The Game of Uno
Two months back, I went to my home town and was fortunate (its becoming hard to get the weekend atleast for ourselves!!) to spend some memorable time with my two little friends (my sister’s daughters, Sreya of 4 yrs and Sravya of 7 years). Sreya taught how to play Uno to Srayva two days before and as soon as I said Hai to them, they dragged me for a game. The kids were so excited about a game ‘UNO’ which Sreya taught Sravya just a couple of days ago, that they dragged me with them for the game as soon as I met them. My brother came to our help to form a team of two each; me paired with the youngest of the lovely sisters. The game went on very interestingly, with high excitement (obviously by the two kids and at times from me and my brother too!) and high energy levels. Games mean a lot to these or for that matter, all kids. They never want to lose and highly sentimental about the outcome of the game. After swinging back and forth to both sides many times, the game came to an end and my team did not win. My niece was totally in tears, she wanted to win, she was all jealous of her elder sister who is jumping and dancing. I told her, that I am sorry, I did not play well and so we lost, we will try harder in the next game and we will definitely win. She asked me to promise her that we will win the next time and then only cooled down. Again with the same level of enthusiasm and excitement in her eyes, Uno re-started…….
So why this game of Uno now?
All the while I was playing the game, so many things went on in my mind. Are we, who are way past childhood, still more like these kids. I would totally agree that it is a wonderful feeling to be like kids and enjoy all small things, be innocent to a highly unexpected world and so on. But are we more like kids only when we fail? I visualize the same reactions as my niece did when we lost something. We also express just the same emotions , when we lose something, but probably in what we think- a matured way!! We are good at expressing many more things than those kids. Aren’t we?
Some of us stop eating, some of us say that we want to be left alone for a while, some more of us feel that we worked so hard and it is not fair not to win. Seems my niece is far better and apt in her reaction!
For a moment, put yourselves in my place, playing with those kids. Anyone in my place will only be trying to convince the innocent kid that nothing big has actually happened and there is always another game. We may otherwise, even try to instigate a sense of competition saying, we will win this time with a plan and not making any more mistakes, etc. Do we think the same way like we ask the kid to think, when we fail, when the result we got is not what we expected? Are we making ourselves more competetive ?
I just hope so.
Falling down and getting up is the first lesson of childhood. The irony is we forget our very first lesson (in Telugu its: Padinaa Tirigi leevatam baalyam modati lakshanam, daanne marachipovatam vintegaa!)
Result is not in our hands. Neither are the definitions of Success and Failure. We know but we ignore! (Another trivial Irony is that we ignore what we know and we search for what we dont know! ).
“ Success and failure didn’t start with you and they does not belong to you “! Success and Failure are illusions created for others to know what you are doing all these days trying. Not for you! Not for us. (Just like the difference between Confidence and Over-Confidence. Can anyone guess for a second what might be the difference? Over-confidence is your confidence percieved by others!)
Dont wait or expect any result. Take the result as any other fact that you read in the daily newspaper and turn on to the next page.
Do what you have to. Love what you have to do. Do only that you love, that you are passionate about. Passion should drive you. Cheer yourself up. Be competitive each time you lose. If you give the driving seat to passion, it will not stop at intermediate stations waiting for success or otherwise.
Try it urself. Play the Game of Uno!
wow soo true i too lost when i played uno for first time with my neighbour she is also 11yrs old n now i say no when she asks me again to play UNO 🙂
wow soo true i too lost when i played uno for first time with my neighbour she is also 11yrs old n now i say no when she asks me again to play UNO 🙂
“Padinaa Tirigi leevatam baalyam modati lakshanam”
one of the best lessons you can teach ppl !!
Another way of dealing with the so called 'Failure'. Read an article recently, about having a third person perspective on self. It is explained as below.
Suppose, any of your loved ones is stressed due to some reason. You sure want them to get over it and so advise them after assessing their situation.
Now do the same with yourself. Think of yourself as helping your friend with the exact same problem as yours.
I know that this is very difficult, but it sure helps..
The silliest part is We know everything but still we are pinched by emotions especially the grief more than the joy…
Y kids even i cry wen i loose UNO…thats a wonderful game!!!
Its true that we think the same way about the result as the kids usually do..but the spirit with which they things are done by children is to be learnt….We keep forgetting the spirit thing and keep our focus on the result which is not in as our hands as rightly mentioned.