Don’t push your children to emulate Vaibhav

Window Seat 

Bihar born 14 years old Vaibhav Suryavanshi is the toast of the cricketing world at the moment. His 100 off 35 balls is the talk everywhere. But that’s what raises a number of key questions, mostly for parents.

Many parents would now push their 14 year olds to be like Vaibhav. If Vaibhav can at 14, why can’t  you at 16 is the next refrain for many children whose parents want them to be cricketers. If the child isn’t able to do it at 14, and is pushed to the brink by the obsessive parent, what can possibly happen?

Look at Kota, the coaching capital of India and the growing number of suicides of young men and women there - will give you the answer.

Sports writer Boria Mazumdar has written a thought provoking article on this. He writes, “For many of my generation Sachin Tendulkar was the yardstick. Everyone wanted their child to be the next Sachin. Face Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at the age of 16 and emerge victorious. The truth is it isn’t happening. Perhaps it will happen for one in a million kids. But that doesn’t make the 99.99 per cent any less. If someone comes into his own at the age of 18 or 19, that’s absolutely fine. It is okay to not be a Vaibhav at 14. Also, if you are 16 and aren’t a Vaibhav that too is okay. For one successful Vaibhav, there can’t be thousands of unsuccessful teenagers who develop mental health problems.

I am disgusted seeing these 'what were you doing at 14' kind of questions on social media. Not everyone needs to play cricket and dazzle the world at 14 and that’s what needs to be drilled in. Yes, we will all applaud and celebrate Vaibhav. We will sit and watch him in awe, for he is doing something extraordinary. But we will not for once take him as the norm. He isn’t the norm. Rather, he is an exception and should be looked upon as such.”

Remember Yashpal?

Yashpal(1903–1976) was an important member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), a radical political group involved in India’s freedom struggle. Previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), it was founded by Sachindranath Sanyal. Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra NathBakshi, and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee were the leaders of the group at the time.

After his arrest in 1932, Yashpal famously turned—in his own words—‘from bullet to bulletin’. This was the beginning of a long and prolific career as a novelist, short story writer, journalist and political commentator. He won the Hindi-language Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Meri Teri Uski Baat in 1976 and was also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.

Recently Orient Black swan has published an anthology of essays on Yashpal’s work and legacy, critically examining his crucial role in both the literary and the socio-political history of India focusing on his preoccupation with questions of gender and sexuality. An international group of scholars, working in both Hindi and English, has contributed to this volume, which also features a personal essay by Yashpal’s son Anand.

Simona Sawhney, Professor of Literature at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT, Delhi and Kama Maclean, Professor of History at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany are the editors.

End of an Era…

Two of the icons of Indian cricket Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bid adieu to Test Cricket recently just ahead of India's five-Test tour of England in June.

Rohit Sharma announced his retirement on May 7. His Test career spanned 67 matches over 11 years, during which he accumulated 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, with 12 centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score of 212 came against South Africa in 2019.

Virat Kohli called curtains on his Test career on Monday, 12 May. Kohli finishes as one of the finest Test batsman of his generation, with 9230 runs in the format – the fourth-best by an Indian batsman of his generation – and 30 Test centuries. Virat also set a new standard for fitness and aggression.

Cricket lovers of the world will remember the duo for a long time.

100 years of ‘A Passage of India’

E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, just completed 100 years. Published on 6 April 1924, it remains a seminal work on colonialism, race, and cultural misunderstanding. A century later, it continues to provoke reflection on the legacies of empire and the complexities of human relationships across cultural divides.

Set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s, the novel explores tensions between colonizer and colonized, and the limits of liberal humanism. Its nuanced portrayal of Anglo-Indian encounters and spiritual ambiguity remains relevant in postcolonial discourse, making A Passage to India a timeless meditation on identity, power, and the elusive possibility of genuine connection.

It was made into a film in 1984 by David Lean.

 ‘New Normal’?

I went to Kolkata on 10 May by Ispat Express. It reached almost four hours late. I returned to Sambalpur by Samaleswari Express (18005) on 12 May. It reached three hours late.

Late running of trains is the ‘New Normal’ or what!