“Baba – who is the better player – Mbaape or Messi?” Asked my little one after the world cup soccer tournament was over. The tournament may have been over, but the spirit has remained among the little ones who are constantly playing the digital version of the game on their phones and other devices. I am a die-hard fan of the Brazilian team and so fortunately am not too attached to either. So, I replied – “Does not matter to me – My heart belongs to Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the greatest of all time’’. “Who is that ?” asked the little one in amazement. “Pele ” I exclaimed! The little one looked at me, over his glasses, shook his head and went to his room with disappointment written all over his face. On the other hand, on hearing “pele ” my wife asked from the other room “Ki Khujte bolle?”. “Jiboner ortho” I retorted
to which I heard some sardonic laughter. This topic came up recently again, this time from my elder son. In his teenage years now, he stood towering over me and in a voice, which frequently resembles the range that the character Chewbacca in the series Star Wars displays his emotions in, asked – “Baba – who do you like better, Mbappe or Messi?” “Why do you ask?– For me Mbappe has too much of an attitude” – I replied. He continued – “ I was giving my French oral exam when the topic veered
to soccer. I asked the teacher if she liked Mbaape as he was so talented?”. I was surprised that he had asked the question as he was a very strong Argentine supporter and was very fond of Messi. “What did she say?” I asked. In his deep voice, bordering on whispering, he continued “When she heard the question she wrinkled her nose, shook her head and said that she does not like him at all as he has a lot of attitude. Why Baba – is this a grown-up thing?”. He continued – “Is attitude not the magic ingredient that separates success from failure?” “Babu. Listen ”, I told him “Attitude has many shades and meanings – it could mean aggressive as treating others in a demeaning manner from a sense of superiority. It can also mean confidence in yourself when embarking on something challenging. What your teacher meant
was that Mbappe is perceived to display the first behaviour I talked about. If talent is
accompanied by humility, then people are automatically drawn to it.” My son seemed lost in thought and then said, “So when you tell me that I do not have the right attitude, you mean that I should be more confident in my abilities to tackle the situation at hand”. “Absolutely” I said, “At the end of the day, you should have the satisfaction of saying I gave it my best – the rest is beyond my control. You will also see this play out in your work life – You will be able to categorize your supervisors to the Mbappe or Messi camps. You will have to learn from and deal with both. You will see that people would most likely line up to sign for the Messi camp.”
“So, your ideal supervisor would be knowledgeable and humble – right Baba?” my son continued “Did you get many of those?”. “Not many” I said. “Very difficult to find, ” my wife said– she had joined us and was listening to us from behind. “Tai to boli porashona kor shona – so that your learning is solid ”, she continued, “So that you can be as skillful as Mbappe but with the soft pleasant personality that you have’. “So not become like Mbappe but like Bhapey (ilish)that everyone wants to have a piece of.” I teased him getting a huge flashing smile from him. “We always pray that you grow up to be good person Babu and that your life not be messy but flourish like Messi.”