Bhoole Toh Nehi?

Power corrupts – absolute power corrupts absolutely. What is not said here is what happens if someone absolutely corrupted is put through strenuous self-inflicted rehabilitation. Perhaps the turnaround is as quick as the corruption was. There is little doubt that it was absolute power that made Saurav Ganguly go corrupt and lose everything he ever stood for – transparency, performance, lead-from-the-front and that single minded desire to succeed. All that remained was his aggression, which in isolation resembled empty arrogance. Rightly, he was dropped from the national squad and quickly slipped into cricketing oblivion. Then something happened and Maharaj went back to where he was after the 1992 dumping. It is said he even took low-cost airline flights to play cricket for Bengal and worked his heart (and flab) out to make it back to the team. He did make it back – not so much by choice than by the TINA factor – but he did get his toe in the door for sure. Then came something that shows how his rehabilitation may have made a man out of a brat. Saurav took a flight from Kolkata to Mumbai and from there flew nine hours to reach Johannesburg. Instead of checking in to the hotel and working off his jet lag, he drove two hours to Potchefstroom where the rest of the team was at practice. A whole lot has been written about the luke-warm response he got even from people who must thank “dada” for their careers but that is not the point here. Where there is an iron will to perform and the desire to hitch rides on the winding and dusty track there possibly awaits a pot of gold at the end of the road. Saurav Ganguly may not make it in his second coming but it certainly will not be for want of trying.