It has indeed
been a great honour for Indians to have some outstanding personalities as the
Presidents of the Indian Republic. Among all the Presidents of India till
date, some remarkably outstanding names stand taller, notably Dr. A.P.J Abdul
Kalaam, Dr. K. R. Narayanan, Dr. R. Venkatraman, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and
Dr.Radhakrishnan. Of these,Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s popularity as outstanding academicians is far greater than
as the Heads of State. Dr.Kalaam pursued his passion of encouraging and
inspiring youth by addressing them and always finding time to talk to them even
during his tenure as the President of India! He went as far as making them review
their orthodox notions about ‘ dream’ and redefined it for them as ‘one which
gives you sleepless nights and not as the one which appears when you are fast
asleep at night’ thereby waking up an entire generation to an altogether new thought
that spilled out incredible and amazing Indians in hundreds! Dr.Radhakrishnan,
the first Vice President and the second President of India, a Philosopher,
through his works bridged the gaps between the east and the west for which he was
knighted and it was little wonder then that when he was elected to the highest
Office, his friends and students requested his permission to celebrate 5th
September, his birthday, as teacher’s day.
But surprisingly, the person to whom I am
dedicating this teachers day to, is neither an academician nor an Indian! He is
a Prince turned sportsman whose passion for sport won him Gold at Olympics! The
person we are talking about is Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum,
belonging to the ruling family of Dubai and a Gold Medalist at 2004 Athens
Olympics in Men's Double Trap Shooting
event! In 2004 Sheikh Ahmed not only won UAE’s first Olympic Gold but also it’s
only Gold Medal at Olympics! In one of the competitions, so overwhelming was
his performance that a young man all of twenty walked upto him requesting his
help to realize his dream to win an Olympic Gold. Convinced of the young man’s
resolve to realize his dream Sheikh invited him to Dubai where his sporting
skills and abilities would be tested before making any commitments. When the
young man flew to Dubai, his skills and abilities were found to be perfect. In
due course of time not only would the Sheikh discover that the young man was
not only a mere farm help but also someone who had lost funding to his passion
and now a waiter but also respond to this shocking discovery with nobility - firstly
by waving off his coaching expenses and secondly by doing away with the formalities in return for
one condition – the man would do anything and everything he would be asked to
unquestioningly and with full faith and devotion failing which he would lose
the Sheikhs guidance! Such was the commitment of the young man to his game that
he readily accepted without giving it a second thought! And the result – the
young man, Peter Robert Russel Wilson, a farm help from Dorset, U.K, whom Sheikh
Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum took under his wings in 2009, realized his dream of winning Olympic Gold at 2012 London Olympics in the same Men’s Double
Trap event scoring 188 out of 200 points, just one point below Sheikhs 2004
Olympic score of 189/200! An emotionally charged Peter Wilson remarked that his
relation with Sheikh would forever remain as it was on the day they first met!
But the greater credit goes to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum
who went through a range of emotions for the young man as his erred in his
finals before he finally struck gold and yet benevolently gave the entire
credit for the success to Peter Wilson’s dedication, discipline and
perseverance!!
It inarguably takes more than just a good human being to see some one else’s dream through his eyes and devote himself to see him achieve it and it assumes all the more significance when except for the passion there isn’t anything in common to be shared whether it is religion,race, nationality, language, culture or rank!!
Imagine an Arab
Shooter Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum sharing his Gold
winning shooting secret with a British Peter Wilson, inspiring a Sachin
Tedulkar or Sunil Gavaskar to share their cricketing secrets with youth from
terror stricken Kashmir or Afghanistan or a Saina Nehwal or a Mary Kom sharing
their skills with women from male dominated societies like that of Haryana or
Iran and present sport as a medium of liberalization Or a Sushil Kumar and
Yogeshwar Dutt sharing their grappling skills with the sturdy Gadwali youth from
difficult terrains of Garhwal or Kumaon regions or with the wrestlers from
Varanasi and Kolhapur to provide the much needed professional touch! But then
why should the spirit be confined to sports alone? Imagine this spirit being inculcated
in every possible aspect of social life helping people to discover themselves,
their hidden talents and the world to wake up to an entirely new breed of
artists, academicians, and leaders who would live by the same spirit of handing
over the baton to the most worthy successor without any bias or prejudices
before they have called it a day!
Is there a better contender to whom this
Teachers day could be dedicated other than Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher
Al Maktoum? I guess not!As the missile man of India and former President Dr. A.
P. J. Abdul Kalaam puts it ‘Any child’s best role models after his parents are his
teachers’ - I see no better way to celebrate this teacher’s day than to
dedicate it to the spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum!
Happy teacher’s
day!
- Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI)
Mumbai, 05.09.2014.
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