To get lives moving.
That's my purpose in life, that's my aim, that's my mission. Call it whatever you feel like, but you get the gist, don't you?
My only purpose in life is to get people to play a sport.
These can be anyone. Veterans, youth, kids. Corporate executives, kids in orphanages, housewives, cops, criminals. Urban, rural. Handicapped, patients, underprivileged, obese.
Whoever. Anyone.
I had just one aim in mind when I decided to start running (in 1997) medium distances (5-7km): to win the IIT Bombay Cross Country for Hostel 2. I did not do it to to get fitter, to lose weight, to find a purpose, run away from some depression, or to kill some time ... blah blah blah. I did it for my community, for my hostel: H2. It was all competitive ... very passionate ... but nothing to do with 'nirvana', or 'awareness of myself' ... blah blah blah.
Thankfully, as it is in IIT's cross country races, it's not an individual who gets you the trophy. So, if I am first in the cross country, it hardly matters. With 50 positions at stake, you got to make sure that you have as many people from your hostel getting into the "Top 50".
It was a team game. So was inter-hostel footer, volley, hockey etc. etc.
So, for 4-and-a-half years, the one thing that I consistently did was to roam all around the 200 odd rooms of the hostel, knock on every single door, and get people out to play, to run. If they couldn't play football, I would ask them to run. If they couldn't run, I would run with them and teach them how to run. If they still couldn't run, I would take them to the volley court and ask them to serve, or boost, or spike too.
I have done it so much, that I get restless if I don't do it today. Every Friday, I have to send messages to the 30-odd team members of the Young Veterans Football Club which goes, "Game on tomorrow at Eden, at 730!"
Everytime I meet a new person, I have this standard question ready for them, "So what do you do apart from work?" I wait for some time, and go, "Do you play anything?" ... and then I arrive at my aim ... of saying something like, "You should run .. " or "You should play Ultimate with us" .. or "Hey we play football ... do you want to join ... do you want me to wake you up?"
Everytime.
I hope this passion of getting people to play something or the other finds a method too ... so I can get as many people off their couches and onto the field, the road, the route, the saddle, the beach ... wherever!
Surviving is ok. Existing is ok too. Living is 'wow!' ... but sport ... sport to me is 'Life in Motion!' When you get out into the outdoors, and when you get moving ... that's when things start making sense to you. The tougher the challenges are, the tougher the game is, the more you understand life, the more you become aware of yourself.
I have this particular note about my purpose in life on every page of this blog ... because I want myself, and yourself, to be subconsciously aware of it everytime I browse here. That will help. Immensely!
