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Sunday 26 August 2012

The Armstrongs, Yuvraj Singh and our WC victory!

The last week has been full of action both within the Blue Caramel world as well in the social world. As the Race4Pace contest comes to its last week, all the locations of Blue Caramel, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur in Rajasthan and Mumbai have strived for betterment. The flurry of activities though have been hampered in Jaipur and Jodhpur because of the incessant rains. In the social sphere, the duo that have hogged the limelight  are the Armstrongs.

Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, whose words (while he stepped out of his Lunar Module (Apollo) on 21st July 1969), "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" have become a part of modern folklore, died at the ripe age of 82 years on 26th August 2012. Neil Armstrong (left in the photo) was the commander of the Apollo11 moon landing mission which also had Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin(right in photo) and Michael Collins (center in photo) as his co-astronauts. But it was not always a smooth sailing for Neil into the history books because as a child he was prone to motion sickness and as an Air Force pilot, was susceptible to nausea after long hours of aerobatics. But he overcame these physical ailments through sheer grit, determination, dedication and focus and the rest, as they say, is history.

Lance Armstrong, on the other hand, is an American professional road racing cyclist, who won an incredible 7 Tour de France titles from 1999-2005 and was the undisputed champion cyclist during that period. He is also known for his heroic and successful fight against testicular cancer. The cancer had spread to his lungs and brain and had become life threatening. But it was again through sheer grit and determination along with rigorous medication that he came back from the brink and became a source of inspiration for thousands of people all around the world.

In fact, Armstrong's story was a constant source of motivation for cricketer Yuvraj Singh, in his fight against lung cancer, which he too overcame. A selection in the Indian cricket team for the T20 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka, marks a remarkable comeback for Yuvraj Singh.

The Indian under 19 cricket team won the World Cup when they beat Australia, in the under19 WC held in Australia itself. Indian cricket teams, over the years have been accused of being "Paper Tigers" or "Home Tigers" for their pathetic performances overseas especially in Australia, South Africa and England. This time around also, the cricketers began on the wrong foot as they were comprehensively beaten by the West Indies in their first match. Just when they were being written off by the media and the analysts alike, the team under "Captain Courageous" Unmukt Chand, through concerted focus and great pressure handling, toppled the rivals and became the junior World Champions of 50 overs cricket.

What all Blue Caramelers should learn from these incidents is that "It is all in the mind". You are a winner or a looser based on what and how you think. Many battles in life are won or lost in the mind, even before the battle actually takes place. Lets all look forward to being man enough to take on life and its battles as they come and emerge victorious and not declare ourselves loosers even before we actually face them.

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