Friday, August 5, 2016

Sunday Cricket Lessons - Surrender to the Guru

These days I love it when I see young kids like ten year old Kapish (and so many more) touch Mr. Baig's feet when they meet him at the beginning of the peactice session or when they take leave. It's such a lovely getsure and really warms my heart to see. It signifies total surrender to the coach. They do it even when no one else does it.




I'd see this gesture in kids from North India - cricketers - when we would play against North Zone as school boys. But South Indian kids were not much into it as I saw. Ego? Class? Education? God knows what but there was always something that held us back from fully acknowledging and surrendering to the guru. We'd all nod, or say Good Morning or whatever and get on with life. I do wish we'd have done this - its a great thing for the ego, for learning.

What's even better is how Kapish's father Mr. Rawat also touches and reveres Baig sir by touching his feet. A few more fathers do that too (mostly North Indian). Kapish plays wonderful cricket for his age (he's the young kid in the video showing the cricket shots) and his older brother is fast improving, but with the lessons they are learning on the cricket field, the effort will certainly not go in waste. They are already on the road to being successful human beings thanks to the lessons taught by their role model, their father, and the respect they have for Baig sir.

Mr. Baig has fifty years of coaching experience and he still shows up first at the ML Jaisimha Coaching Centre. I have not seen dedication and passion like his. This was shot a month ago - he is 80 plus.

His wards are as interesting as he is. Apart from the many now invisible Test cricketers who have passed through his nets, there are several others who still come by to meet him. Like young Aditya Jella, who shot this video and posted it on YouTube out of sheer respect for his coach. Aditya is a leg spinner and a trained cinematographer who learnt his craft at the New York School of Film Making, actor and singer and a wonderful young man to know. (You could check out some stunning videos he has made if you just google his name.)

But to go back to the original story, great to see this aspect of surrendering to the guru. More power to the learning mindset - to learning above everything else.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved your video. especially the write up. In today's world, respect and bowing down to an elder (here it is the bygone era cricketer) is fast becoming unheard of. The boy Kapish looks very promising. Hope he gets selected one day to play for India :)

Harimohan said...

Thanks Anon. Your comments are much appreciated. The video is entirely shot, edited and uploaded by Aditya Jella, a cinematogrpaher of wonderful ability and a student of Baig sir. Yes Kapish has so many things going for him and we all hope he will continue enjoying doing what he loves best, and provide great joy to billions.