Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy is regarded to be the epitome of his amazing cinematic career. 'Aparajito' was the second movie of the trilogy, and is my personal favourite. The indomitable spirit of the young boy was awe-inspiring and left a deep impact on me when I first saw the movie as a young boy myself. For those who have not seen the movie, I highly recommend the trilogy even if you don't understand Bengali. Watching it with subtitles is not the same thing, but pretty close!
On Saturday seeing Sourav Ganguly turn back the years for a brief moment during the recent IPL match (Pune vs Delhi) made me ponder a favourite Bengali question... why do we find Dada so endearing? He was a good batsman, but that was some years back. While he had a good captaincy record, Dhoni's is probably as good if not better.
Once considered the centre of India's power, West Bengal is of little consequence in today's political milieu. Kolkata, once India's capital, is probably the largest unimportant city in India today. It is therefore not surprising that Bengalis love to live in the past, in the glory days of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray. Talk to a Bengali and either one or both these names will come up in the first five minutes of the conversation!
From the late 90s (when he started his career) to now, Sourav Ganguly has become the next icon in Bengal. For Bengalis (and some others!) he represents this indomitable spirit in real life. He is an icon not because he is, or was, the most talented but because of his determination. He inspires us to do better with what we have, and to not give up. The admiration for him is for demonstrating that strong willpower and determination will pay off and to stay true to what one believes.
Sourav's biggest contribution to Indian cricket is that it made it a team that believes. By making it a truly world class team that can compete outside India. I think, in a country where cricket is religion, India's improvement in cricket played a strong part in instilling self-belief among all of us as we all strode to compete in the global world in our respective fields.
His other big contribution is to instill in us the power of not giving up and the value of tenacity. A cricketer with many achievements like Sourav would have been expected to give up after the Greg Chappell incident but he came back. An "icon" IPL player kicked out of his home team 'Kolkata Knight Riders' and not picked up at the subsequent auction should have given up but he came back again.
Sourav is not much of a batsman these days; clearly playing from memory. A few days away from his 40th birthday, his reflexes are slower and eyes are dimmer, but the spirit is there. It is fascinating to see him work with the bits and parts Pune team and turn it around as he instills self belief and resilience in a bunch of young cricketers.
The ability to inspire and the indomitable spirit is what makes Sourav Ganguly have such a strong impact on us at a deep emotional level. While the cognitive brain may argue against his value in a cricket team, the emotive brain holds on steadfastly. And if one wants to create a team that has a strong following we need to find an emotional connection for the audience.
I think this is the part that Shah Rukh Khan and his band of merry men missed. KKR without Sourav is a team without an emotional connection to it's audience. One can throw in as many Kallises and Gambhirs and they can win the IPL, but the KKR tagline 'Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo' (will win, will fight, will win) sounds empty without the man who instilled the 'Aparajito spirit' in Bengal, and perhaps the rest of India.
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