The Dinesh Karthik Syndrome
“Did you watch Dinesh Karthik? What a game he played! All are going gaga over Dinesh Karthik.” I pointed out to the newspaper stories on Dinesh Karthik to Lulu, my parrot.
“Yes, superb play. He played a big role in the victory over South Africans in the third T20 match.”
“He is thirty-seven today, and they say he played his first match for India in 2004 when Rishabh Pant was not even a ten-year old boy!”
“That’s very dramatic way of putting things! Yes, both are wicket-keepers, and Pant is the captain. That should tell us how Dinesh Karthik went to the sidelines.”
“True, but the man is back in form and is making waves. He is all set to regain his place in the Indian squad.”
“There is an interesting point here. Dinesh Karthik is at the age when most cricketers retire or have already retired. How come Dinesh Karthik raises his performance to such a high level while on the verge of retirement, and what propels him do it?”
“You have raised an interesting point, Lulu. I have seen this happen in the corporate world too; people who are about to retire – they kind of wake up and start running as if they are a 100 Meter runner like Usain Bolt.”
“What could be the reason people raise performance to a very high level on the verge of retirement? Tell me.”
“Let me think …. If I had asked this question to my wife, she would have said that people touch ‘peak’ of their life at various levels. Some hit it early like film stars and fade away. Some others touch the peak late in life.”
“That’s an interesting theory, but it leaves everything to fate.”
“Take Nani Palkhivala, our famous jurist. When he argued and won some cases in the Supreme Court, which have had far reaching consequences, he was about fifty years old. Soon thereafter he fought for restoration of constitutional rights. He was at his peak then.”
“Have you heard of Vidyadhar Bhuskute?”
“Sounds familiar name. What about him?”
“He walked from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and then from Arunachal Pradesh to Porbandar in Gujarat. Literally, the length and breadth of India! Bhuskute did it after his retirement.”
“Wow! That’s amazing. Yes, I am also puzzled by this phenomenon. People seem to reach the peak of their life at different age, but many reach when they face retirement. It’s like the last rocket of the satellite launch vehicle which puts a satellite in the highest orbit. Where from they draw energy, where from comes the motivation?”
“This discussion with you is getting interesting, isn’t it? This is the age of ‘start-ups’. There are several stories of people getting so much money in such a short time and that makes people believe that this is going to be the order of the day! Millionaires before you are thirty!! And we are discussing what makes oldies fire up.”
“Ha ha! Statistically both might be occurring at a fairly low frequency. I mean – one in a thousand becomes a millionaire before he is thirty, and similarly one in a thousand becomes a Dinesh Karthik.”
“Good analysis, prima facie. But we are beating around the bush. What makes oldies go high on the impact?”
“Frankly, I have no clue. I can only say that with the changing technology and fierce competition making such an impact is difficult, more so for the oldies. Look at Dinesh Karthik’s competition; it is coming from several youngsters who train well, have better coaches, dieticians and gadgets to help them, and sponsors too.”
“My theory is that people who have a sense of history do it better than others.”
“Simple language please, Lulu.”
“Some people wake up when the retirement stares in their face, and they realize that they will be never remembered for anything if they do not act quickly. They realize that time is short. It is then that their desire is fired. They want to ‘leave a footprint on the sand of time’ to quote Longfellow.”
“Hmmmm …… “
“And as someone has said, ‘footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down!”
“Ha ha, that’s true. You can’t leave a legacy by doing nothing.”
“You got it. Everyone wants to leave a legacy. That’s one way to address the issue of immortality which we face in the evening of our lives.”
“Insightful, I say”
“Remember that we must live our life pursuing excellence and introspecting on experience. That’s the build up to the last high-octane spurt. If you don’t live your life pursuing excellence and introspecting on experience, you will not, in all probability, experience the Dinesh Karthik syndrome!” Lulu knew he had left me speechless, so he fluttered his wings, perched on my shoulder and rubbed his head on my cheek.
Vivek S Patwardhan
PS: 1. When you start living in the way you want to be remembered, you have begun creating a legacy. That is the connect between quest for immortality and leaving a legacy. 2. Sunflowers are seen as followers of the sun, and Sun represents the life force. The Sunflowers feature picture depicts the theme of this blogpost.
Feature Pic Courtesy Roma Kaiukua on Unsplash
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” / Read more Lulu blogs in my book ‘The Lulu Duologues’
On the way…. trying to experience Karthik Syndrome!
Thank you for the inspiring words!
👍🙏
Very interesting topic. DK’s is a case of resurrection from obscurity.Certain things that stand out for me are:
1. DK has mastered the art of hitting the balls in unorthodox areas as Maharaj of SA said. DK must have spent time with his coach in understanding how he can be different. One needs to be unorthodox to score runs in unorthodox areas.
2. His vision was how can he play in a unique manner that he finds a place in the world cup squad and ensure India wins the World Cup.
This dream was bigger than leaving a personal legacy. Legacy would happen if the cause for which one crusades is larger than personal ambitions. The vision and dream of Crusaders is not about leaving a legacy but about the cause. Fighting for a cause, and being the harbinger for this cause is important to them. Whether the cause is completed by them during their lifetime does not matter to them. They inspire others to take up the cause and positively impact the Universe.
Thanks Sir for picking such incidents and allow others like me to express our views.
Namaskar Sir, always!!!
What a coincidence!
I am reading this blog for first time and that too DK Syndrome..! I think I am destined to come across this..! Thanks!
The last part is the crux ..we have to keep pursuing excellence . One never knows when the high octane spurt will happen. The examples are inspiring
Maybe we read too much into this. Simply he is an individual who has kept learning and improving and is peaking at a later stage. Many who peak earlier stop improving and learning – they think they know it all or have arrived
Very insightful! Another reason for firing up late in the career could be absence of fear or the risk of failure or criticism at this age and stage in life. Hence working fearlessly without apprehensions may bring out the best in the person! Thanks.
Ya, it’s a true analysis of the current generation buddies in their near / just crossed Golden Jubilees
These characters are always in race with the time and feel they are having a lot in them to prove at this age.
Many a times due to current competition they get their energies accumulated from their experience and try to give the blow of their life , to succeed and make a foot print , nevertheless they are accumulators with experience and renewed energies which can give, just the required power for that particular motion required
Very Good Blog sir , Thanks for the same
If someone was to write a biography of Vidyadhar Bhuskute, 80% of the book will be dedicated to life after formal retirement from work. Definitely an apt example for the syndrome. Not sure how this fits – he saw it as a part of his legacy to work tirelessly for 40 years, providing for his family and post retirement from work, re-invented himself and found his passion. At the peak, he suffered a stroke. And he emerged from that again – just as a phoenix – and that was another peak! He then walked again – covering the coast – Sabramati Ashram-Vivekanand Rock-Shanitniketan, and is on way to publish two more books – another peak! His example suggests, you are more likely to reach new peaks, when you are at a peak. Not only that, what could otherwise be drawbacks seem to become the backdrop for new peaks.
I wonder – is he the same person – who was working tirelessly for 40 years, at the risk of being un-inspiring & the one who reached all these peaks post retirement? Should he have ‘bothered’ to explore his legacy earlier in life? Or does everything have its own time? Irrespective, how does one prepare, so that one is ready – to make the climb to the peak.
Inspiring indeed! Hats off! 🙏🙏🙏
Excellent short in length but vast in making one to think blog Vivek. Made me to remember Yalom’s four ultimate human concerns. Death, Isolation, Freedom and Meaninglessness. Reading your blog made me to connect with the last two (the only concernrs of course, we can do somthing about). The first two are beyond us anyway. Thanks for your reminder.
Warm Regards
Sharad
Dear Mr Patwardhan…another inspiring article from you …the line that you very well articulated and inspired me was “ …Remember that we must live our life pursuing excellence and introspecting on experience…..”The post also reminded me of the “ Growth Mindset” by Carol Dweck….we are all capable of growing and developing ourselves at all times to reach our potential ( I doubt if we will truly discover our fullest potential ) and the key to that (as you said) is our ability to introspect on our experience, learn from it in our pursuit of excellence…Retirement is perhaps a boundary that we have set in a context and we seem to have accepted it…perhaps the only positive in this as you near that boundary , you begin to play/ work/ read/ research for yourself and not because of expectations…it’s when you go over even the thought of “leaving a legacy” that pursuit of excellence becomes a byproduct of pursuing your happiness discovered through the learning that comes with introspecting your experience……your post is truly profound….