Believe In Yourself.....

It is one of those incidents which you never forget in life. They come up as revelations when you are in need of it. These are tiny leaflets that make your huge book called life. The reference I am about to tell you is an incident that I witnessed which helped me inculcate a sense of self belief in myself. I hope it does the same to you. After months of searching for a good topic to write on, this idea flashed like lightning to me.

I was into learning karate since I was 7 years old. After three years of training when I was 10 years old, I along with about 30 odd students of our karate institution, where selected for an All India Karate tournament to be held in Thrissur,Kerala. It was a ten day trip to Kerala and was planned during the Christmas vacation in December 2005. We reached Thrissur by 26th of December and straight away paid a visit to the stadium in which the tournament was to be held. The scene was jaw-dropping, awesome and whatever you want to call it. Being born and brought up in a space cramped city like Mumbai, we were but naturally surprised to see such a huge stadium. It was actually a indoor basketball stadium with a seating capacity of about 3000. The platform or the WWE ring (as we called it then) was being built at the center. The mere sight of the ramp sent shivers running down most of our spines.

After about a day’s rest, the tournament was flagged open on the 28th of December (ohhh…I can never forget those dates) and would continue for three days. The Black Dragons- a team from Kerala were the official organizers of the tournament. We had heard plenty about their team being fearless and ruthless and the one which swept most of the awards every year. And man they did live up to their legendary reputation. We watched in awe and dismay as seasoned karate pros from all over the country perished like amateurs at the hand of the deadly Black Dragons. They moved on like trained, powerful robots and nobody could do anything about that. The first day itself saw many of our team members including me get knocked out of the tournament. Phew! I suffered a knockout and when I woke up I was at our dugout. The game was over for me.

Well the real story starts now. On the third and the last day all the different weight categories were headed towards the last rounds. Almost all of them were ensured a bronze medal at least.
As I said the fighters where divided as per their weights. Like I was in the 35-40 weight category. Of all the fighters, the one who stole all the limelight was Manoj Black Dragon-as he was called by the announcer. He kicked and swayed everyone who came his away during the tourney. People gripped with fear when they saw themselves pitted against him on the fight list. Most of his fights ended in brutal knockouts. He undoubtedly won his weight category of 55-60 kgs.

And after all that, when everyone thought that everything was over, the organizers announced a surprise trophy. The Dragon Crest as it was called by them. The speciality of that trophy was that it had no weight or gender bounds. Anybody who cleared 5 rounds in their respective categories were eligible for that trophy. Not surprisingly, the first one to get himself enrolled was Manoj. After that it was like nobody wanted that trophy. The organizers asked repeatedly about any one wanting to join as contenders for the coveted trophy. After a while a student from our institution, Deepak or Spiderman as he was know among us him stood up. He said he was ready to fight Manoj who was by now grinning and showing off thinking that he would win the trophy without any competition.

‘Are you out of your mind’, ‘He will chew you and spit you out’, ‘You are gone!’. That was the reaction from our camp. Sure he was the best from our institution and also the only one to win a gold medal from our team, but not up to Manoj, we thought.

In a matter of minutes, he was padded up and the fight would start in no time. Manoj, full with over-confidence was looking at his dugout and gesturing at the girls declaring his supremacy. The crowd was silent. 3000 people, sat like they knew the fate of the match already. Even we at our dugout were counting the probabilities of Deepak returning back without fracturing some part of his body.

The referee called the players closer, and gestured some rules to them. He drew out and after a moment shouted, “Start!” And the fight was on. The showboating Manoj was taunting Deepak who was looking keenly into his eyes. After some initial struggle he was pushed to the corner of the ring by Manoj. This was the moment. Deepak came back with a startler. Running across the stage he unleashed the deathly Bruce Lee style flying kick. It went straight to Manoj’s jaw. And man!! He ruffled across the ropes and was out of the stage. The referee counted till ten so that Manoj could come back in. But he didn’t getup, let alone re-enter the stage. The match was over! The Dragon Crest was ours! The supremacy of the Black Dragons ended. We could not believe what we were witnessing. Deepak unleashed into a flurry of somersaults and ugly gestures at the Black Dragon dugout.

Nobody gave him a chance. Not even his teammates, not even his coach. Of all the 3000 people only one person believed in him. And that was he himself. He had courage, he had power, he had swiftness, but above all he believed in himself. He never let himself down even when everyone others did so. He was holding the metal studded shining trophy in his hand with his eyes gleaming at the limelight. He knew he had achieved something and set a role model others.

Even now I think about that incident after 7 years. I bet all the people present there would also remember him. Now, whenever I am in doubt I think about this man called Deepak and try to draw inspiration from him. Because he was the one who Believed In Himself.