Religiosity is a measure of faith or inclination towards religion. In the same week that the nation witnessed one of the worst carnages in recent memory, it also found reason to cheer the emergence of a new cricketing star on the horizon.
Just as the haunting image of a new bride, listless beside her husband’s body in a verdant meadow, will remain etched in public memory, so too will the sight of 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi sending the ball soaring out of the park with a flurry of audacious strokes. His cherubic face lit up screens and hearts alike, sending the nation into a frenzy. The media could scarcely stop gushing over the phenomenal talent he had unveiled.
His backstory — marked by toil and parental sacrifice, made his success a parable of dreams becoming real, placing hope within reach of every starry-eyed youngster. He became an idol, a teen sensation overnight.
Yet, amid the celebration and sweeping adulation, a disquieting thought pierced my appreciative but cautiously sceptical mind: What will this meteoric rise do to the young boy?
Will it sculpt him for greatness or slowly crush him beneath the weight of expectation and a premature sense of invincibility? And then there is the possibility of his fledgling confidence turning into a streak of hubris. There is only a thin line that separates certitude from conceit. Even as I was contemplating these thoughts came the innings where he scored a naught and returned to the pavilion before the crowd had even fully beheld their new sporting icon.
The euphoria that had only just begun to swell fell into a sudden hush. Vaibhav had shown, perhaps unintentionally, that success can be as fickle as the weather in London. That not every innings is destined to end like a dream. That the most crucial lesson success teaches us is its own vulnerability — the quiet truth that every triumph carries, nestled within, the possibility of failure.
There is one thing that the cheerleading media and the rest of the multitude often forget: that legends are not made by lionising instant success but by the sustained effort to remain dependable and consistent.
And much as we would all wish the young cricketer a long career where he gathers accolades, smashes records, and sets up India’s victory campaigns, we would also wish that he doesn’t end up being a flash in the pan.
The responsibility of not letting him fall into the trap of instant glory rests on us — fans, media, and the world at large, which puts people on the altar one day and dislodges them the very next.
People’s preferences are unpredictable; they shift allegiance on a whim. Their assessments have no fixed matrices. The glory they confer is only as good as the last performance of the glorified.
Instead of drowning young prodigies in paeans, let us encourage them to do their best and to be consistent. It is in the nurturing that their continued success lies.
Let us allow our heroes to grow, not just glow. Let us honour their humanity more than their heroics. For every Vaibhav who emerges from the shadows of struggle into the spotlight, let there be a scaffolding of patience, mentorship, and perspective. Let us remind ourselves and him — that greatness is not built in a single match or moment, but in weathering both applause and silence with equanimity.
In celebrating his rise, may we also learn the virtue of gentle detachment, for that may be the only way to ensure that our idols don’t collapse under the weight of our expectations. We love our idols, but let us not love them so much that we snatch away their freedom to fail.
Let us not bury them under the burden of our adulation, however well-meaning it may be. Success, especially when it arrives early, is not just a gift — it is a test. It is difficult to climb the pedestal in a competitive world, but it is even more difficult to remain there for long.
And in a world that worships today and forgets tomorrow, we must remember to let our heroes stumble, learn, and rise again. Because uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
(The author is a Dubai based columnist and writing coach. Views are personal)