Tuesday, April 04, 2006

AFTER THE GAME...



For past sometime I have heard this Old Italian quote doing the rounds, After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. Well for those who still couldn’t get around the meaning of the quote may well be advised to listen to the Linkin Park song, “I tried so hard, I got so far but in the end it doesn’t even matter”

Well I came across it first while searching for a topic which I can throw across to an audience to speak on in a toastmaster meeting. Till then it was unheard of but it gave a chance to the people to speak their own idea about how life should be conducted. No body sought to speak on this topic. Anyways later I watched it being heard in the Bollywood movie, Being Cyrus. Then people started writing that no one should be worried of worldly possessions just because….

So as the quote says its all about Kings, pawns and boxes….or rather its only box, we all meet the same endings and it doesn’t matter who’s the king and who’s the pawn. So that’s it all about!! But wait, isn’t there one more thing which we are forgetting about. Isn’t this about GAME as well, isn’t it about closing your fist when you checkmate and isn’t it about flaring your nose, abusing yourself when you are checkmated. What if kings and pawns don’t play the game thinking they have to end in the same box? At any rate you are known by the measure of skill you show at playing the game and in one sense the game is larger than any king, any pawn. People are remembered for that, for playing it in a way that helped others play the game better. For that matter any box as well; kings and pawn may come and go, the box may always be there to receive you but you will be known by how much you give to the game. And going forward on that are all games about Kings and Pawns and not about others as well like queens, bishops and knights? And finally look at your aspirations, everyone wants to be king and no one wants to be a pawn, but everyone does want to have a stint at playing a game.

Give it a thought … and then may be you’ll say “Before going into the box king, queen, bishop, rook and pawn play the game and they give their best.”