Ayn Rand wrote the following words:-
“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all.
Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach.
The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.”
- Atlas Shrugged
When I went to bed last night, I laid down, closed my eyes and immediately remembered India was playing Australia on day five with a chance to do something no one had done apart from India in ages, take a Test Series lead. I put on my glasses and quickly rushed to my laptop to check the score and would you know it, Zak had led a fiery charge in the morning and India were on the cusp of a famous win. Pleased with the efforts and smiling alone in that apartment with no one to share the moment with, I thought it best to hit the sack and let time play its course.
I awoke this morning and the first coherent thought was the game and with the excitement of a kid waking up Christmas morning I once again rushed to the laptop to check the result praying for rains to have stayed away and hoping for the win. They did not disappoint. The victory was almost expected, the manner in which it came was not. A thrashing of epic proportions. India 1 Aus 0
Bringing me back to Ayn Rand’s famous passage. The Indian team is filled with veterans who have fought the fair and very long fight in their careers with individual brilliance but have very little to show for it keeping aside all the counting stats. They could have easily given up after their leader had shoulder problems and was unable to play but the efforts they showed were the difference between what is and what might have been. India have always been criticized as not having the heart to achieve things.
Over the past 5 days they have proved what is possible. How much longer will this fire burn? Were these dying embers or a spark of things to come.
We can all take a lesson from this effort. We can all get the world we desire.
It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s ours.
