Yuvraj Singh: Reflecting on the glory days

Yuvraj Singh

It was a Sunday evening. It was raining outside and the sky looked gloomy; however, amidst the dim light of the candle my thoughts suddenly got stuck to certain verses of a song that was playing on the radio. It was Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen and all he sang was:

Glory days, well they'll pass you byGlory days, in the wink of a young girl's eyeGlory days, glory days

I started pondering over the title of the lament for happier days of the past.

“It is human nature to underrate the present and grossly overrate the past,” said Harsha Bhogle, the voice of Indian cricket. But can the glory of your past really be ignored when the chips are down, when things don’t go your way and when all you crave for is a victorious return to the life you’d been living with nothing to vindicate against your own expectations of yourself.

From being an undaunted champion in the cricketing arena to the valiant fighter against cancer, he had seen it all. Yuvraj Singh, the hero we all love, the warrior we all adore.

From hero to villain

I remember that battle cry after the World Cup 2011 quarter-final win against Australia in Ahmedabad and the sense of fulfilment while weeping over Sachin Tendulkar’s shoulders after India’s triumph in the tournament. But life hasn’t been the same since then for him.

In the World T20 final, on 6 April 2014, we stripped naked one of the greatest limited-overs players of all time. With every dot ball Yuvraj faced in his 21-ball 11, with every single he took once he fell behind an accepted strike-rate, the groans got louder. Pelting stones on his house back home in India, his posters being torn down and turned to ashes, and what not.

That’s where it all started for Yuvraj, the sleepless nights spent ruminating over his own abilities, the dubiousness over his own spirits. Had he not been a part of all the aura that surrounded him in the past, the pressures of expectations would not have brought him down so much. More than feelings of self-doubt and indecision that surround you when you fail to match your own expectations, it’s the fond memories of having lived through them is what hurts you. It sucks all happiness, all positivity, all hope from a living being like Dementor, something even Harry Potter fears. So strong is the spectre of the pedestal, that one goes on to experience horrific levels of self-distrust.

The willingness to battle it out again

Yet Yuvraj is not the only one who’s been through all this, it happens to all of us at some time; a part of the human journey. What stands out, however, is the matchless fortitude and faith, which brought him back to the centre stage, playing for his nation and ready to risk going through it all, once again.

However, not everyone is blessed with the same toughness that brings the likes of Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova back most times from those desperate situations and that allowed Sachin Tendulkar to stand tall for 24 years straight amidst the billion hopes that surrounded him. Incidentally, neither of us have a ‘Jamavant’ who could remind us ‘Hanumans’ of our superlative capabilities and powers that we seem to forget during critical times like these.

However, one must not forget the same ‘Hanuman’ that lies within each one of us, one who possesses all strength and power to make things happen. Scholars often have stressed upon the importance of meditation in our lives. But what do we meditate upon? As far as I’m concerned, pondering over so-called ‘Glory Days’ might help a person to reflect upon his own capabilities and powers. And Bruce Springsteen sings:

Yeah, just sitting back trying to recaptureA little of the glory of, well time slips awayAnd leaves you with nothing mister

It might contrarily also be possible that the same reflection of that ‘little of the glory’ might also bring all of it back. Those strange, more deterministic or slightly different ways, one applied back then for the same pedestal that seems harder to climb today. And then, Harsha’s statement might be modified as “when the present gets tough, you should not refrain from overrating the Glory Days, rather learn from them”.

Also, one must remember how Krishna directed Arjun about the duties of a person, where he inspires him to work harder and get what is his right, yet he warns him that the fruit of the work may not be what he expected. I’d like to conclude with one of the most inspiring piece of poetry I’ve ever come across, by Robert Frost which states:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.