Roller blading, taking to the next level, and ISKON
In rollerblading, there is something called ‘moving in a pack’ – skaters line up behind each other, and skate in one motion. The idea being that the first guy in the pack faces the wind, and sets the speed and direction for the rest of the pack. This helps people skating behind conserve energy. Of course, they take turns to lead a pack. People with similar skill levels form a pack.
Isn’t that what we all do, get ourselves into a pack, and let our speed and direction be set by the leader in the pack – just that in our case, we don’t even know who the leader is, and the size of the pack is rather huge. Also, here there are no taking turns in leading the pack. We are all so happy just being part of the pack, and happy at not having to face the wind. An interesting point to note here is that the leader of the pack is of the same skill level as the rest of the pack.
There is this famous inline rollerblading NorthShore Marathon – it is a 26-mile race. The record for that race, till 1997, was one hour and five minutes. In 1998, the race was taken to the next level. The national champ, Eddie Matzger, was also taking part in the race. There were three skaters that were part of the pack Eddie led that most of the time. These three guys simply chucked the pack very early on in the race – and took off. That year, 27 people completed the race in a time less than the previous record for that race. Eddie was shocked!! These three guys finished it in well under an hour. This is what I call taking to the next level – and it takes getting out of the pack to achieve.
The thing that I most admire about the US is its ability to take everything to this next level. Even the real estate agent, yep the guy who helps us find a place to rent, has made it an organized business – multi-million, if not a billion dollar business. If it were a sport, then they would pursue it with so much more passion, and approach it so methodically, and with so much science so as to push the limits. There seem to be more role models, and sources of inspiration in this country than any other place in the world.
For long, I have strongly believed that aptitude is secondary; it’s the attitude that matters. There was this guy in my wing at IIT that seemed really dumb. He could barely speak English, and the questions that he asked in class were anything but trivial, and most of the class could but control their laughter when he spoke. And true to the belief of others about his ability, he scored really poor in the first year (I think his gpa was just about hitting 6 (on a scale of 10)). He passed out as the top ranker in his department with a GPA of over 9 (for those that know the IIT system, a gpa of 9 is NOT easy – very few manage it, especially, outside the comp sc dept). That guy slogged. I saw him studying on the evening just after the exams. That single-minded approach, made him overcome his limitations – it wasn’t about his aptitude, rather his attitude, and the passion to excel.
A talented person (no matter what the talent) deserves respect. But I kind of tend to respect those more that have an attitude. Those that really take it to the next level are not necessarily (infact, I am definite not) the ones with the aptitude (talent, intellect or skill), rather the ones with the attitude – the attitude to think beyond their limitations.
Last evening, we went to the ISKON temple in Seattle, and chanted Hare Krishna for close to an hour. The lead guy was a firang, and he exuded so much energy that it was difficult not to follow him, and chant alongwith. A trivia: there were a lot of children there. Indian families seem to bring their kids to this temple on every Sunday – to give them a feel of the Indian culture. Another trivia: It was the birthday of one of the devotees there. Dressed in Indian attire, she could speak Hindi, and used her hand to blow off the candle!! This lady had turned 60 – and had been a Krishna Bhakt for 20 years. She and her husband run a FREE restaurant in Seattle called ‘My Sweet Lord’.
Am back in Austin now, and its office from tomorrow.
Isn’t that what we all do, get ourselves into a pack, and let our speed and direction be set by the leader in the pack – just that in our case, we don’t even know who the leader is, and the size of the pack is rather huge. Also, here there are no taking turns in leading the pack. We are all so happy just being part of the pack, and happy at not having to face the wind. An interesting point to note here is that the leader of the pack is of the same skill level as the rest of the pack.
There is this famous inline rollerblading NorthShore Marathon – it is a 26-mile race. The record for that race, till 1997, was one hour and five minutes. In 1998, the race was taken to the next level. The national champ, Eddie Matzger, was also taking part in the race. There were three skaters that were part of the pack Eddie led that most of the time. These three guys simply chucked the pack very early on in the race – and took off. That year, 27 people completed the race in a time less than the previous record for that race. Eddie was shocked!! These three guys finished it in well under an hour. This is what I call taking to the next level – and it takes getting out of the pack to achieve.
The thing that I most admire about the US is its ability to take everything to this next level. Even the real estate agent, yep the guy who helps us find a place to rent, has made it an organized business – multi-million, if not a billion dollar business. If it were a sport, then they would pursue it with so much more passion, and approach it so methodically, and with so much science so as to push the limits. There seem to be more role models, and sources of inspiration in this country than any other place in the world.
For long, I have strongly believed that aptitude is secondary; it’s the attitude that matters. There was this guy in my wing at IIT that seemed really dumb. He could barely speak English, and the questions that he asked in class were anything but trivial, and most of the class could but control their laughter when he spoke. And true to the belief of others about his ability, he scored really poor in the first year (I think his gpa was just about hitting 6 (on a scale of 10)). He passed out as the top ranker in his department with a GPA of over 9 (for those that know the IIT system, a gpa of 9 is NOT easy – very few manage it, especially, outside the comp sc dept). That guy slogged. I saw him studying on the evening just after the exams. That single-minded approach, made him overcome his limitations – it wasn’t about his aptitude, rather his attitude, and the passion to excel.
A talented person (no matter what the talent) deserves respect. But I kind of tend to respect those more that have an attitude. Those that really take it to the next level are not necessarily (infact, I am definite not) the ones with the aptitude (talent, intellect or skill), rather the ones with the attitude – the attitude to think beyond their limitations.
Last evening, we went to the ISKON temple in Seattle, and chanted Hare Krishna for close to an hour. The lead guy was a firang, and he exuded so much energy that it was difficult not to follow him, and chant alongwith. A trivia: there were a lot of children there. Indian families seem to bring their kids to this temple on every Sunday – to give them a feel of the Indian culture. Another trivia: It was the birthday of one of the devotees there. Dressed in Indian attire, she could speak Hindi, and used her hand to blow off the candle!! This lady had turned 60 – and had been a Krishna Bhakt for 20 years. She and her husband run a FREE restaurant in Seattle called ‘My Sweet Lord’.
Am back in Austin now, and its office from tomorrow.
posted by Animesh Kumar at Tuesday, January 24, 2006
3 Comments:
its ISKCon
Sorry and Thanks.
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