Did you ever miss the bus?
History is replete with real life success story of iconic people, who struggled all their life, rose from phoenix, turned the tide against them, or rather surfed it to glory, creating roadmap of success for future generations. Prominent among them being, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin, Steve Jobs, JK Rowling and the list can go on and on.
However our memory is short, and though we generally do acknowledge struggles and life of such celebrities, but somewhere we are not able to appreciate the events that happened in history time, and the message of their resilience doesn't reaches the current generation of people.
So, in the context of current scenario, and because game of cricket is followed by most of us, I like to share my first example from cricketing fraternity. All may not be able to recollect that the diminutive wicket-keeper-batsman Parthiv Patel debuted in the year 2002 at the age of 17, while the iconic M S Dhoni debuted in the year 2004 at the age of 23. That means, Dhoni too would have felt disappointed when Parthiv got picked up ahead of him, despite all the heroics he had showcased by that time, and had to wait for over 2 years to get his chance. MSD, as they popularly call him, the one who turned out to more entertaining, a tremendous finisher, an ever optimist, the one who carried storm in his calm, and the one who re-wrote the cricket history, kept missing the bus for two consecutive years before he got his chance. He stayed with his beliefs, stayed with his passion for the game and kept working on his game, instead of lamenting on his bad luck, and waited for his time, and when his time did arrive, MSD left everybody gasping, within the Indian team, and millions of his fans, by showcasing his uncanny leadership qualities and with his savage batting style.
I shall share one more example from the game of cricket, viz of another all time great and iconic player Yuvraj Singh. MSD and Yuvraj Singh were both born in 1981, and were captain of their respective state cricket teams, viz, Punjab and Jharkand. Both of them had murdering batting style and were fierce contenders for being selected in the Indian Cricket team on the basis of their performance. But Yuvraj Singh got the first break and debuted for Indian team at the age of 19, on 3rd October 2000, whereas MSD debuted at the age of 23, on 23rd December 2004.....a wait of 4 long years.......not easy for any ordinary soul, as most people, with that kind of raw talent, while passing through such a phase of life, would have hurled abuses on Selectors, would have cursed their bad luck, would have probably stopped pursuing their dreams, But, as said earlier, MSD stayed with his self-belief, kept pursuing his passion and didn't allow negativity sabotage his positive spirit.
Bollywood is another field where you have huge number of such successful people, who left their native places and came to Mumbai, struggled for many years before getting noticed in small roles that came their way in the initial years, and then went on to become a celebrity; the noticeable names, in the current generation of artists being, Nawazuddin Siddique, Rajkumar Rao, Romeo D'suza........
Among the older generation of actors, none like the most fearsome screen villian Amrish Puri, despite that earth shaking voice and huge personality he had, got his break only at the age 40. Another noticeable late bloomer is, the most sought after Director, Raju Hirani, who debut his Bollywood career as Director at the age of 43 with his movie Munna Bhai MBBS in the year 2003, and then went on to direct gem after gem of movies thereafter, like Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), 3 Idiots (2009) and so on. with those super successes under his belt, Raju Hirani has now established himself as a synonym of success, and most players in Bollywood look forward to work with him.
On the business side, I like to share example of one and only one Steve Jobs. He was forced to quit the company he co-founded, Apple Inc, on 16th September 1985, but the turn of events brought him back as an interim CEO, after a gap of 12 long years, again on 16th September 1997. And the whole world knows how he steered back the company to inconceivable and unimaginable level of success. The analysts have pointed out that market capitalization of Apple Inc, at $3 trillion is more than GDP of UK and India, and only 4 countries, US, China, Japan and Germany have higher GDP than market valuation of Apple.
So friend, if you are down today, just remember and remind yourself that "If you have the talent, and if you also have the passion for whatever you are engaged in, and if for some reasons you feel that Luck appears to be not on your side, and you are not having your way or break through, and are simmering with frustration and disappointment, hold on to your nerves, stay rooted in your beliefs, keep working on your mission, and one day you shall be there in the midst of all the applause you richly deserve."
Let the flame of your passionate missionary zeal keeps you afloat.