THE IRRATIONAL CHOICE ... 1

Erratic team selection and constant chop and change do not conduce to quality performance overseas. Pity to see Ravindra Jadeja helplessly watch proceedings from the pavilion and Ravichandran Ashwin toil away lonesomely to break through the defences of the South African batsmen in the absence of his spinning mate. This is often the case with Indian sports where the academic element is neglected and the consequences thereof also misapprehended, laying the emphasis by way of rectification on altogether extraneous elements. The intellectual build-up is an imperative even in sports and this is where we as a nation with irrational propensities in our common social intercourse fail to deliver on the international stage where a high degree of rational evidence-based judgement is a sine qua non for excellence of the highest order. It is time to rectify this lacuna in the developmental stage for sportspersons so that they not only acquire the skills of their respective sports but develop the intellect as well to comprehend the finer aspects of their sporting disciplines for greater efficiency in performance. Thus will many a malady be cured off-field for better health on-field.

And this intellectual approach to life in general as well as far as possible will work wonders for our emerging nation stooping low under the weight of age-old irrational outlook on social life, caste prejudice, outdated mores and horrendous superstition. We have enough in our heritage to bank on and can with a little effort remould our national life along the blueprint of the golden past of our motherland to usher in a brighter future on the morrow. Philosophical wisdom, a scientific temper and emotion moderated by the intellect is what we need as a nation if we are to regularly feature in the domain of excellence at the world level in the diverse disciplines of life. Jai Hind!