Break away from ordinary

Why do we only have a few achievers at the world stage?

Today’s post is not about getting into the details of Vinesh and Manu Bhaker’s accomplishments but about a discussion which happened on WhatsApp in my engineering college group.

Many of us were really proud of the fact that they’ve won medals – no small feat when we think about Olympics.

But there was the usual chatter around India not doing well in the Olympics.

It was then that someone happened to ask if any of our kids was pursuing professional sports.

There was a deafening silence for a few minutes.
Not a single reply to the above question..

The fact is that most parents never encourage kids to take up professional sports.

There may be many reasons for the same:

-Rigorous practice which may hamper studies
-No guarantee of making it to the nationals even after toiling hard
-Less remuneration in the early stages of sports career

While you may be able to list down a few more, the fact is most of my batchmates (including me) want our kids to tread the easy/ established/ beaten path.

Why?
Well, there’s a better likelihood of a favourable outcome.

Favorable?
अरे बाबा, पढाई करके नौकरी लग जाएगी
And life would be set!

While we applaud and shower praises on the likes of Vinesh Phogat, Manu Bhaker, Neeraj Chopra and Harmanpreet Singh, we still shy away from encouraging our kids to be like them.

Thank God, their parents were different. They were encouraged to break away from the ordinary.

It’s not just about sports.

It’s about a shift in mindset, being open to exploring new things in life!

What do you think?

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