Author: Sudhams Govathoti

NewsToday: The IT giant Infosys on Monday announced that there will no longer be any ambulance services in the Narayana Murthy Centre for Excellence, Mysore. The statement came soon after the discussions of the core committee with regard to the growing accidents inside the campus. It was earlier reported to the HR team that 9 out of the 10 accident inside the campus were caused by the ambulance alone.

“It has come to our notice that the ambulance has become a symbol of danger inside the campus. There have been several hit-and-run cases reported recently and the recent case where a trainee was hit near Oasis was really sad.” explained Tejaswi Aiyappa, a senior HR member and the spokesperson for the core committee. “So we decided to discontinue the ambulance service from this weekend.”

This has been received as welcome news by the trainee population. “Finally we can ride our cycles on the road without any worry. Even walking on the footpath was not safe after that Multiplex incident” said Sudheer Majji, a trainee referring to the incident last month near the Multiplex area where 18 trainees were injured in a hit-and-run case while walking on the footpath.

“The irony was that I was taken to the clinic in the same ambulance. Glad that these incidents will not repeat again. Discontinuing the ambulance service is the first step towards a safer campus.” said Harsha Vandini who was one of the victims in the Fiesta hit-and-run case. However there has been equal opposition to this from the prankster’s community who are complaining that they now have to walk back to their hostel rooms.

“Everyday I used to call the ambulance complaining of a leg injury or an ankle sprain and they would drop me near my hostel. Now I have to start begging for cycles near the Multiplex like all other trainees” protested Buvanesh who went on to say that there would be severe consequences if the decision is not re-considered. “We will start messing around with the house-keeping staff. We’ll make them clean our rooms again and again until we get a favorable result.” He said before going to his room in the ambulance for probably the last time.

However, the majority of the trainee popualtion is happy with the decision. They were seen celebrating on the roads and burning down posters of the ambulance. “We now hope that the security service is also cancelled because there have been several security breaches by the security people. They are the only people inside the campus who disobey the rules. Even the patrol car which carries people with huge guns is found breaking the laws.” explained Sunny Kiran, a trainee activist who played a key role in the ambulance case decision. “However, we welcome this decision from the HR team” he said before making posters to protest the security policies.

Inspired from the utterly funny and crazily creative http://www.fakingnews.com

NewsToday: Trainee protests turn violent in certain parts of the campus on Monday when the angry agitators threw empty Tropicana packs at the food court staff. Nearly 7 trainees were injured in the heavy stampede that followed. Earlier this week, the food courts sent out a mailer that showed the most exquisite dishes from various parts of the world and indicated that they wouldn’t be serving them in the near future. This is a rather amusing prank but most of the trainees did not find it very funny. The mailers also contained the high quality images of these dishes and this added fuel to the fire.

“What kind of a mean joke is it? It’s like playing with people’s emotions. They need to pay the price.” shouted Sudheer Kumar Majji at the top of his voice clearly showing that he was upset. “When I first saw that mail, I was so happy. I thought it was the best thing that happened to me after coming here. But when I saw the last line that read: All these items will not be available in the near future, I was furious” explained Sunny Kiran who said he would go on an indefinite fast till they serve each and every dish that was there in the mailer.

The entire trainee population came on to the roads protesting these mean acts on Monday. They divided into groups each group choosing its favorite (not any more) food court and began protesting. They displayed banners and posters of Tandoori Chicken and Hyderabadi Dum Biryani. There was a silent protest infront of Maitri where trainees bathed and slept infront of the food court building. “This is Gandhigiri, haven’t you seen Munnabhai??” asked Kanaka Prithvi, one of the peaceful protesters.

It was not long before the food court management came out to calm the crowd. But their efforts were in vain. The crowd kept demanding that they serve the food shown in the mailers with the exact color and texture. They even wanted the entire work force of the food courts to apologize to the trainees for insulting them. “We never insulted them. It was just a joke. It’s not our fault that these people don’t have a sense of humor.” said Sanjeev Kapoor, the manager of one of the food courts. “You have to agree. Isn’t that an awesome prank?” questioned Sanjeev. When asked about whether they accept the demands of the trainees, Sanjeev laughed hysterically and said “What are we, Master chefs of Australia??”

However, at sensitive places like Oasis, the protest took an ugly turn when one trainee threw his Tropicana pack at the food court manager shouting “Aakali ra Babuuu!!!”(This probably meant something about hunger). The fury of the agitators reached its peaks when the manager responded by throwing a chicken kebab piece at the same trainee. A huge stampede followed this causing lose of around 3 chairs and 8 glasses. It has been reported that one of the trainees took away two cup cakes from the loyal world but this has to be proved. “He was big, really big I tell you. There was no way I could stop him.” said a frightened employee of the store.

These incidents stand as living examples of how jokes can be misinterpreted. It might just be a joke for the food court management but it is much more than mere food for the thousands of employees here. “We trainees give top priority to food. Every thing else comes after that. Have you ever seen Arena and Magna at 12:45p.m? If you have, you will know what I mean.” explained Sindhu, the spokesperson for the team leading the protests. They have been called in by the authorities to settle issues by means of peaceful talks.  “We are looking forward for the talks and there is no way Sunny Kiran will stop fasting until all those dishes are served in the campus.” said Sindhu before leaving for dinner at Fiesta.

Inspired from the utterly funny and crazily creative http://www.fakingnews.com

22 year old Infosys Trainee Sudheer Kumar Majji created history on Thursday becoming the youngest person to finish writing the ‘Ramakoti’ (a practice followed by people in India where they write “Shri Rama”, 10million times as a way of showing their love and respect to the GOD) in a single day that too on the Notepad application in his Infosys provided computer. Sudheer achieved this grand feat in just over 4 hours becoming the youngest person ever to do this on a computer. He broke the record of Kanaka Prithvi who wrote it in 8hrs 14mins two months back.

“Everytime I open the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser on my PC, it takes a lot of time to load. Today I thought of doing something good in the time the Sparsh page loads and so I began writing the Ramakoti.” said the delighted Sudheer about what prompted him into writing it. “You wouldn’t believe it!!! I finished writing it before half the Sparsh page is loaded. I am pretty sure that after this, I would do well in the future tests.” he said.

This rare achievement brought him a wide fan base and most of the people who knew him told us how proud they were. “I always knew he had it in him to achieve great things in life. With wonderful support from the Tech facilities in Infosys, he made it through. It’s a proud moment for all of us” told Sunny Kiran, a close friend of Sudheer. Sunny says that after this inspiring achievement by Sudheer, he is taking up his dream of writing a book by using the time it took for the Harmony page in Sparsh to load.

The elderly people in the campus gave their blessings to Sudheer stating that this will bring prosperity not only to Sudheer but also the entire Organization as it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the super slow Brower speed. “Sparsh page always takes time to load. We know that. But Sudheer was the first one to think of something useful to do within that time rather than reading forward mails in his outlook mailbox. It’s like that Newton was the first to ask why kind of situation.” said Sindhu, a senior member in the E&R department (She’s so senior that her black tag lost it’s color and became white) She advised all the younger breed of the trainees to do similar things whenever their attendance clients don’t open.

But this matter didn’t please the staff at the CCD. When we went to congratulate them for indirectly helping Sudheer in creating history, they responded rudely. “What?? It doesn’t take that long for the page to load. They’re just exaggerating it. This is just a way those E&R people make fun of us as they are jealous that we are the technically advanced people in the campus. I bet that dude just copy pasted the entire thing.” said Mr. Steve Gates from CCD. When asked about the slow speed of the browser while loading the Sparsh page he said, “Considering the number of employees we have in Infosys, I am sure sparsh has heavy traffic and is definitely one of the top-used websites in the world next only to Google and Facebook. It is inevitable that it slows down sometimes.” told Steve raising his eyebrows when said ‘number of employees’.

No matter what, the trainees are celebrating the achievement. Sudheer will soon receive a certificate from the Guinness book of world records and Ripley’s believe it or not. There is a chance that Sparsh can be placed at the top in the list of the slowest loading web pages in the world.

Inspired from the utterly funny and crazily creative http://www.fakingnews.com

Mysore News: The entire HR department of the Infosys Mysore DC had their hearts in their throat on Sunday when one of the trainees threatened to kill a couple of Groundskeepers here in the Narayana Murthy center for Excellence. Sudheer Kumar Majji, a fresh graduate who recently happened to join Infosys as a Systems Engineer Trainee was furious when he saw the workers cleaning the cricket playground that is right infront of the GEC2 building. He was taken into custody and is currently being questioned by the authorities.

“It has been three months now. I’ve seen them clean the ground each and every day till now. Even on weekends!!! But I never saw a single match being played. Why do they keep cleaning it??” Sudheer explained about what provoked him into doing such a thing. “I mean… what the hell?? Why is there a huge ground anyway?? Is it just for cleaning?” questioned Sudheer before being taken into custody.

One of his close friends Kanaka Prithvi gave us an insight of what went through Sudheer’s mind. “Everyday we used to go and eat in Arena (a food court) and everyday he became restless seeing nearly 15 workers on the cricket ground. He even thought a couple of times to try and approach the workers but the security people whistled at him and asked him to keep of the grass.”

It was probably then that he decided to take some action. He reportedly managed to sneak in a cigarette lighter that looked like a pistol when he went to Mysore for the weekend. Last Sunday, dressed up as a food court employee, Sudheer came to Arena unnoticed and then ran on to the ground where some 20 workers are busy cutting the grass. He took hostage of five of them and threatened to kill them if the remaining doesn’t start playing cricket immediately.

It was only after the HR team came and played a T20 match with the workers that he came out and surrendered. The five victims, who suffered from a trauma, were taken to the local hospital. Sudheer was seen shouting with joy and even removed his shirt in a mad celebration mode during the match. He laughed hysterically after he gave the lighter away to the senior member of the HR team who happened to be the captain if the team and is apparently a very good fast bowler.

There have been several such instances lately in the campus where the trainees got frustrated seeing all the maintenance and no usage of most of the ECC facilities. Last month a trainee named Sunny Kiran attempted suicide after noticing the staff cleaning the sand near the rock climbing area. “It is going out of hand” Sunny explained later. “Why do you have to keep it so clean when not even a single person uses it??”

However the authorities denied any such allegations and further stated that they use the facilities themselves at night when all the trainees are usually busy doing their assignments. But these statements didn’t satisfy the Sudheer supporters in the campus. “That is not at all true. They’re lying” shouted Sindhu, an angry trainee who firmly believes that the foreign clients who are seen roaming in the campus are actually junior artists hired to give the place a posh look. She even goes on to say that she saw them being paid on daily basis.

On an unnecessary note, the HR team lost the T20 match by 38 runs.

Inspired from the utterly funny and crazily creative http://www.fakingnews.com

A teacher was fired for assigning that book for the class study. It was banned in many countries. It still is considered as a bad impact on the adolescent minds that might read it.  To put it straight, it is probably the most controversial book in recent history. But I had no idea about it until I was watching a Southpark episode that makes fun of the book by saying how over rated it is and how meaningless the controversies are. But what really caught my attention was what I found out when I was wiki-ing about it.

A guy named Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon (Lennon doesn’t need an introduction but for those who have no idea, he is one of the founding members of THE BEATLES) by shooting him with a gun. But what was shocking here was that the killer did not run away from the scene but simply sat on the pavement reading THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Yes, that was the book I was referring to. The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D.Salinger. It was first published in 1951 and it sold over 65 million copies around the globe.

Later during the trial, Mark made it clear that he imagined himself as Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the book. He wrote “This is my statement” on the book that he was reading when he shot Lennon and signed it as Holden Caulfield.

With an introduction like this, there was no way I could resist myself from reading it. After few weeks of searching, I finally got my hands on the book when I was undergoing industrial training in Hyderabad. I remember buying it for a mere 80/- on the footpath. Anyway, as I began reading the first few pages, I found the book very less interesting and slow paced. I thought it might have connected to the people few decades ago. But as I kept reading through the pages, I understood that it was not just another novel. Holden Caulfield came alive and took me through his adolescence making sure he was showing me that I was like him in many ways. He made me forget that he was just an imaginary character created by a writer.

The first person narration is so gripping that I found myself being restless when I had to stop for dinner or when I had to take a leak. For more of an introvert like me, reading through the lines that Holden spoke was something that I was able to connect easily. Holden doesn’t explain what was happening to him or the incidents that he was facing. He speaks what he has in his mind. That is what I simply couldn’t resist or to say in Holden’s words, “It killed me”. I will not go into details of the books content as there will be nothing much to talk about. It is the narration that has made the book so popular regardless of the controversies and it is that narration that made Holden the icon for teenage rebellion.

Before reading the book, when ever I thought of what I wanted to become, I always pictured myself standing on the top of my apartment building (on the overhead tank) on a rainy day, just after the rain stopped. Wearing shorts with my shirt buttons open. As I spread my hands, the cool breeze that flew (after the rain stopped) would gently touch me flapping my shirt as it passed by. That was what I wanted to become. That is what I want to become. Even if I never said these exact same lines to anybody, that image was what I had in my mind.

In the book, when asked by his sister about what he wanted to become in future, Holden simply says the following lines:

“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me.  And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That’s all I do all day.  I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” 

I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I read those lines. As I was growing up, when ever I think of what I wanted to become, there will always be flashes of imagination that came into my mind. When I wanted to study in an IIT, what came into my mind was me, going to classes on a cycle or sitting in the class. When I knew I was going to join in Infosys, I pictured myself sitting infront of a computer doing some codes or whatever.

The point I’m making here is that no matter what our plans for the future are, we all have these fantasies (crazy or practical) of how we might be once we reach there. However there will be very few instances that we actually do what we imagine, even if we become what we wanted to become. There will be several other things that we will be doing. Nevertheless, we cannot possibly avoid the fantasies and come to think of it, there is no need to avoid them either.

What Holden proved to me was that there was a part of him beneath what I am as a person. He was probably there is every person that enjoyed reading the book. After reading the book I understood how it motivated a person to kill another human being. The narration in the book had so much impact on me that I began to embrace and accept the demons, confusions, frustrations that I had as a person. I never felt insecure however crazy my mind often drove me. I began to accept myself better. For the weak minded (if I can say that about Mark David Chapman) it simply drove away his own identity and took control over him entirely. That might be the reason why he imagined himself to be Holden. It still shocks that Mark actually stood up and read a paragraph from the book and silently sat down in the court room after his final verdict was given by the judge.

To me Holden just went through confusion, frustration, hatred, helplessness, and several other feelings that my vocabulary won’t permit me to explain. These are the same feelings that I went through or in that case anybody would probably go through during his adolescence. Even if the incidents may differ, the basic human emotions are same and that is what connected me to Holden Caulfield and this is what that brought out the Holden in ME.

Some memorable lines by Holden:

“I don’t even know what I was running for – I guess I just felt like it.”

“I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.  It’s awful.  If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera.  It’s terrible.”

“When I really worry about something, I don’t just fool around.  I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something.  Only, I don’t go.  I’m too worried to go.  I don’t want to interrupt my worrying to go.”

“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.”

“It’s really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun sometimes.”

“That’s the thing about girls.  Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.  Girls, Jesus Christ!! Tthey can drive you crazy.  They really can.”

I really cannot stop when I begin to narrate his words. I would like to suggest you to read through the lines and experience Holden by yourselves.

 

“Disclaimer: Written only to make you laugh. No offense whatsoever intended.”

Our campus, being the largest of its kind in the world, no wonder has a wide variety of people undergoing training here. They can be classified into groups depending upon certain common characteristics…

• The Supreme Beings

Comprising the geeks and nerds from all parts of the country, they were the centre for all the jokes and pranks back in college. Now they are the cool kids in the block and they even get to talk to all the pretty girls in the class. They are looked up to not only by the other trainees but also by the educators.

You can identify this group of people by their habits and general appearance.

>>They usually have ‘Fastrack’ gadgets and accessories.

>>Usually they have spectacles… Don’t be fooled by everyone with glasses though.

>>They stay in class till 11 in the night.

>>They take very short lunch breaks.

>>They usually leave the Exam halls in the first half an hour of the test… after scoring 100, that is.

>>Some of them are often spotted in the library as well.

• The Love Gurus

Mostly nocturnal in nature, the love gurus are the group of trainees that are mostly seen in couples. There are speculations that they choose their mates after coming here but, in most cases, it is reported that they come here in pairs. The love gurus also perform well in the tests because of the mutual support they get. However, they mostly suffer from problems related to sleep. Most of them often end up with minimum financial assets by the end of the month (Usually the male gender).

Can be identified by activities like:

>>Going around in pairs

>>Hanging out near the benches near Maitri after dinner

>>Actually, there is no need to have prior knowledge… you’ll know them when you see them.

• The Different People

These people usually hang out with other group trainees while doing socializing activities. But when it comes to programming, they have no clue whatsoever. The distinct factor that separates them from all the other groups is that they have learnt to convince themselves and others around them that the whole idea of coding and debugging is not meant for them. They are usually found boasting about their other talents and credentials that they are going to use to go away from here and make it large in life.

In most of the cases, they do nothing except fool themselves.

• The Amateur Sportsmen

They can be easily identified by their appearance. They are usually in their shorts or other relevant apparel for the sport they chose. However, it was reported in several cases that the sport they are found playing is as alien to them as coding is to the ‘Different People’. They are usually attracted to the sport only because they grew up watching it on TV and now that they have a chance to play it, they grab the opportunity with both the hands (in case of Tennis or Volley ball… single hand in case of Ping Pong or Badminton).

They are usually spotted near Loyal World buying their sports equipment that they are going to use only a couple of times because it won’t be long before they lose interest or, in other words, realize that they are not manufactured to play that sport.

• Badge bearers

I am not sure if they are members of some secret society or people who are just crazy enough to sport a Ben10 badge on their tags. These groups of people are seen with a badge, usually a smiley or a wink. Even though they say that the badge was something that they had to take from the Loyal World staff as they did not have enough change to return, there are severe speculations that there is some hidden inner meaning to their badges.

>>The smile badge bearers are supposed to be cute and adorable.

>>The winking badge bearers are a bit naughty and fun loving.

>>’A skull with a snake’ badge bearers are the cool people who pretend as if they don’t give a damn about anybody by making sure everybody notices them.

>>Ben10 badge bearers are… umm… errr… I am not sure.

• Food court lovers

They are the most reliable if ever anybody needs information on the quality and quantity of food that is served in all of the different food courts in the campus. They take pride in eating at all the food courts including the food zones and the various caterers present in each of them. The common observation is that many people of this category were not used to staying away from their homes as they did not like outside food (ironic… but true). They learn to adapt to the changes and finally turn out to have the largest appetite of all the trainees. There is a legend that says some supreme leaders in this group have tasted all the varieties available in all the food courts. But the credibility of this is highly questionable.

>>They are usually spotted near… should I really mention this?? Food courts.

>>Usually a little over weight due to obvious reasons.

>>They are believed to be the most peaceful and happy people in the entire campus.

• The Facility Exploiters

They depend more on the Facility membership card and the Health club membership card rather than the ID card. Well known for their participation in all the activities and games, they are usually seen in the ECC area. They concentrate on making use of the facilities provided to them by the campus. However, there is nothing illegal or unethical in whatever they do. Trainees that are seen near the coffee machines during the breaks also come under in this group.

Distinct characteristics of this group include:

>>Drink at least 10 cups of free coffee in a span of 24 hours.

>>Some allegedly hide the sugar packets and tea bags that are provided to them in the rooms just to get more free stuff.

>>They watch every movie that is screened in the multiplex.

>>They attend events where free food is served.

>>Some are seen sleeping in the library as they find it convenient to sleep in a large air conditioned hall.

• The Smoke Engines

One can find it difficult to identify the faces of these people as they are usually covered with smoke near the smoking zones around the campus. Mostly comprising of a single gender, they are well known for their unique breath and some white cylindrical things between their fingers that have red tips. But once out of their territory, it becomes really tough to identify this group because they blend in with every other group present.

>>There is a belief that they cough a lot when compared to others but this can be used to draw rough conclusions but not credible information.

>> It is observed that most of the members of this group hadn’t even touched a cigarette before coming here.

• The Fashion freaks & Music maniacs

Probably the easiest to identify among all the different groups in the campus. They have a distinct style in everything that they do. Their hairstyle, their clothes, their walk and even the way they ride a Lady Bird cycle is full of style. But one unknown truth that has been recently revealed by a person in the same group (who wishes to stay anonymous fearing the damage to his cool guy image) was that most of them never even got to choose their haircut when they were at home. Everything they did regarding their look was either controlled by an overly cautious mother or an overly strict father. Now that they finally have the freedom, there is no stopping them. However, the company’s dress code often takes up the role of parents, once again restricting them from their new found love to fashion.

>>Known for sporting a beard in all possible shapes and sizes.

>>Always carry their iPods.

>>Some of them have hair that could accommodate a whole family of sparrows.

>>There is a floating rumor that says the earphones that they use don’t actually work. But these comments are seriously condemned by the members of this group.

These are the majorly populated groups on the campus. Apart from these, there are some more groups that exist in the campus peacefully without disturbing the ecological balance. They include…

>Excess baggage carriers

>Rest room users

>Real sportsmen

>Overly clean and tidy people

>Overly not so clean and tidy people

>Regional language speakers

>The super awesome Gurukul team

And few others…

Moral:

No matter how many different groups of trainees are present in the campus, there were no instances where there were conflicts between them. This stands as a living example of how peace can be maintained in a diversified environment when everybody minds their own business.

No one would deny if I say that listening to certain songs will take us back to the past and make us re-live those memories. We all grow up listening to hundreds of songs. When I was scrolling through the songs list in my iPod the other day, there were so many songs that I don’t listen to regularly but nevertheless they somehow managed to stay there. After playing them, I realized why I couldn’t delete them. Those songs, each one of them remain as a distinct landmark in my life and they have the capacity to take me back to those days that they represent.

There were songs that remind me of my childhood and the little house that we used to live in. Songs like “Mile sur mera tumhara”, Rahman’s “Vandemataram”, MJ’s “Dangerous”, Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on” and many more. Not that I don’t like them anymore but I just don’t listen to them. May be I just grew up from that phase of my life. The point I’m trying to make is… what those songs have are not just Music, Vocals and Lyrics. They have the events from my life (an entire period in some cases) tangled somewhere between those lines and if by chance I play them now, I get transported to a different world. I’m pretty sure most of you have songs like these in your iPod. Just scroll through the list.

Taking this a little further, there will be songs in every phase of our lives. The type of the Music may differ because the range of music is as diversified as the human life itself. So the type of music different people grow up listening might differ but not the way it can record events from our lives. There will be songs that remind you of the DJ nights in college functions, the crazy dances in Hostel nights, songs you sang as a kid in the Church, songs that remind you of your parents and the time you spent with them, a vacation or  a holiday season(“Jingle Bells” for example), songs that make you Happy, songs that make you feel low, songs that help you fight back when you are low, songs that remind you of your long lost friends, how you moved on after a break up, the break up phase, the good times in the relationship, for that matter there will be songs that will even remind you of the first crush you had as a kid J (Am I becoming a little too romantic?? Cant help it…that’s the relation Music has with romance and I have with Music)

To understand this better, go through the entire song list in your music player and then see what is present in your current playlist. Note the first thing that comes to your mind after listening to a song. You’ll notice that each and every song has a reason to remain in your list. Each song is a portal that has the capacity to take you to a phase of your life that it has captured and stored. That is the reason I just cannot delete certain songs. Even if they remind me of something bad, I cannot delete them because they represent a part of my life and I cannot risk forgetting them. It’s often better to learn and deal with things than to try and forget it…just like in real life. I’m happy that at least events from my life are recorded in my own way (the same song can mean different to different people). It feels good to know that at least the past have been eventful and is kept alive in .mp3 format J

P.S. Now that we know this, we can choose the songs that we one day wish to listen, to remember the present… So choose properly.

Now check your playlist and listen to the songs that you didn’t even knew existed in your list and then write to us what they reminded you of.

Madiba (The name people gave to Nelson Mandela with Love) proved that he was colorblind when it comes to dealing with different races…Sudhams

Springboks, a team that was ridiculed, made fun of, and at a point even faced the threat of dissolution finally managed to win the ’95 Rugby World Cup. It was the South African national rugby team.

Not many know the story of how they managed to do that and how the victory brought a nation together when it was needed the most. After watching the movie Invictus (directed by Clint Eastwood, my favorite director), I got curious about the events that were portrayed because of the emotional content of the cinema. I did some basic research and found out several incredible tales of Inspiration, Trust and most of all… Belief.

When he took charge as the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was well aware of the biggest threat the nation was facing…a racial imbalance. Even after spending 30 years of his life in a prison cell, he believed that it was not a time to take petty revenge on people who were responsible for his agony but stood by the idea that a rainbow nation is to be built. And it was not going to be so if the two races did not gel in together like a single nation.

The Springboks were unofficial representatives of the White community in South Africa at that time. The reason being, Rugby was mostly played by them. Soccer was the sport mostly admired by the Black community. They showed their hatred to the game by supporting the opposite team whenever the Springboks played a game.

But Springboks under the leadership of Francois Pienaar was doing really bad when it came to their record. They haven’t made any significant mark in the international arena.
This did not help at all when there came a debate whether to continue the team or dissolve the board. But President Nelson Mandela had different plans. He believed that dissolving the Springboks would only fuel the cold feelings between the two races and that is the last thing he wanted. So he convinced the committee to reconsider the decision and kept the Springboks running. He pointed that it was an act of compassion and love that has the power to win over somebody but not hatred and revenge.

When South Africa was hosting the Rugby world cup in 1995, (it was the first time the event was held entirely in a single nation) nobody even predicted that Springboks would go past the first round. Some people openly commented that if it wasn’t the hosting nation, the team couldn’t have gone past the qualifying rounds. But what they had was beyond what was enough to win… the hope of the victory and the belief of a man, who stood as a living symbol of Inspiration, Hope and Belief… their own President. A man who believed that peaceful coexistence is possible between people no matter what color their skin is, a man who believed that a victory not only meant the World Champion title but also had the power to bring the nation together, a man who simply believed in his team.

By the time the tournament began, most of the people did not even accept the new national anthem. But like all amazing things, the performance of their own team brought the tournament a larger media attention and this in turn made sure that more South-Africans became interested in their team’s performance. Nelson Mandela himself watched the games both in the stadiums and few on television. Even if he was on official business, he made sure that he was well informed about the team’s performance. Even the black community couldn’t just resist themselves from supporting the Springboks after witnessing their own Madiba (The name people gave to Nelson Mandela with Love) prove that he was colorblind when it comes to dealing with different races.

The Springboks had nothing to lose but they played like warriors. They put everything they got on the line and fought against all odds. They knew that it was not only the opposition teams that they were playing against, but the entire idea of being called the worst team, the idea of being hated by their fellow countrymen who happened to be of a different skin color, the invisible line drawn between the nations citizens after decades of racial discrimination. A victory meant that the nation can be brought together and they knew that the President himself believed in them along with the growing support of the people who once hated them.

In a nerve-cracking final against NewZealand, the Springboks won the game with the final kick from Joel Stransky in the first half of the extra time that sealed an official Victory of not just the Springboks but an entire nation called South-Africa. The Victory showed that when you have Inspiration, it is possible to beat all odds and achieve the unachievable. The Inspiration they got from their President and the hope that he had on them showed that with Inspiration comes the willingness to perform better than what one thinks they could.

The ’95 world cup final is a historic event that brought people of all races together in the rainbow nation of South Africa.
“It was a sight worth a thousand speeches!!” Nelson Mandela later spoke.
He also said that those 7 minutes of extra time where the Springboks were lagging was the most tensed he had ever been.

The highlight of the day was when President Mandela walked on to the ground (Ellis Park in Johannesburg where the final was held) wearing the Springbok jersey that was presented to him by the team as a token of respect for all the support he gave them. Millions of South Africans, not just the people in the stadium but the entire nation sang in unison, the new National anthem as he gave away the Championship trophy to Francois Pienaar, the captain of the Springboks who stood up to the task and gave the nation a champion team to look up to.

I may not have anything to relate to the country of South Africa but I do know the feeling one gets when the team achieves the unachievable. I watched the 2011 cricket world cup finals and I had tears in my eyes when Dhoni hit the final six over the long-on area and kept staring at the ball. The sight of Sachin Tendulkar being carried of the shoulders of Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina made the entire nation bow with respect to the man. I danced on the Beach road of Visakhapatnam along with strangers, shook hands with policemen who for once seemed less irritated when an entire city came out to celebrate the victory of a team that represented their country. That day I realized the power a Victory had, the joy of celebration and understood that it’s not just a game.

P.s…
For those who feel sports are over rated I respect your thought process but I simply point that in a world where there is no need of a reason for people to hate each other, it’s alright to have something which can bring them together.