Success vs. Joy
- XVII -
Must You Play to the Gallery?
As a kid I used to read a series of books whose main character was a cowboy called ‘Sudden’. He would invariably be alone on his horse. He was basically a one-man army who would miraculously appear out of the blue to help. He would stay for a few months in a town and after he had done his bit, would ride away.
I was fascinated by Sudden’s character. I guess what appealed to me the most was that he never grew attached to a town and always rode away. He would not stay to be celebrated as a hero. His joy was in overcoming evil.
Most sportspersons initially play for the sheer joy of playing. Somewhere along the line, some of them start playing to the gallery; they play to please the audience. That’s when things go downhill. This corruption has affected many. Once you start playing for what you think society wants from you, you get sucked into the sins of pride and arrogance. And, sadly, by then the joy of playing fades away.
Is there an audience when you are playing golf or billiards? Yes, normally there may be. But the genuinely talented player only plays selfishly, for himself and not for the audience. This is what gives him unadulterated joy and pleasure.