Heroes and Actors

What happens when something - that you are not ready for - happens. For a moment, lets leave the sad and the bad "somethings" aside and lets focus on the "good", "awesome" and "amazing" somethings for now... 


What happens when something too-good-to-be-true happens? We just do not know how to react. Or do we just choose not to react? There may have been so many such good moments in everyone's life -- 


1 - When you get that phone call that you have been selected for that dream job.
2 - When you see your name on that admission list of that highly esteemed engineering college.
3 - When you get the phone call stating that your sister's alliance has worked out.
4 - When you see the email that you have received a prestigious award.


Probably, at that point of time, I know that the most important peak has been scaled, now the rest of it is just a matter of time. The job paperwork, induction training, admission formalities, wedding preparations or actual award ceremony -- however difficult a task -- , you know that they will fall in place. If you are good enough to scale the peak, the downward journey from that point onwards is not going to be that difficult.


May be, your mind thinks - Let me just relax and soak in the moment. There are no words to explain that feeling. May be, your body is so exhausted by then that it does not have an ounce of strength left to do anything. But the fact is, the real achiever at that stage has the most sober reaction - either they are silent, or give a shy grin or just cry. More often than not, they will never be in the limelight, they prefer to hide behind the veil of anonymity even at the zenith - because they know that for the people who matter, the real author of this epic is evident.


Within the realm of this post, lets term these people as the HEROES... 


And then, there are the shallow pseudo achievers who howl the loudest at that moment. These are the people who always hover in the periphery of the real achievers and choose the right moment to step into the limelight and take the plaudits. Either their body has not done the heavy lifting and that is precisely the reason why they have strength left to pump their fists. May be they were not fully invested mentally in the achievement, and thats why they have the mental space to think about a speech right at that instant. More often than not, they will be in front of the lenses and the shutterbugs giving bites about how their role was so critical in this journey.


Within the realm of this post, lets term these people as the ACTORS... 


In reality though, it is not difficult to call out the Heroes from the Actors. If you know what achievement you are witnessing, it is very easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. But that rarely happens in real life though. In real life, the heroes and actors benefit almost equally from every success.


This fact was proven so truly after yesterday's World Cup Final Game - the heroes from yesterday's game Dhoni was almost absent during the celebration. For that matter, after accepting the trophy from Sharad Pawar, he handed it over to someone else and then the trophy was never seen with him the entire night. He never emoted aggressively, never pumped his fists, never cried vehemently, and for that matter, he was virtually invisible during the entire celebration. He was so happy to take the back seat and let the others bathe in the limelight. A true hero for the day.


Same about Gary Kirsten, he was the mastermind behind this success - yet he was so happy with the virtual invisibility. He is not keen on cashing in on the success - he is leaving this role even though the BCCI would agree to pay him anything to continue as a coach. No wonder every player was so full of words in praising him. A true hero in every sense.


I am not saying the rest of the team is a motley of impersonators or that they are the "actors" here. This is not a moment for that - the autopsy can be done on some other day.


In a strange coincidence, movies are supposed to be a reflection of real life. And ironically, in movies, the words heroes and actors are used almost alternatively. No wonder.