As a child we all had some heroes whom we admired. For me, at least, there was no dearth of such persons. I had a whole lot of them ranging from sportsperson to film personalities and directors to musicians to even fictitious characters! I was fan to so many persons. I grew up admiring their different facets.
For example, I was a big fan of the tennis star Gabriela Sabitini. In almost all cases she lost in the Grand Slam finals or semi-finals and I was highly disappointed. A die-hard fan of Maradona, I was in tears when he was dis-qualified from the World Cup.I admired cricketer Kapil Dev so much that when we went to Chandigarh, I asked my father and made sure I saw his home.
I was a fan of the Oscar-winning Indian film director Satyajit Ray. There are quite a handful of his movies that I watched at least a couple of dozen times! I know the dialogues by heart and yet I will not get tired watching them again and again and again. I admired Charlie Chaplin and The Three Stooges.
As a child, I never thought that Sherlock Holmes was a fictitious character. So, when I visited 221B Baker street during my MBA days in UK, I sort-of met one of my childhood heroes. Its a great feeling.
And then there were some persons whom I saw closely and admired them. One person was Shanti-jethu (Uncle Shanti) , with whom I closely interacted for 2-3 years when I was around 15 years old. He left a deep impression on me. He first introduced me with things like will-power, positive thinking and other spiritual concepts at a very early stage of my life, which , I must acknowledge today, have been one of the strong foundations for what I am today. Thanks to Facebook, I am able to reconnect to him now after quite some years.
Then there was Subrata-kaka (Uncle Subrata). He is solely responsible for introducing me to Western and Indian classical music, again something that has been a good influence on me throughout my life.
And then there is father, one person I was in awe with...perhaps like any other child...
I admired them and many more. Each for different reasons. While for some it may be the skills of a sportsperson, some it were for they introduced me to the vast world outside, while some for their knowledge of the world within.
I am thankful to the Almighty for having come across such wonderful persons in my life during those wonder years.
And then the world opened up for me...I realised that ,after all, all are human beings...they have their own share of virtues and vices.But, nonetheless, childhood heroes are best remembered that way - the larger-than-life figure, people whom you tend to admire to the extent that you almost start worshiping them! And then as you grow, you get to know of the darker side and though you may still admire the person, you may not want to worship them.
A couple of weeks back I saw an interview of Gabriela Sabitini...she seemed very much like a common person. I personally feel sad when I see Maradona getting tangled in unnecessary controversies. I realised my father, like any other person with flesh and blood, has his own share of good things and flaws. For people like Subrata-kaka or Shanti-jethu my interaction with them now is nil or so less that I best remember them as they existed when I was a child.
Sherlock Holmes is an exception.The best thing about him is that he never existed in the real world...he was one personality whom I dreamt of and believed the way I wanted him to be...Sherlock Holmes changed the way I changed over the years. In my eyes he never changed!
Nonetheless, childhood heroes have a special place in our hearts...however old and aged we may become. Yes, it is sad to acknowledge, one day, that they also have their flaws. Like, today, I guess, my two-year old daughter thinks I can perform super-human acts. And, so, for the things that she cant do, she wants me to do. And when I do those simple things, she has all the smiles and ,at times, the awe. I see the sparkle in her eyes that I once had when I looked up to my heroes. And this may continue between me and my daughter for some more years. Until, one day, she will realise that I have a lot of flaws,too. May be she will feel sad that day, just like I confronted reality and had to digest the bitter pill about my childhood heroes. That day, perhaps, I'll also be sad that my daughter has lost one of her childhood heroes...and it happens to be me. I'm sure, I'll also feel happy that day that my daughter has grown up...!
PS: Losing childhood heroes is ,definitely, one of the flip sides of growing up!
