Random Forays: In praise of the balanced personality

Williamson was until recently the captain of the New Zealand cricket team and is still regarded as one of the four best batsmen in the world. He has been in “pressure cooker situations” all his life, so to say, having bailed out his team from deep muddy waters on many instances.

Rarely on view, these days, is a balanced, cool, unruffled personality. Yes, there are several sorted seniors who have doffed their caps and put up their feet after years of toil in calmer eras. Nothing seems to faze them and they barely raise an eyebrow from their still-favourite newspapers, even when something unexpected occurs in their family homes.

Mr Cool, Kane Williamson, has been nicknamed “steady-the-ship” by some fans. (HT File)

Most office-goers appear flustered by life and work, and their combined pressures. Not without reason. There is no let-up in the amount of activity, even in villages, these days. Smart people have smarter phones breathing down their necks, or their pockets, you see. The furrowed brow, the flared nostrils, the flashing eyes, all are in evidence everywhere today. The heat is on, and people find it tough to stay cool.

Which brings me to Mr Cool, Kane Williamson, also nicknamed “steady-the-ship” by some fans. Williamson was until recently the captain of the New Zealand cricket team and is still regarded as one of the four best batsmen in the world. He has been in “pressure cooker situations” all his life, so to say, having bailed out his team from deep muddy waters on many instances.

Yet, and in contrast with almost all of his contemporaries, his demeanour, his conduct, his balanced persona, have been exemplary and worth emulating to the hilt. It is a fact that a Kiwi cricketer, even a skipper, does not have to face anywhere near the sort of hyper adulation and the resultant burden of expectation that an Indian star does. But Williamson has often been in the spotlight as well as on the hot seat in crucial matches at the apex level, and he has seldom slipped up. It is not that he has always sealed victory for his team, although he has almost always scored heavily when it mattered the most. But his sheer calmness, his unshaken belief system, his determined approach has won him admiration from all sports watchers.

Williamson is a role model for the youth to follow and he is someone who we should talk about more so youngsters are inspired to emulate his traits. There is something old-school about him, and though he is human, he appears almost saintly and at peace within, despite all the challenges that he faces as a top sporting champion.

Staying away from family and country for long periods and showing up day after day for his team without fail, at his balanced best, makes him a remarkable success in this demanding world of ours.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has delivered India’s own version of Captain Cool for many years, and is another player who has almost always maintained a sense of equanimity, come what may. Even when India won the 2011 World Cup, and he was clearly in ecstasy like the rest of us, he did not display any histrionics. Only when he was tragically run out in the semi finals of the 2019 World Cup did one sense an extreme emotion in him, this time of sheer anguish.

There is a school of thought that actually advocates loudness and aggression as a means to spur oneself on towards the attainment of a goal. Calmness is equated with inactivity by such mindsets. Yet, it is evident that dynamism and a go-getter approach are not asynchronous with a calm, balanced, mind. One does not need to be hyper-anything to be a crusader or a world beater.

Balanced personalities will always win accolades in the ultimate analysis, for their leadership and the example that they set, for others to follow.

There is a saying that a 16-year-old admires people with luxuries but a mature person is inspired by individuals who possess inner peace. Of course there are exceptions to both these rules! However, life teaches us, through many turbulent turning points, that only peace of mind and inner joy really matter in the ultimate analysis.

And in this era of obsession and even fanaticism of several kinds, a moderate, even-keel approach to life is perhaps what the divine doctor would order. If only we would listen to Him!

vivek.atray@gmail.com