Of winning streaks and losing phases
Internet was meant to forward cats’ case as a superior pet. But the score changed in the aughties with the rise of social media. As of today, dogs are the clear winner of the tail-less popularity contest between the two furry beings. If you look closely, you’ll also note how dogs are being championed as humans’ best friend — a phrase which was supposed to be a hollow title for the canines as long as they obeyed us — whereas cats continue to be derided for their selfishness and indifference. Some even go to great lengths to remind us that they are devil’s incarnation with the sole purpose of keeping an eye on what we are all about. For whatever it’s worth, evolution has worked differently on both these species. Personally, I am divided in this battle because I grew up with cats and I know first-hand about their majesty. As of today, me and my wife live with a street dog — calling him a pet would be an affront — who slyly redefines individuality to me. We don’t know how old he is but our best guess is 6–8 years, which is precisely how long a wolf lives. All members of the cat family (be it tiger or lion or cheetah or leopard) live upwards of 10 years. But the dog family don’t show this consistency as if dogs gained lifespan by switching sides. Isn’t it incredible that dogs outlive their ancestors by almost twofold?
There are two primal lessons I learnt last week.
1. Never ever tell your friends that you feel they are going to die soon. For starters, it’s an unappetizing thought. Everybody cribs about their lives but nobody wants to die. So, this thought, no matter how much it’s grounded in your understanding of energy that people emanate, would only land you in trouble. I told a friend about his remarkably calm composure and what it means to a world in dire need of balance. To allow you a view, what do you think happens to a five-legged ant in the colony? Your guess is as obvious as mine. You don’t survive. To put it soothingly, you are too good for this world. I understand energy better than I understand anything else. I sense the room as soon as I enter. But despite these proclivities, I am nobody to ascertain others’ mortality. Having said so, more often than not, don’t we respect each other as energies instead of individuals?
2. Take care of your teeth because they are the most priceless pearls you’ll ever possess. Brushing twice a day is barely enough. There is so much to do there: massaging your gum with fingertip, rinsing regularly with saline water, consuming lots of calcium, flossing, etc. After getting rid of an annoying wisdom tooth in July, I went through root canal yesterday. Painful story short, teeth serve us well provided we treasure them properly. Dental hygiene is non-negotiable and there is no agony greater than a toothache. No, not even a heartbreak. Oh, and the biggest deciding factor for my argument is rather direct: Dentists charge a bomb; every visit creates a considerable cavity in your bank account.
Once you gain stamina, your outlook towards the world changes a bit. You start believing anything is possible. 10km run? No problem. 50 push-ups? Big deal. 8 hours sleep? Child’s play. And so on. That’s what happens when you invest in yourself; not just your mind but also your body. They have to be in sync to deliver you results you’ve been aiming for. Of course, with time, your perceptions might change. You’d wonder what’s the point in climbing 15 floors, or for that matter, even Mt. Everest, but the pudding is in reaching that stage. Don’t worry about the proof now. Baby steps, remember? In this vein, I like to assume certain aspects of the sporting greats, even these individuals deal with self-doubt, physical restraints and mental blocks from time to time. They are fantastic as long as they disrupt themselves. Why else would Magnus Carlsen ditch orange juice and Novak Djokovic switch to a gluten-free diet?
Humour can take you through anything except indecision. A part of me wants to overcome my self-imposed temperance and try things out like humans around me do already. Another part of me doesn’t want to attempt anything which could be set against my steadfast principles. Well my father is a drinker and his father was a drinker too. My grandpa gave up drinking at the age of 80 because it’s difficult to drink after you are dead. These people are the reason why I am the way I am today. Anyway, after years of being the non-drinker/non-smoker/non-everything in the group, I can safely conclude that abstinence is a virtue only for those who have done shit. People like me who have never been inside the dungeon of aimlessness and foolery don’t gain anything by calling themselves sober. I keep joking amongst my friends that I will start drinking and smoking at the age of 35. Who knows, it might be the ultimate answer to all my sorrows and shortcomings? Just kidding.
Compared to Twitter, Instagram is a paradise of positivity. People tend to be happy there and aren’t riled up by the issues facing our society today. I’ve read ludicrously naive comments beneath a picture of Amazon forest fire. Give them nice-looking food and nicer-looking folks, you’ll see likes and likes and more likes. The concept of dislike is quite foreign to this territory. By my analogy, Instagram is to an auto fair what Twitter is to a car crash. However, happiness doesn’t always last long. Particularly when couples break up. It’s sort of a routine nowadays to delete all the pictures from the past featuring you with the person who once personified your good fortune. Which, if you think about it for two seconds, is absolutely absurd. Do you burn all the photographs you have in your album? Maybe I am not able to distinguish between the online and the offline etiquette. Besides, cleaning the slate is finally possible with a click of a button.
What drives a person to cheat on somebody they claim to love in the first place? Why do we easily fawn at the feet of temptation? Where do people go who stay faithful go in the end? How can we do something to the other which we don’t want the other to do to us? Shouldn’t emotional cheating carry the same weightage as physical cheating? Who gets to call out your inconsistent behavior — your significant other or your insignificant other? Which path leads to salvation in a relationship? Does your fulfillment mean everything to you? When are you going to think about the other person in this equation? Lastly, and most importantly, shouldn’t the opposite of fair be affair and not unfair?
A name gives out more than it should. In the 21st century, it’s convenient to call things tribal, elitist, casteist, parochial, chauvinist, etc. but the history of our species direct us in the direction of nuance. And the terminologies in place help us understand our world better. For instance, did you know that Sudan’s literal meaning is land of the blacks? Similarly, Ethiopia means ‘land of the burnt faces’ and Mali simply means ‘hippopotamus’. Keeping it real, aren’t they? Waka waka can wait. If you move northwards, you’ll learn the role weather and geography play in the nomenclature of European nations. Portugal means ‘warm port’ whereas Spain means ‘land of rabbits’ and Albania means ‘land of eagles’. If you move east from there, you’ll learn how intense the tribal pride can be. Saudi Arabia (the only country in the world to be named after a family) sees no irony in its ‘land of good fortune’ and Lebanon (the only country in the middle-east without a desert) means ‘white peaks’ and Brunei literally means ‘there’. If you stare at the map of Australia, you’ll spot a dog on one side and a cat on another. However, its name has nothing to do with either; it means land to the south (north is astral, east is oriental, west is occidental and south is austral). In North America, the most interesting name belongs to Cuba. It means ‘central place’, which, going by its role in the Cold War, is profoundly deserved. Amongst the 12 South American countries, Ecuador takes the cake for literally meaning ‘equator’ and Chile takes the second prize for ‘where the land ends’ — which is very interesting when you factor its success in discontinuing Bolivia’s access to the sea.
Winning is everything in chess. Cloaked in silence and hidden nerves, the chessboard rages whether the moves are in your favour or not. I know this because I’ve been an earnest student for over two years now. My ups and lows in online chess attests to the vagaries of my offline life too. Consistency was hardly missing for the longest time, specifically when it came to losing. I am so used to winning one game only to lose three later.
Not anymore.
I am currently unbeaten at chess for over a week. Yes, you read that right. For the first time ever, I’ve gone 20 games without a loss. 18 wins and 2 draws, to be accurate. I am pretty sure this streak will end sooner or later (mostly sooner) and I will slip into despair as usual. But let’s enjoy this moment for a change. My current goal is to cross 1259 in classical format — my highest ever rating which I hit 18 months ago — and I am currently at 1180. Let’s see how long this phase lasts.
