LESSONS LESSONS EVERYWHERE 

Kajal Chaterjee

No congratulation is enough for Christiano Ronaldo for successfully urging the referee to reverse a penalty decision given in his favour while representing Al Nassr club in Asian Champions League as the tackle by the rival Persepolis player didn't merit such a harsh decision!

 

The iconic Ronaldo has transmitted a great message through his actions that despite hard competition in life;  morality and remaining true to one's conscience are the only things which matter at the end of the day.

 

Now the World Champion Australians.

 

Far from returning to the home country as the combined full squad in victorious mode, as many as seven of them( that included Adam Zampa Steve Smith Glen Maxwell Marcus Stoinis and even Man of the Match in World Cup final Travis Head) preferred to stay back to play an absolutely inconsequential T20I series against an almost "India B team" led by Suryakumar Yadav! 

 

Thereafter in batches of 2 or 4 the winning members have returned to Australia after playing few matches with the star sensation Head still remaining in India! 

 

So obviously arises no team parade upon bus rooftop or even public reception despite such stupendous success after initial setbacks in group league stage! 

 

Only after more than a week, just a simple media conference attended by just the captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc with the casual display of the World Cup without any fanfare or boisterousness! 

 

What a sense of maturity and poise on the part of the Aussies! No public or media lunacy on victory with the cricketers being turned into "Gods", no question of attacking the residences of cricketers or burning their posters on defeat also treating them as "Devils"! 

 

Can such things be imagined if India wins any World Cup tournament in foreign shore! Many stars of the squad remaining in that country to play inconsequential matches against home team, players returning in batches, no public parade or reception with the captain Rohit Sharma and say Mohammad Shami casually meeting the press after passage of more than a week!

 

When would the Indians take a lesson of maturity from the Aussies and learn the essence of life! 

 

 As for the saviour heroes in Uttarakhand who had ultimately accomplished the "Mission Impossible"; on being asked "What do you want in return", the rat-miners replied "Absolutely nothing. Labourers have saved fellow labourers. May be someday we will be trapped somewhere during work and these rescued workers will save us"! 

 

How coolly can they utter the hard realities of life with full knowledge that they can also get similarly trapped somewhere in life along with optimism intact that their fellow brothers would also save them selflessly! 

 

 What a message of optimism and  selflessness have been transmitted by these unsung valiant philosophers of life in this materialistic world where prices of airlines to hotels, cabs to essential commodities get astronomically inflated in the slightest smell of any "opportunity", that too even during crisis as got witnessed in Balasore with hotel tariffs attaining a massive height immediately after the devastating train accident in nearby Bahanaga Bazar railway station few months ago! 

 

  Will the commercial sector learn few lessons of humanity and fair play from these "uneducated" rat-miners (languishing at the lowest end of social and economic hierarchy) and get morally enlightened that compulsion and tragedy of people should never be encashed upon! 

 

Neither the filthy rich glamorous matinee stars nor the overhyped cricketers, rather these hardworking community are the real heroes of the nation and society.