TUG OF WAR : Legacy of a team that never lost (Part II)

"God makes life tough so that you can show how tough you are."

Winning once meant you simply had to win again because you were the reigning champions and that’s was not at all an easy thing to do. By sitting with the audience one wouldn't feel the pressure of being the target of all the other teams. We don't know if anybody considered us as favorites but we did shock many with our first victory. So it wasn't easy going back to the ground again and you could bet that we were nervous.

This time under Raghulan’s captaincy our game plan was simple – We forget that we won last time, perfect our pulling technique and stay simple. We never wore any extra gear, some of us were wearing chappals, some in canvas shoes and few wore nothing. Our attire was simple t-shirts and pyjamas or tracks.

It’s always the final that freaks everyone out because it’s those three pulls that decide whether you win or you loose. There is nothing in being the runner-up team and its as good as loosing. And this time we had to face the MSc and MBA guys’ team for finals. Again these guys had very huge muscular bodies and we were not at all a comparison to their skill. But I guess within us we were a better team and they were better individually. Maybe they didn’t have a team strategy, because this is what I heard from the spectators who saw what happened on the field. Even though we were simple we didn’t look like strangers to each other and were more bonded. I found that to be a great lesson not only in sports but also in real life.

“You could be a great leader, a great well qualified, well trained, well experienced individual, but if you can’t give your team an advantage with that then it’s all waste.”

“Knowledge, skill and experience are valued only if you share them with others. There is no point in taking all that to your grave.”

“You will get only if you give” – I have heard it many times but only Ajai sir made me realize what it actually meant. Thank you. (And as my gratitude for all the stuff he has given me, I started sharing whatever I have and I can. And it didn’t take long to see the fruits of this action when my external hard disk gave up. All the data was there with my friends and it was just a matter of transferring it back. I am talking about 500GB’s of data.)

So like you would have guessed by now, we won the finals. And I remind you again and again, it’s never easy. If you really want to know how it feels after winning a Tug of War match I’ll tell you.

When you are out there looking at the other team, holding the rope tight, not knowing what’s going to come the next second. And suddenly the whistle blows (whether you want it or not) and its show time. You have just one thing in your mind and that’s to pull the rope till the next whistle blows (and also to make sure you are going backwards and not forwards). There is no break, no half time, no foul calls in between, there is nothing that’s comes in between once the whistle blows. You have only two options: forward or backward (leaving the rope is not an option till the whistle blows). Few seconds of this can drain out your body to a great extent (You won’t last for a minute). One by one you will feel your muscles tearing or spraining or the rope tearing your skin, but you just can’t give up.

Once it’s over then you realize that some parts of your body have started malfunctioning and some have started hurting badly. But the big joy of victory covers it all up and though it will sound strange, even with all the pain around you a victory can make you smile (Now you don’t want to know how it feels like to loose). A victory can make your day go sky high!

“Victory makes everyone forget everything and be happy. A failure makes everyone point fingers at each other and the true face of each person comes out. Unfortunately somebody has to loose and somebody has to win every time. That’s the way of life.”

- Multi-billionaire Donald Trump on the TV show “The Apprentice”.

“Loosing isn’t bad as long as you don’t make it a habit.” – Donald Trump

But the guys who win are not those who have been winning always but those who have learned from their failures and are well prepared for the worst case scenario. Going for a something unprepared is like going to for a sure failure with only luck by your side.

Immediately after the finals Sachin bhaiya (MBA) of the other team came to us and asked, “Why do you guys keep winning all the time? I am going to do a case study on your team (jokingly)”, to which we just smiled. Incidentally he was opposite us last year as well.

It was next year when we actually saw politics and cheating coming our way but luckily good sense prevailed. More in Part III.