Of Legends And Faded Talents

Few days back I was fully immersed listening to the haunting melody of Rudali's "Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabaraaye..." (one of my all-time favourites) rendered by the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. I marvelled at the heavenly voice of the melody queen and wondered how she could achieve the height of perfection in her vocation. Was it the 'God's gift', was it her 'naseeb' or was it her hard work?

What is it that separates the legends from the others? What creates living legends like Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Bhimsen Joshi, Amitabh Bachchan, M S Subbulakshmi and the chosen few who attain perfection and scale the dizzying heights of glory?

I think the answer to this question partly lies in the reply given by Vinod Kambli explaining the difference between him and Sachin Tendulkar many years ago, when he said  "I took the stairs, while Sachin went up by the escalator!" But this does not explain why, despite starting together, Sachin could take the escalator and reach the top of the 100-storey tower (so to say) where no one else has reached till date, while Vinod panted after barely climbing two floors!

One reason, of course, is the talent. A person must have it in good measure to begin with. Both Sachin and Vinod obviously had loads of cricketing talent. In fact, Vinod was said to be more talented than Sachin. If this was true, why did he fade out so early in his cricketing career, while Sachin left behind trail-blazing records which may probably never be surpassed by any batsman in future? Surely both had to struggle initially for a place in the national team, but once in, Sachin converted the opportunity into gold, while Vinod squandered it recklessly. The same goes for Lata Mangeshkar, Bhimsen Joshi and other legends who had to wage their own battles to make it big in life.

The secret behind the extraordinary achievements of these legends lies in their dedication and commitment to their art and craft and their willingness to put in years of hard work to attain perfection. It's their years of 'sadhana' which separates these legends from ordinary talent. People hail their achievements and admire their success, but behind the success of every legend lies years of 'sadhana' which people are unable to see and appreciate.