Thursday, August 11, 2005

Living your Passion and a man called Harsha Bhogle...

Articulate, professional, humble, pleasant, are the few adjectives that come into mind when you think of Harsha Bhogle.
Harsha who:-IIMA grad, who chucked a lucrative career to pursue his passion. Opted out of placements and went straight to AIR (All India Radio!) to become a cricket commentator. Now the famous Anchor, Commentator, Columnist...

He's one of those few, who pursue their passion and make a living/career (damn good at it!) out of it, unlike most of us who call our passions, hobbies and @ some point give up citing lack of time. How wonderful life should be when you spend most of the time on your passion.
Though @ every opportunity he mentions his wife’s support (hmm that's something) and calls himself the luckiest person, it’s not as rosy as it seems. As a commentator you got to be on your toes all the time, concentrating and having the words to say whatever is happening in the ground, mediocrity is not accepted in live shows, you got to build a rapport with audience, make them feel imp, put up with the egos of former players now fellow commentators(Considering that he never played cricket at the highest level).
Well life's not easy, but it was never meant to be.

He played some Ranji Trophy cricket, and then when he realized that his limited cricketing talent will not take him far, he made a turn, dared those days in wilderness, mastered the rules and accents and created a profession/career and brought some dignity to the job.
Though occasionally u will find him coining lines like "you can’t expect a Mercedes out of an Ambassador factory"(talking about the need to improve cricketing infrastructure in India), there’s no Sidhuism.It's that warm friendly smile, infectious enthusiasm, being never short of the right word or phrase and the simplicity that appeals. And most importantly it's the transparent passion, which is his USP.
Well, "where there’s passion there’s no mediocrity" is the proven law.
Now you have 'Harsha Ke Khoj', a talent hunt show named after him and endorsements, fan clubs...well that must be satisfying.

But there’s more to it than money and fame. It's about believing in your dreams, overcoming obstacles, making the right turn at the right time (knowing the limitations, he stopped playing and started commentary), being nice still not boring, that down to earth quality, .............................., it's about living your passion.

There’s never a dull moment with Harsha around, listening to him or reading his write-ups is an absolute delight.
I rarely go crazy about people, (SHE is an exception though, I get lost in the depth of sea in her eyes, that old-fashioned, childish charm and that mysterious appeal...hmm...got it?, that's some inspiration!) but I envy you Harsha for living your passion.

1 comment:

Sushma said...

Ya Vinay totally agree with you. He is a living example for living the dream. A chemical engineer doing something totally different. Thought about taking up commentary as a career when no one could dream about it. He lives every moment of the match and makes you feel the match with him. I still remember his article about Vinod Kambli where he had urged people to write to him. hats off to you Harsha, you are an inspiraton for hundreds of budding talent.