so when they think they must be around till eternity. This brings us to another question: Should not the politicians think they need to retire after having played a long innings? Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, the God of cricket in India, decided to hang up his boots when most of his admirers thought he still had plenty of cricket left in him. And, mind you, he had a huge fan following. That is what legendary cricketers from Sunil Gavaskar to Steve Waugh and many others have done. Hang up their boots voluntarily before one is made to do so unceremoniously. However, this is not to suggest that whatever happened was right, particularly the way it was done. But there is a basic philosophical issue involved which our ancient Indian thought explained rather succinctly. It is said that there are four stages in life based on age. These are called the four ashrams, which are Brahmcharya, Grihasta, Vanaprastha, and Sanyas — meaning the student life, family life, retired life, and renunciation, respectively. How well these stages fit into the cases being discussed here may not be easy to evaluate, but their implications are rather clear. That one must on his own volition think of calling it a day before it is too late. There are valid reasons for this. The first being that no one is going to be around for all times to come and it is better if this realisation sets in at the right time, rather than being forced to experience it. The Pauranic story of King Yayati, who desired everlasting youth, is a case in point. He longed for it, got it also by the wish of God. But he later realised that there is no end to this longing, this lust for pleasure and power. One must understand this reality. The other reason is that what will happen to this world if everyone craves for such desires and also gets them? Will it not lead to utter chaos? Moreover, what about the next generation? Is it not the duty of the previous generation to move out of the way of the future generations on their own, lest they are pushed by the wayside? Why do people go wrong in assessing when it’s time to say goodbye to your profession and let others take on the mantle? A big question that can only be answered by reflection. Looking inwards to realise that this world is a temporary abode where people come and go. Everything has a life that comes to an end. More importantly, this world also has a life. So live till you live, but let others live too. The golden rule is retire gracefully or else you get retired hurt.

Ram Rajya: The search for good Government

Ram Navami this year has come during election time and the first of the seven phases is already over. That in every election people try to elect a Government that meets their aspirations, that is, a good Government. Needless to say that it is this good Government that will deliver good governance. In the Indian ethos, Ram Rajya — the rule of Lord Ram in Ayodhya in the Treta era — is the epitome of good Government. With Lord Ram being always talked about during election times, it is important to look for those practices which Lord Ram talked about as determinants of good governance. Great examples of wisdom are contained in stories and discussions of Ramayana. In the Valmiki Ramayana, we have Lord Ram in exile, living in the forest. Younger brother Bharat comes home and finds out what had happened in his absence and is shocked. He does not want his elder brother to be thus banished. So he goes to the forest and requests Shri Ram to return. This itself is a great lesson, given the lust to rule so prevalent today. The loyalty, the sense of togetherness, the ability to sacrifice one’s own personal gain is rare to find. Shri Ram, before answering his younger brother, enquires about the state of affairs in Ayodhya. This dialogue may be termed as a discourse on good governance. Shri Ram asks Bharat 75 questions: “Are you ruling the kingdom properly? Are you taking care of the elders?” And so on. These questions cover a wide range of topics related to governance of kingdoms. The eldest brother says, “Bharat, you are the king and you are on top no doubt. But the secret of successful administration is mantra (counsel).” The words in Sanskrit are, “Mantro vijaya-moolam hi.” Is the younger brother taking the advice of his team? Does he have good counsellors in the first place? In another stanza in the same section, Shri Ram is almost humorous. “When you take counsel from people, do you go for numbers or for quality? One sensible advisor is better than a thousand idiotic people to go on giving opinions.” There is another lesson on the crucial issue of time management. Shri Ram says, “Do you take up such tasks first where the investment is small but the rewards are high?” When we manage our time, we need to take up such activities first where we put in a little time and the benefits are large. Today, we call such jobs ‘high priority jobs.’ One of the biggest errors in time management is that we labour on less important matters. Stephen Covey puts it as “doing first things first”. Do not yield to urgency. Do not give in to any other temptations. Do truly important things first. And Shri Ram guides us to do important things first and then do them in time. Shri Ram also talks on economics. He asks Bharat, “Is your income larger than the expenditure?” He says, “Bharat, I hope your expenditure is not for the sake of undeserving.” And in the several stanzas that follow, he outlines for whom one should spend and for whom one should not. Similarly, there are lessons on all the critical aspects of governance. Who should be our ministers, who should be our advisors, how to dispense justice, etc. If we only take the Ramayana lessons seriously, there will be no need to hire foreign-trained consultants.

Hello Brother

A friend in need is a friend indeed” is an old saying that suggests that friends must come forward to help friends when the need arises. In the same vein, can we not say that a brother in need is a brother indeed? Well, elder brother Mukesh Ambani proved exactly this, and in no uncertain terms, by bailing out younger brother Anil Ambani. The latter was in quite a bit of trouble after the Supreme Court had ordered that he either pay the dues of Ericsson amounting to Rs 580 crore, including the penalty, or face a jail sentence of three months. Senior Ambani intervened just in time to save the younger sibling from the ignominy of a jail sentence. A noble gesture indeed, given the huge amount, which also proved a point or two about the Indian tradition and value system where brothers have set examples of love and bonding time and again in history. True, there are instances that prove otherwise but what the Ambani brothers established was that sibling rivalry cannot be generalised though they are to be found. Sibling rivalry, for that matter, can be traced to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, the first brothers to appear on earth. From that story to the present times, sibling relationship has always been a mixed bag. There are cases of envy and hatred between brothers reaching up to a dangerous level of animosity, sometimes leading to a bloody feud. But there are heartening instances, too, like the present one that vindicate the spirit of the popular and ancient proverb that blood is thicker than water. Familial bonds are quite strong and arouse the feeling of being a part of the common descent. The Indian family system has always been a subject of curiosity and intrigue for the Western scholars of sociology where deep individualism rules the roost. Of course, the Indian family system has also been influenced by the cultural exchanges from the Western world, and is undergoing the disintegration owing to social and economic compulsions, but the emotional bonding keeps rising at times. Intra-family rivalry, particularly between siblings, cannot be said to be a missing trait in these times but the bonding of the blood relations becomes evident in times of external threat. There is an interesting incident from the Mahabharata when the Gandharvas attacked and captured the Kauravas, including Duryodhana. The Pandavas are told of this and there was a view particularly from Arjun and Bhim to let them suffer. But the elder Pandava, Yudhisthira, intervened saying that it is the question of family honour and even though Kaurava brothers bore animosity to the Pandavas, it was an imperative for the latter to come to the rescue of the former and fight the Gandharvas. Matters of the head and heart, thus, are difficult to explain and emotions being an attribute of the heart may not be interpreted or predicted with the help of Artificial Intelligence. What a human being does or has been doing, therefore, cannot be a sure shot predictor of what he will do. Reasons of the heart are driven by a completely different heuristic. The eleventh hour intervention of Mukesh Ambani for the younger brother demonstrated much more than what rationality could explain and showed the importance of the strength of family values and relationships. More importantly, it may have a lot more implications for Indian business.