Demystifying Excellence: Remembering Sachin Tendulkar Beyond 22 Yard Pitch

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to demystify the notion of excellence, which most of the time encapsulated as godly gifted attributed that only few individuals possess/attain/born with. Society at collective conscious level finds it comfortable to see excellence not as mystery to be explored, but as myth, beyond exploration. This overarching cloud of thought blocks the creative environment in our academic and social institutions. This leads to conditions where excellence is not nurtured through practice and perseverance, but seen as gifted attributes, to be praised and reversed and left to the [exceptional] individual to pursue in all odds. To build the narrative for demystifying the notion of excellence, I will take cue from farewell speech of present generation sporting icon Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. And the reason taking the speech is his achievements and failures in the field of sports – cricket – and his perseverance to take that journey for over two decades, is unparallel in competitive sports. It is very rare in history of human society, when people across gender, age, class and professionals come together to accolade someone’s lifetime success and failure too. In this background the article is an attempt to open the debate about the importance of relationships and role of institutions in nurturing excellence rather than just accepting it as gifted attributes that can be possessed by few individuals only.