CRICKET UDIPI HOTEL ETC--TALENT AND GENES
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SAURABH GANGULY , GARY SOBERS, AND UDIPI HOTEL
• When I was a kid the great West Indies opening
SAURABH GANGULY , GARY SOBERS, AND UDIPI HOTEL
batsman Conrad Hunte visited my school on the day of rest of a test match between his team and India. After his speech I asked him the secret of success of my idol Gary Sobers. Hunte’s answer still rings in my ears decades later.
• When Saurab Ganguly found that no IPL 4 team wanted him ,he said that cricket is 85% talent and 15 % politics implying that it was politics that kept him out.Talent he had in plenty, or so he felt.
• In the course of my morning walk I almost always drop in at a restaurant near my home for a cup of ‘Kaapi’. On six occasions I have found that the restroom had an empty liquid soap container. My repeated entreaties to them to fill it up has had no response.
There is a common thread in each of these stories.
Take the Gary Sobers story. Hunte let me into Sobers’ secret. He said that he –Hunte- himself had asked Gary that question many times. One day over a drink Gary replied ‘
Look whenever I get out to a good ball ,I come back to the pavilion and replay that delivery in my mind several times and try to find out why I got out. Once I knew my fault I swore to myself never to get out that way ever again’
Saurabh Ganguly placed great store by talent but my thought processes went a few steps ahead .I asked myself—what is talent? Is it in our genes?Can one develop excellence in any complex activity without anyone in the family even faintly talented in that activity? And so on.
Ace cricketer Rahul Dravid –among the more cerebral players in the world cricket circuit these days-- recommends to all those who care to listen to him to read the book BOUNCE by Matthews Syed. This books seeks to answer some of these questions backed by a wealth of research. .
One finding in this book may surprise many of us. The great achievers in complex sports, music etc have achieved excellence BECAUSE OF EXTRAORDINARY DEDICATION IN THE FORM OF 10000 HOURS OR MORE OF PURPOSEFUL PRACTICE .
In saying so he takes off where Malcolm Gladwell stopped in his book OUTLIERS.
The gist of these books is that genes play hardly a part in outstanding success . Talent—in the sense of genetic endowments—we are told is vastly overrated.
These books talk about world class players like Tiger Woods, Beckham, Williams sisters , and many others including Mozart .In each of these and many other cited cases it was sheer purposeful practice that got them to world class eminence. Even so called child prodigies—like Mozart—started practice at as early an age as one!So did Sachin Tendulkar.
That brings me to the hotel experience of mine. What does a toilet without soap despite repeated requests tell us?
The lesson is this—mere practice is not enough. Purposeful practice is vital to success. WORKING ON AUTO PILOT FOR THOUSANDS OF HOURS WILL NOT TAKE ANYONE ANYWHERE.The hotel staff learnt nothing from my entreaties –the soap dish was never filled up .
M.S.Subbalakshmi ,Balamurali Krishna,Lata Mangeshkar.Vijay Amritraj, are a few examples of Indians who have achieved excellence in their chosen fields of activity backed by endless hours of practice. I personally know that the carnatic vocalists cited above engaged in daily ‘ sadhana’ long after they had nothing to prove to anyone!
Many readers might have heard it said that a good Indian doctor or surgeon is probably more brilliant than his American counterpart of equal experience. . The renowned Boston surgeon of Indian origin Dr.Atul Gawande says so in many of his books. Is this proof of any genetic superiority? Far from it. The fact is that owing to our humungous population and the relative scarcity of doctors and maybe the kind of medical issues he/ she faces, a doctor in India gets to learn in say ten years what a US doctor will learn in 30 years !
As for those who do not learn from experience—who are on auto pilot and those whose work is routine and mindless—I can only cite one experience of mine. A friend of mine retired after 35 years’ service in a nationalized bank. I asked him what he had learnt in these long years. He said something dramatic.
‘ I do not really have 35 years’ banking experience. I have 1 year’s banking experience 35 times!”
K.R.RAVI
WWW.KRRAVI.COM
