I remember the day very clearly. It was late evening on a summer day in Mumbai, and all the people in my house (and a few from the neighbourhood) were glued in front of the television. No, it was not the latest Bollywood flick or an Amitabh starrer from the olden days that was being played on TV. Instead it was an episode of HardTalk India and Karan Thapar was griling the guest, as he always does. But in the course of talks, the guest could not control their tears and starts crying like a baby on the national channel in front of millions of viewers! This very shot that was used to publicise the particular episode of Hardtalk India, had paid off and countless number of people had huddled in front of television sets across the nation from homes to showrooms to watch this interview! And the guest was not a weak hearted survivor narrating their war ordeals or a tortured wife counting her days of agony; instead it was one of India's greatest heroes who had brought uncomparable glory to the nation in an international stage. Yes, it was Kapil Dev- the only Indian cricket captain to have won us a World Cup!
Kapil Dev was bitterly wounded by the match fixing allegations raised against him that questioned his integrity, and was on national television sobbing uncontrollably. He said, " I will commit suicide rather than take a bribe.... I feel ashamed that I played cricket. "
Ten years later, another national cricket hero, the person credited to rebuilding the Indian cricket team from being just another scam-stricken, low-morale team drowned in controversies into a team of highly talented youngsters with the killing spirit to take on even the world's best team- Australia at the highest point of their success (16 consecutive test victories) and leading India to the finals of Worldcup (the only one after Kapil Dev's 1983 team) - lay at the mercy of some money driven filmstars and businessmen to play in a tournament organised in India!
And what happens? He is not picked by any of the ten different team owners, and pushed to the shame of being overlooked in favour of more than hundred other players! And to top it with a layer of sadism, the co-owner of his home team KKR Shahrukh Khan quips "No team is possible in Kolkata without Ganguly... I would love to have him as an integral part of the team".
Under such circumstances we are forced to question whether we actually know how to show true respect to our heroes? Be it war heroes, sportspersons, filmstars or for that matter anyone who strives to gain our country global recognition and honour.
Will we do the same to someone like Sachin Tendulkar who has spent even the best part of his teenage for Indian cricket, ten years from now? 'Adarsh Society' scam is a recent example of how we do not respect the sacrifices by our war heroes in the Kargil war, instead try to hijack the bare little assistance that their family members receive from the government! Many of the best faces on and off screen who have been responsible for growing Bollywood to the cash-cow that it is today, die under conditions of extreme poverty, loneliness and enormous debt. One of Bollywood's all time favourite heroine and the first Indian actress to feature on the cover of Time magazine, Parvin Babi lay dead in her house for three days and later in the mortuary awaiting claimants for the dead body! These are the plights of people revered to be heroes and celebrities at some point of time in their life.
While we know to easily churn out heroes amidst us from the autorickshaw wallahs on the street to the fellow passenger in local train to the participant in a television reality show; we barely know to respect and reciprocate the efforts of the real heroes who work hard forsaking everything dear to them, for bringing pride and prestige to fellow countrymen by achieving the impossible on a global stage and making India rise above the rest of the world.
Kapil Dev and Ganguly are not individual cases of 'orphaned heroes'. In fact they are probably the more visible ones. Several ex-servicemen and families of war martyrs, former sportspersons, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists and many more will be out there to tell us how this country and the selfish countrymen turned their backs at them when they most needed their support, and in some cases humiliated them in public for unproven offences.
The respect that they bring to the nation must be reciprocated to them, and this must be done at any cost. It is because of the contribution of these achievers- the real heroes- that today India can claim to be a growing superpower and a major challenge to the biggest of world nations!
