So who is Mr. Binayak Sen. Read this article in Outlook just now. http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?269953  The article describes him as icon for middles class of India. Is this true? Somebody like me who comes from Chattisgarh did not even know him till a month back which says a lot as Mr. Sen has been working in Chattisgarh for couple of decades now. But that's not the point which has got me thinking. Binayak Sen passed out from CMC Vellore in 1970's. After having passed out from one of the most prestigious medical school, one would expect him to settle down in a life of luxury. He choose not to and instead went into jungles of Chattisgarh to serve underprivileged. I wonder how did he arrive at this decision. For lot of us say that we want to serve those who are less privileged than others but very few end up doing. I certainly do not have the courage of leaving my life full of comfort (or rather luxury) and get into doing a fraction of what Mr. Sen has been doing. This is the bit which I am grappling with. The larger question is whether Mr. Sen is a better human being that others? Am I less worthy of human life than him.

With the above thoughts in mind, I started reading an article about Sachin Tendulkar in Outlook. It again describes him as icon for NRI's (not in as many words but that's the gist of what it says). Now Sachin has given wonderful moments to cherish. He has introduced Billion Plus (If not a billion at least 100 million) Indians to feelings which were unknown to them. He brought hope to them for dominating others when it seemed least likely. I still remember the Hero Cup Final in 1993 and the last over he bowled to South Africa in Semi final. But coming back to the article, it describes him as this special individual with cosmopolitan interests. These being Formula 1 racing, married to an older woman and he likes driving fast cars. We all still love him right...

Now who is a better individual, Mr. Sen or Sachin. How do we decide?

Some of us actually believe in this convenient logic that we are all here to play our part and we hardly decide what we ought to do. Hum sab is rangmanch ki katputliyan hai......Some of us believe that its about helping others and making a difference to them which would make our life worthy. Some of us believe that its about living for oneself, after all we have all got at best 60 odd years to live. In fact I am told that at this core, Hindu religion tries to answer this question "Who am I" which obviously lends itself to the answer to the question "What am I here for?" I actually know that I will never be able to answer this question for myself. But then...