~*The Joy Of Life*~

It is the darkest & eeriest part of the night. Incessant rainfall, coupled with stormy winds, lashed at the windows.  He paced around the waiting area in the hospital, hoping against hope that everything would turn out alright. Like all people with loved ones in the hospital wards,  he was a touch nervous and a tad apprehensive. Hospitals are the breeding grounds for such emotions.

Nobody can ever understand what the people waiting outside the hospital rooms go through. Words are simply not enough. Just as he was beginning to wonder about his wife inside the room, a nurse emerged and came up to him, her face the very embodiment of stoicism. “She’s alright Mr. Rishi”, the nurse said, “congratulations you have just become the father of an adorable pair of twins !!” The boy , girl and mother are perfectly healthy, recuperating as we speak.”

The tiny neurons carrying emotion gushed through his body as he took this all in. He was quick to thank the Almighty for his blessings on the family. He brushed happy tears from his eyes. A goofy grin lit up his face. His feet were dancing to a tune of their own.

As he entered the ward for the first time, he looked at the little bundles of joy and let out an amazed gasp. His children were an extension, a continuation of himself.  He soon realised that this was the dawn of a fresh morning in his life.  Rishi knew that from this moment on he would be seeing the world through his children’s eyes.

He wondered what kind of a father he would turn out to be. The magnitude of the responsibilities was not lost on him. He was responsible for nurturing two little angels and “bringing them up right.” Should he be autocratic ? Liberal? Playful ? Or a hard taskmaster ?

When Rishi took his children into his arms for the first time, he realised that the parental style was simply incidental to what his main role was: providing LOVE.

He thought of what his son’s first words would be. When would his daughter take her first steps? Would his son be a batsman, or a bowler? Would he even like to play cricket with his old man?

Rishi did not have too much time to dwell on this as the rigours of parenthood kept him extremely busy. Sleep soon became a thing of the past and parental duties occupied every nanosecond in the day. Forget a 60 hour week. This was a 168 hour week, 52 weeks in a year, for the rest of his life. But it was the most satisfying job Rishi had ever undertaken.

The only real worry Rishi now faced related to a problem that would occur many years later : when his daughter would grow up and all the boys would chase her

*~Men of Steel~*

What a hero should be is etched deep into our consciousness when we are young and impressionable. The difference between the truly great and the simply very good is miniscule, but is yet always picked up by our sponge like adolescent grey cells.

The way a man walks, talks, his poise and his demeanor push him into the elite echelons of great men with almost God like qualities who, in our eyes, are capable of steadying any ship in any storm. It is our heroes who inspire us, who are the fuel to our dreams & the wings to our hopes. The great deeds of our heroes instill in us an unshakable self belief which allows us to push above our weight and achieve more than what was thought possible.

When the redoubtable Rahul Dravid stood up to and flayed the most hated sports outfit of my childhood, the fearsome Australian cricket team, in an intensely fought Test series in 2003-04, I gaped in awe. Through sheer grit and determination he denied the Aussie bowlers the joy of getting him out, all the while piling on the runs like an unstoppable juggernaut. At Adelaide, a truly special display saw him score a magnificent double century and secure for India what was thought impossible – a Test win on Australian soil. D(r)avid had slain Goliath!

A few years later, in 2007, Kimi Raikkonen joined Ferrari as the successor to the most successful F1 driver of all time – Michael Schumacher. In one of the most intensely fought and intriguing championships I’ve seen, Kimi made the F1 title his own on the last lap of the last race by a single point. Consistently putting in raw displays of speed and showcasing unparalleled car control, he raced the Prancing Horse to what till today is their last world title.


These two men were the icons of my childhood. As the years rolled on, I cheered for every boundary Dravid scored, every record he made his own and every match he won for India. He showed me what could be achieved with single minded unwavering focus.

Kimi Raikkonen showed you don’t have to be a conformist to succeed. He refused to be moulded into someone he wasn’t for the supposed “greater good” and exhibited an increasingly rare trait in F1 drivers – a sense of humour. Famously, when he was leading the Abu Dhabi GP in 2012 and the team were on the radio telling him to manage his tires and to watch out for the driver behind him, Kimi retorted in his inimitable style “Leave me alone – I know what I’m doing”. 

To give you a measure of his popularity, that one line sold millions in F1 merchandise. Kimi went on to win the race ofcourse. All good things have to come to an end and Rahul Dravid eventually hung up his boots after slamming over 24,000 international runs. His exit from the international arena was much like the man himself – graceful and dignified.

It was then that I realized how the hands of the clock had moved and how even I had grown up. The following year I started my first job! After a lacklustre last couple of years, doubts were raised over Kimi’s future. His critics had their daggers out, proclaiming vehemently that he was past his prime, almost a “has been”. Every time he lit up the race track with a phenomenal overtake, I beamed in an unabashed wave of emotion. “Show them what you’ve got” the awe struck boy in me yelled out.

Like millions of fans around the world, I too breathed a sigh of relief when Kimi signed the 2016 contract with Ferrari. My childhood hero will line up on the grid again next year and I believe he’ll storm to many more race victories. He’ll roll back the years and I’ll be a boy jumping up and down on my sofa in front of the TV again.


When our heroes begin to ride off into the sunset, it is our duty to remember them at their prime and thank them for all that they’ve taught us. As Kimi would say “Let’s leave them alone.. they know what they’re doing.”

PS – So who’s your childhood hero? Do let me know!