Better than the best
Have been reading some really fabulous blogs of late. In addition to feeling elated, I also feel, as folklore goes, the way Clapton felt when he heard Mark Knoffler for the first time - strangely depressed, subdued, bluesy, and what not. All of a sudden I don’t seem too eager to want to visit my blog and check out if people have left their thoughts behind. My previous posts feel mediocre and pedestrian in content. I seem unable to think up an original idea to convert into a post.
But the silver lining in all this murkiness is that the authors of those fabulous blogs seem to think alike too - that their work pales in comparison to others that they really look up to and idolize. Its not exactly a comfort that I can lean upon and carry on. But I realize that there are many grades of good writing, and similar levels of an appreciative public.
I recall now an analogy I have had at the back of my mind all these years. I have been a fairly good football player in school and in college. But they were a couple of players both in college and school who were leagues better than me. And the best of those players probably only went as far as playing in the Calcutta second division. Considering how much better the first division and the national level players are than the second division ones, its humbling to learn that I would surely not feature in a grouping of the most skillful one lakh players in our country. And finally when you realize that India is ranked around 130 odd in the world football rankings, its a very fair chance that every other European, South American, Middle or South East Asian I come across would probably dance me off my feet! Sigh.
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