Dog days

The start of a New Year is usually a time for resolutions, when we pray for forgiveness of our sins and yearn for a year wherein we finally find the path to absolution.  Given the number of such resolutions made annually, it’s fair to say that most of us don’t do a particularly good job of keeping these, and hence defer our salvation to another year.  Rather than making any such personal resolutions this year, why not instead try and do something for those less fortunate than us, and gain some brownie points from Up Above?  In that spirit, I’d like to start by remembering those who once had reached the altar of success and were considered untouchable by all others, but who currently are languishing, having been given up on by the very same people who had once crowned them as their saviours.  How fickle indeed is human nature, lured ever forward by the “Next Big Thing”, with nary a care as what happened to those who got left behind?  So here’s my tribute to a few worth eulogizing, with the hope that their current state is not a reflection of their real worth, and that they can soon ascend again the pinnacle from where they have been dethroned.

My first remembrance goes to Blackberry.  Oh, those days of a decade back, when this little startup changed the lives of every executive!  Email went from being something done in office to something we could proudly carry with us wherever we went, with the red blinking light a symbol of success, much like that of a VIP’s car.  The more it blinked, the more it highlighted our importance, and it’s fair to say that many a corporate career was made from proudly displaying how many more blinks one got than one’s peers.  And the devices changed too, getting smaller and sleeker, faster and lighter all the time, reflecting all our inner desires of looking younger while really getting older, of gaining wisdom but not wrinkles, of being able to experience new things without worrying about what we have lost.  But the Blackberry was no match for the Iphone and its siblings, with its touch screen interface, super-duper apps and the magic of Jobs.  Blackberry was spared the process of ageing, going from youth to old age almost overnight.  So while we all try and reach the next level in Angry Birds or sync our latest photos from our Mac to our Iphones and Ipads, spare a thought for the granddad of smartphones—not the latest, not the greatest, but certainly the pioneer of what a mobile was truly capable of beyond just talk.

My second thought goes to whiskey, or “Scotch” as all whiskeys in India are referred to.  No wonder it is said that more Scotch is consumed in India than produced in Scotland!  While the aristocrats of this wonderful beverage debate whether the malts of Islay or Speyside are more original, and while the masses drink anything that resembles the original in name or colour, the sad fact is that whiskey is increasingly looked upon as the drink of those whose best days are over.  Ever been to a bar or trendy restaurant recently and said “whiskey please”?   In all likelihood, the young person on the other side of the counter would have looked pitifully at you, and probably thrown in a pain-relief capsule gratis, out of courtesy for your long years gone by.  No, hate it as we might, all connoisseurs of this delightful drink have to accept that our days are numbered.  The mojito will prevail over the malt, and the Russians will likely have the last laugh over who invented the best way to kill the cold.  And those who couldn’t care less about this debate are called wine drinkers, lost in their own world of red and white, where the ability to pronounce “Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux” is more important than the taste of this unknown liquid. 

Admit it as I might, even with Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist forgiveness in my heart, this last remembrance is the most difficult.  There is a saying I read somewhere about “to have loved and lost is better than not to have loved at all” or something on those lines.  Poetic admittedly, but in the context of the performance of the Indian cricket team, immensely difficult to accept.  The beginning of 2011 was when this team soared to heights hitherto unknown to all devotees of the sport—winning the World Cup and becoming the top ranked Test team.  It was as if India had been transformed into what the Spaniards are experiencing right now—world champions on the one hand, with our own Barcelona as the toast of the cricketing world.  How quickly do mirages disappear, and how soon does Cinderella become a pumpkin!  The thrashing in England followed by the mauling in Australia leaves no scope for doubt—the Gods are human after all, and humans have no place in the clouds.  So it’s time to face reality and come to terms with the inevitable mortality that is the only truth for all of us.  But it’s the dreams that sustain us, the hope that give us the highs to face the daily troughs, the adrenaline rush which comes with having conquered peaks we thought unattainable.  So while it’s quite likely that the Oz odyssey will become another chapter of shame in our cricketing annals, who knows what tomorrow holds?  Perhaps the dog days will end soon, and the dog will finally get its day in the sun. All I can say is—“Cheers to that!” and yes, I will tweet that from my Blackberry.