Ideal idol...

Ideal Idol…

I have had many idols and heroes while growing up. I was a big fan of Phantom, Mandrake and Superman, but I realized quite early that not all heroes wear capes (or their underwear on the outside for that matter!)So most of them were sportsmen, as I was fond of sports and they made the biggest impression on me.

Prakash Padukone was one of my favorites and I keenly followed his career. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I had to be content with newspaper clippings and sports magazine articles about his exploits. In an era, with no facilities or coaching, winning The All England and dominating the likes of Liem Swie King, Han Jian and Morten Frost was stuff that legends were made of. He was, undoubtedly, a pioneer who put India on the World Badminton map. I have admired his achievements and conduct on and off the court.

So when I planned to visit Bangalore some months back, I decided to try and meet him. He was gracious enough to give me his time. He was punctual, friendly, humble and courteous. I had a fascinating conversation for more than half an hour about his journey and sports. I am sure that he doesn’t meet many people nowadays who speak about his Badminton for 30 minutes and about his daughter for only 1 minute!

Suffice to say that it was a memorable meeting and he only reiterated my impression that he was a class act then and he is a class act now.

When I was a teenager I began aping the extremely talented John McEnroe and I thought that it was ok to behave badly on the court. If you want to know the truth, I had all his tantrums and none of his talent! There was also this notion that if you want to win, then you need to be like that. Then I saw Edberg, Sampras and now, Federer, who showed that you can win without being a jerk. Looking back, I feel that his behavior and mine was unnecessary and unacceptable.

We all admire people for various qualities, skills and achievements. Words like Fan, idol and Hero are often used. Amongst this list of achievers whom one looks up to and maybe even try and emulate; the term ‘Role Model’ stands out. I feel it is important for us to distinguish the difference. There is only a select group of people who can earn this honour. This is achieved only by leading a life of integrity and character. As C.S.Lewis said “Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking.”

In my opinion, all heroes and role models don’t necessarily have to be perfect. After all, we all have our flaws and expecting someone to be perfect can be unreasonable.

A role model doesn’t necessarily have to be squeaky clean. There are people who have been brutally honest about their mistakes and have, since, led lives which inspire others. The name of Andre Agassi comes to my mind.

I also tend to have a bias towards self-made achievers. Role models don’t necessarily have to be celebrities. They can even be the common man who has made the most of the cards that he has been dealt with. One can admire people who go about their life with dignity and just try to be the best that they can be.

It is even more critical that we guide our children to choose the right role models.

Ideally, one should try and be a role model to your kids, but given that they tend to get influenced by various personalities, it becomes important that they get influenced by the right people, for the correct qualities and values.

In today’s world, success is often measured by the bank balance. A well oiled PR team works overtime in building a certain persona of the celebrity. It is imperative that we learn to read between the lines and understand that image is not everything.

Role models play a role in our lives and help mould our character. I often use an example of a sportsman or a famous person when I need to explain something to my children or simply inspire them. We need to tell our kids stories of people who faced challenges, how they overcame them, how they picked themselves up and persevered after failures and most importantly, how they conducted themselves as human beings.

My favorite line for my kids and everyone out there is “When life throws you a Rahul , make it a Dravid, not a Gandhi!”