The performance of Indian team in the cricket world cup has disappointed millions of cricket fans (... or the word 'fans' is an understatement!) across the country, and I too am one of them. But isn't it that we are going overboard with it ? Like burning effigies, attacking the houses of players, or a politician going overboard by saying "I can play better cricket than the team" among many other derogatory things. Yes, they were same people who were adulated and at some places, even worshipped and now they are suddenly living under a constant threat, by the same junta.
Cricket is not alone. Often in various other fields, people love to see you rise, then adulate you once you are at top, raises its expectations and then they literally rip you apart if you fail to meet their great expectations even once. This might be most in case of sports (cricket in this part of world), but even other fields have ween the same. For example few years ago bollywood had seen a sensation called Hritik Roshan. Yet, after few films he was literally ripped apart by the critics (though he later bounced back is another story).
On a smaller level, suppose a person from a neighbourhood makes it to an excellent undergraduate institute, does really well and lands up at a plum job, he will be treated like a hero. But if for soem reason he makes a small mistake and for a short duration he doesn't grow professionally, the same 'hero' may be at the recieving end of criticism with many fingers pointing towards him and many people advicing on many things what he could have done.
On the other hand suppose a person is excellent in any other field like sprots or music or acting, he is often not being allowed to excel in it and instead the focus is on "study well ... get good job", more often than not because of public scrutiny and what people will think.
Maybe, it is often this fear which prevents from taking risks to grow in life, to try out something new, to venture out, to make it big in life. And probably it is the same fear which becomes the biggest crippler in terms of performance orwhich sees potential genius getting bogged down by pressure of great expectations. This is probably more so in this part of the world where everybody is apparantly concerned about everybody and has an opinion or advice for everybody. And this may be one of those things which become potential stumbling block on the way to greatness - as an individual, or as a society.
Cricket is not alone. Often in various other fields, people love to see you rise, then adulate you once you are at top, raises its expectations and then they literally rip you apart if you fail to meet their great expectations even once. This might be most in case of sports (cricket in this part of world), but even other fields have ween the same. For example few years ago bollywood had seen a sensation called Hritik Roshan. Yet, after few films he was literally ripped apart by the critics (though he later bounced back is another story).
On a smaller level, suppose a person from a neighbourhood makes it to an excellent undergraduate institute, does really well and lands up at a plum job, he will be treated like a hero. But if for soem reason he makes a small mistake and for a short duration he doesn't grow professionally, the same 'hero' may be at the recieving end of criticism with many fingers pointing towards him and many people advicing on many things what he could have done.
On the other hand suppose a person is excellent in any other field like sprots or music or acting, he is often not being allowed to excel in it and instead the focus is on "study well ... get good job", more often than not because of public scrutiny and what people will think.
Maybe, it is often this fear which prevents from taking risks to grow in life, to try out something new, to venture out, to make it big in life. And probably it is the same fear which becomes the biggest crippler in terms of performance orwhich sees potential genius getting bogged down by pressure of great expectations. This is probably more so in this part of the world where everybody is apparantly concerned about everybody and has an opinion or advice for everybody. And this may be one of those things which become potential stumbling block on the way to greatness - as an individual, or as a society.
Comments
Post a Comment