Lessons beyond the Schools and Colleges:

In my life, that too in recent times, I used to regret about the education that I had at the school and college level. I used to feel that I did not learn what needed to be learnt and wasn't taught what needed to be taught. Now, I regret the very reason I regretted. I forgot the foremost lesson "Observation". I feel it is my mistake not to notice the teachers or gurus beyond my immediate surroundings and was blindly attached to the traditional education system, considering teachers as the only sources of Knowledge and Wisdom.

I doubt how many of us asked questions at our school and college level. I guess it must be very less in number even if asked. Though we know something is wrong, we were scared to refute the arguments of teachers and the teachers' behavior was different where ego played a bigger role than the courage to switch to argumentative tradition which is being established recently in all levels. The other source of information which I forgot was observation beyond the school/college boundaries. I learnt so many lessons from them recently and I regretted why I didn't do it since my childhood and felt its worth sharing. You must be guessing who they are! There are many around us, however I want to mention few legends of our generation who I consider as the indomitable champions and undisputed individuals. They are none other than Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly. I find the lessons from these people can never be taught in schools, colleges or anywhere else. Those lessons are difficult to comprehend, however I will try my best to articulate my thoughts and pen them down.

Sachin, The maestro of Cricket, may be the most famous celebrity in our nation. And I can feel how he is being haunted by media, however I never found him making contradictory statements, giving false justifications, criticizing peers or anything of that. He is a hero for the last 20 years and yet he didn't speak a single sentence, which made me feel that he shouldn't have. I felt bad about myself millions for making statements that I shouldn't have. I consider him as an epitome of true character and a portrait of greatness at its peak, however his simplicity is beyond imagination. That is why people love and respect him as much as god. Coming to Dravid, his equanimity is unquenchable. Being considered as the great wall of Indian cricket team, he never lost his temper and never spoke a wrong word in his career. It takes a lot of courage not to lose temper when you have million critics criticizing you for what you cannot be blamed. He showed the world what courage means. And Ganguly, the best ever test captain, who defied the critics who blamed his capability, killed my ego with a great comeback. I bet none can match him in what he did. The struggle for that, I feel is the most excruciating one. Once hailed as an all time great and then being dumped unceremoniously, how patient and valiant should one be to put his ego aside to come out and say publicly that how much potential he has and how much capability he has to play for the nation. We, so small compared to these legends, struggle to keep our ego aside. The one who is considered to be the best Indian captain ever, got lost in the woods only to scale the peak with great pomp and success. Do you think such lessons can be taught in schools about setting aside your ego, to have patience etc, I don't think so! So, it is important to be aware of what's happening around and also analyze that to an extent, where you can absorb the gist of its existence. May be god created these people to teach us the lessons which otherwise couldn't have been taught or learnt.