Page 21 - Seniors Today - August 21 Issue

At this juncture, I cannot help but allude understand human minds and grow as
to the post-medal riches and rewards
that are asymmetrically tilted towards
gold in proportion to silver and silver in
proportion to bronze. In the Indian context
of significant disparities in incomes and
access to training and exposure of the
winners, the states and companies and
sponsors could have been more sensitive,
empathetic and circumspect in deciding
their largesse. At the end of the day, all
winners, sans colour of medals, need equal
backing and support as today’s silvers and
bronzes can be tomorrow’s golds. And,
of course, we can do without the likes of
Captain Amarinder Singh who immaturely
tweet their parochially leaning praise of the
Punjabi goal scorers in the bronze winning
men’s hockey team when it is a team
game where the team cannot win without
adequate defenders and passers from other
states. How terrific it would have been
had he say awarded say P V Sindhu (of
Andhra Pradesh) or Maharashtra awarded
say Miraben Chanu (of Manipur). Certain
politicos deserve a gold medal for playing a
different kind of a game! We may be federal
in structure, but can’t the states think of the
nation as one for a change.
PV Sindhu
The main point here is not to debunk or
dilute counterfactual thinking. Obviously,
these studies and concepts help us
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #26 | AUGUST 2021
individuals. A downward counterfactual
thinking is about how a situation could
have been worse and thereby it helps in
positivity and acceptance of a situation. An
upward counterfactual thinking is about
how a situation could have been better and
thereby it could make people feel unhappy
about their achievements, but at the same
time it can propel them to do better in
future. Both are enablers and help people
do better. A Neeraj Chopra must already
be thinking about and working out to
reach a threshold of 90 meters by the next
Olympics. A Sindhu must be introspecting
and gearing up with the shuttle for a gold
stop at her next outing. The women’s
hockey team must be analysing their moves
and passes and planning for a podium
finish at the next games. Every person,
across fields, disciplines, professions and
vocations analyse their performances
and strategize to get to the next level. It’s
human drive and desire after all, to get to a
relatively a better position in life.
Neeraj Chopra after winning the gold at the Tokyo Olym-
pics
Let’s continue to play with foresight,
the hindsight of ‘What if’ can wait. For,
a winner never quits and a quitter never
wins. It’s all about ‘nishkamya karma’ as
Bhagwat Gita says. What has to happen
will happen and is for the best.
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