THE EPHEMERAL LIFE........... some learning from Azhar

Azharuddin son is dead and Azhar  is very composed and doesn’t lose his balance at such hard times ..   Loss of a child, and in that a teen age child is one of the most difficult things to handle and to  come out without getting disillusioned about life is a great virtue … But life has a way and life goes on….. It has to go on…

Couldn’t help feeling very sympathetic for Azhar as he has seen tough times in life like most of us have in varied dimensions and measure..  But  Azzu bhai was one of the significant entity in many of our lives and he was essential part of our growing up… Don’t want to even vaguely get into his scandals as that is just one part and is history leaving many questions unanswered..

The year 1984/85 and it was Calcutta ( not Kolkatta then ) and he walked into the eden gardens and looking at the crowd ….. For a shy Hyderabadi  orthodox muslim, that sight should have been enough to shit bricks and the situation was so very tense and demanding …  What happened in 3 matches forms a great and good part of Indian Cricket history.  His style, endurance, shot selection, temerity, presence on the ground, alacrity on the field were instantly talked and appreciated ….  Hyderabadis probably did not have a bigger reason in more than a decade to take pride of…  No hindu, No Muslim… He is Azzu bhai, living in Vittalwadi in a proper pucca middle class home with hardly a two wheeler at home and his Dad being a Govt officer..

His Humility, his hard work, his simplicity was noticed and much talked…  For most of us , he made us believe that, sheer talent can silently get the accolades and deserved recognition. My brother Ratan instantly recollected that he was his class mate in Aliya Junior college and that he would not talk much. That he was god fearing and extremely simple but used to hit huge sixers that would come off to the main road near Nizam College .

We would all go and cross his home and hope to see him but quite soon he was protected by his friends and family.  On day I saw him passing santoshnagar on a scooter as pillion and it was hard to believe and this was after he played couple of series …

Somewhere success, money, recognition got into his head and life changed for him and we are no one to comment or judge as everyone in their terms make mistakes in life..  But Azzu bhai belonged to our age group’s consciousness, beliefs, expectations and his success was our success and his failure was saddening to us..  His earliest and quick learning was communicating in English and once I had the rare opportunity of interviewing him for Radio at his home just a while before he was dropped as captain for Australia tour…  I felt I did not do a run of the mill interview…  But after the interview, I asked him how he felt…  He quipped’ ky hai, sab routine hai”… I was shocked at his utter candidness. But that’s how we all were… very upright and unafraid..

Somewhere after he got embroiled into a controversy, we all moved away from him and did not even want to concur or deny..  Our love for him made many of us silent … May be like in watching films, we suspended our disbelief..  Life moved 2 decades after that……. Suddenly his composure, his grace at the tragedy has made me recollect what I will take liberty and call “ The essence of Azzu bhai”……God give him peace and strength to get over this…

This affects many of us a lot….  Just a silent introspection …. Life is so ephemeral and this lack of permanency should time and again give us a strong lesson that, what are we holding everything for?  Why is this attachment to people, material and intangible… How many books and how much knowledge is required to make us know to let go everything … We leave this life and this life leaves us ……. Why are we all striving to be un happy?  Azzu bhai was happy after his 3 centuries and not after he had money to all the watches in the world he loved to…..

This moment belongs to us… We eat we sleep we talk we breathe, we walk, we watch we experience and all on our own and for our self…. Detachment is what all religions preach and detachment is what gives us everything we ever wanted… hold to leave and leave to hold is the essence of life..  this, azzu bhai knew somewhere very intently  and probably belief in religion taught him that… But our common religion, cricket betrayed him as he betrayed the game too.  He got possessive about his being and he failed then… He is detached now and he succeeded to live on….  Azzu bhai is one example to learn and we are several examples to ourselves to keep improving each minute… Let go to let be….

Just remain silent for 5 minutes and observe the breath and thank the unseen and remain calm…  Life and nature are crying to help and teach us… Lets embrace the wisdom…  God bless all and Azzu bhai will hit more centuries on life values of crisis’s   and come out successfully from the tragedy ..