The skewed priorities!

In the recently concluded India/New Zealand cricket series, I was watching the dying moments of the Third Test which ended in a draw with the timely intervention of the rain god who put in his presence to save New Zealand the blushes. At one stage it looked as though we would take the cup2-0 but that was not to be. And yet, our solitary victory at the First Test coming after 40 years put us in a spot of history. If you want more information like which are the countries that got saved by the skin of their teeth at the dying moments of the game thanks to a burst of rain, you can go to cricinfo or cricketnirvana or some such site dedicated to the game of cricket.

My repertoire of cricket titbits is rather limited to the essentials but let me share with you just one vital detail. The first protective gear for the testicular area , discreetly known as 'abdomen guard' in cricketing circles, was introduced in 1874.but it took men 100 years to realise that the brain was also equally important. The wearing of the helmet came into vogue hundred years later in 1974! To those of you who may not understand the need to wear an armoury like a Spartan soldier when just going to play cricket, I must tell you that the ball that the burly bowlers shoot at the batsman at speeds in excess of 100 kmph weighs around 160 grams and can be lethal if it strikes any vulnerable part of the batsman.

Coming back to that small titbit that I shared with you, why did it take men a hundred years to realise that the brain was equally important and to protect it with a helmet? Was it because the people did not consider the brain as important a hundred years back as the need to preserve their virility? Or was it because people's scheme of priorities was all totally skewed up then? I would tend to go with the second view. In my own life of over six decades, I have observed a great shift in human priorities. While some of us are able to adjust ourselves to the changing priorities, many remain stuck to the ones that they grew up with.

Take my nonagenarian mother for example. The only question that keeps bothering her is whether we have had our food. We may be assailed by a hundred tempests of life that take our minds farthest away from the thoughts of food but she gets worried sick if such tempests delay our lunch or dinner and will keep asking about it every minute to the point of even causing us annoyance. Keeping body and soul together through proper nourishment is her priority. It is her firm belief that an undernourished body is least likely to cope with the pressures of life. She grew up at a time when everything could wait until one had had his food and viewed in that context, her mindset would appear acceptable.

The shift in priorities is even more noticeable in professional and academic fields. A hundred years back and before that, the priority of the people was to pursue their ancestral profession. A purohit's son, for instance, was sent to a Vedic school to study the mantras and scriptures. A carpenter's son learned carpentry after the basic schooling. Mere graduation was the dream of many. 'Job security' was given top most priority. Consequently, a person working as a clerk in Government was considered far superior to an executive of a company merely because the former would enjoy uninterrupted career while the latter might get 'kicked out' anytime! A government employee, therefore, enjoyed the greatest premium in the matrimonial market! But with the technological explosion in the last four decades, all the old priorities have gone for a spin. Most of the young men have distinguished themselves in academic pursuits and are occupying coveted positions globally notwithstanding their ancestral line of profession. Most of the purohits have been replaced by CDs and cassettes because their progenies have all become Doctors, technocrats or scientists in India and abroad!

I hope I have fully justified the cricketing clan taking a hundred years to realise that the head too is important!

 

Dear Radha
I agree with you totally that our priorities take the back seat when we are young in the sense that so many people claim their places in our life and their needs take the top most priority invariably. We are so busy toiling for others that we may have no time even to think of our priorities. I have seen young couple travelling in trains with an infant. When the infant starts crying possibly because it is feeding time but most often for reasons known only to the infant, I have observed how agitated the parents become not knowing what to do. All their priorities are forgotten and the only priority becomes pacifying the child!

When we grow older after discharging all our duties to others, like me for example, we may have now all the time in the world but have nothing to prioritise! The only priority of mine these days is to reply to all of you and keep writing new threads! Saving the skin becomes the top most priority in our professional days but even that fades away as we grow older.

My only priority now is to continue being noticed by others, for good reasons of course!
Good to see how uptodate you are in cricket that even the SRK/Gavaskar stand off has not escaped your notice!
Sri

 

Dear Chithra
I always tell my folks at home that you remind me of Madame Curie for sheer perseverance and hard work. While she was awarded two Nobel Prizes for her discovery of Polium and Radium as well as in chemistry, it is a pity that no Noble Prize is awarded for culinary skills But you put in no less effort than Curie did in her lab in innovating new dishes week after week for your beloved ILites. That has clearly defined your priority unlike my good friend Vish's shifting priorities between cricket and Asianet Star Singer! While you have some strong reservation against men's (Vish's) priority when a popular brand of cricket is shown on the TV, Vish never mentions the time you spend in kitchen surrounded by audio and video equipments recording every spoon of salt that you transfer to your hitherto untried dishes. Men, of course, are invariably more tolerant!

IT still means Income Tax to most of the guys including the IT professionals. Come to any Auditor's office towards the end of March and you can meet a lot of IT professionals with consternation written all over their faces. After all, in a poor country like India, it is not easy to keep all that salary they earn from the IT sleuths!
Sri

 

Dear Mindi
Food is of course a great priority but no one spends all his time and money eating. And consider this scenario. On a well earned holiday, you toil at the kitchen preparing the best meal of your life. The items get tastefully spread out on the table and all of you assemble around the table. After saying the Grace or taking a few photographs of the food or whatever you do before dipping your fingers in the food, you hear the door bell ring and when you open the door, you see your beaming parents who are on a surprise visit from India. Won't your attention totally shift from the food to an hour of hugging and other forms of pleasantries? The food eaten an hour later will still be the same but you will hardly notice it!

Of course for the fans of Edgar Allen Poe, I can tell a different story like a ghost suddenly alighting on the table with a blood curdling cry just as you dip your fingers in the food! Will food still be the priority?

Doctors and Chartered Accountants are the only clan who have a hereditary claim on the profession. I have so far not come across a family of Electrical Engineers!
Sri

 

Dear Krithika
Two in a row from you! You have made my day! And such a detailed reply too!
From all the FBs that I have received for this post, I have learned one thing that priorities change even as frequently as three or four times a day or even more. When I first wrote the Master post, I had reckoned that priorities changed only once in a decade or so.

Coming to think of it, I remember my childhood days. My dad was a Law Officer in Indian Bank. Those days there were not as many litigations as there are today in a Bank. So the Law Officers hardly had any pressing commitments on their professional time. The daily ritual of his going to office still remains green in my memory. It was more like a count down like we have in Rocket Launching centers. The count down would start at around 5 a.m.He would usually leave for the office by catching the tram at 8 a.m. Those three hours used to be hectic for my mum when she wouldn't even remember her name. My elder brother and I would carefully avoid coming in the orbit of my dad for the fear that any chance collision with him would seal our fate for ever! Only after he left for office, we would start catching up with our own schedules! Incidentally, my brother visited dad once in the office and told me in confidence that my dad created all that racket in the morning only to read The Hindu in detail in the comfort of the office!

I agree with you that the priorities of a housewife change hourly. Coming to cricket, you haven't missed anything in your life by not knowing anything about it! I sail in the same boat vis a vis baseball. The American passion for this game is indeed amazing. The other game that curdles my blood is rugby which is more in the nature of the Clash of the Titans.

I think you have got it all mixed up about Anniyan. The film featured Vikram and not Arjun. What you probably had in mind was 'Mudhalvan'. By the way, I like Arjun better than Vikram!
Sri