Of Festivals and Icons

Indian festivals are always vibrant, filled with energy and culminate everything we love and rejoice. This ranges from wearing new clothes to filling up plates with sugars enough for the entire year. Whatever your diet regime, this is the time to indulge and worry later while sipping water or herbal juice at the gym. Deepavali or Diwali is no different. It's a rare occurrence when kids tend to enjoy as much, if not a bit more than the elders. When else will you get to burst crackers, see so much colour and light? Elders, well, they are busy praying the gods for a better future, money etc., and are investing heavily on buying new things they may or may not need. But in a society that's turning bohemian at a pace never before seen or imagined, it's important to celebrate these festivals more than ever. Crackers or lights or both are left to individuals as it's too late to try and impose such things; the overall need for such festivities is very much there. 

As the year comes to a close, two icons close to me will fade away from the limelight. My first cellphone in college was a Nokia. It was simple, extremely durable, relatively fashionable and the battery lasted a week. When was the last time you heard that? Well, I guess that's the case with most of us. Nokia was a part of our lives at some point, though it might not have been the first phone we bought. A couple of years ago, Nokia made a very bold decision (some call it a gamble) to stick to Microsoft Windows as the operating system of choice. While we can only debate as to whether or not that was a good move, not much can be done about it since Microsoft bought them outright, leaving little room to experiment with other platforms such as Android or MeeGo. Industry pundits say they must have embraced Google's OS and relied on the in house hardware division which is to this day nothing short of legendary. For now though we can only speculate what Microsoft will do with such an iconic brand. A household name in many countries and to some, one of the most emotional electronics company in the world, the absence of Nokia will definitely be felt by millions across the world and certainly by yours truly. 

The second icon might not be global, but one of the most influential people in a sport that few parts of the world cares about. Yes, it's none other than the little master, Sachin Tendulkar. Enough has been spoken and written about him, which would fill up dozens of books in each decade. Still, people find more and more reasons to fill newspaper articles everyday. The scale of achievement is intangible and I can't think of another player in the cricketing world who can carry the hopes of a nation for such a long time. There were, are and will be great players no doubt, but being so for a couple of decades requires more than just talent and luck. The hunger to learn, the passion to keep going and the humility to learn for defeat are one among the hundreds of traits Sachin possesses. Refraining from controversies in a career where he was hailed so successful is very very hard. Ask any rockstar, he'll tell you. While he goes on to stand for excellence in cricket and gives his one hundred percent on the last ball of the last match of his glorious career, this entire event of retirement has triggered bookies to go berserk and take away the focus of the game. Sachin would not want the camera on him at all times during the game. He would want his team's victory to come through without the retirement hype machine clouding it. 

In this day and age where most of us are finding the smallest of excuses to change ship and go off to a foreign land, I for one hope the lights are brighter than ever, sweets more sugary than ever and colours more vibrant last year. I hope ethical manufacturers like Nokia who encouraged universal compatibility thrive and do the world a favour by not creating closed ecosystems, leaving tons of electronic waste behind simply because the charging pin changed. I hope there are more players like Sachin who will show the world how you can be competent and ethical even while on top of your game. I hope, there will be more icons in the coming years who will inspire millions to make the world a better place.