Power is a poison – that’s an often-quoted adage. That’s for lesser mortals who aren’t conscious of their own limitations and for whom there never would be any higher sphere. For them, power and its sinful intoxication, certainly, eventually turns into a deadly concoction. For the ones who already have tasted both power and all the attendant successes, which come as a necessary by-product, they always keep an antidote to power handy, just in case. They also know when exactly to take a jab of this antidote to poetically turn all the evil side-effects of irrational exuberance into an elixir.
Last 10 days (and
as many nights) have indeed turned out to be a roller-coaster match between not
two, but actually four Grand Masters (GMs), playing on all the edges of the
chess-board that is Maharashtra. And yes, all four of them had absolute freedom
to manoeuvre all 32 pieces as they wish (or at least they deemed they ‘did’).
Some of them even had the privilege to add or subtract to this tally, suiting
their convenience and more importantly, their style of play.
In this “Game of
Throne”, it is very complicated to deduce as to who had opened, though with an all-white
attire, the eventual, ‘providential’ king is widely alleged to be the one to
set the pawns rolling himself. It’s another matter that all this while, he was unmistakably
deemed to be playing the role of a 'kingmaker'.
The very pace and
the manner with which the match opened on that fateful evening took at least two
of the GMs by surprise as they were cosying up with each other in their post
meal afternoon ‘power’ nap and wouldn’t in their wildest dreams expect one of their
own protege to pose a sudden challenge to their self-appointed crowns as No. 1
and 2 in the state even as the popular vote didn’t allow them to take this
liberty in the aftermath of Diwali cracker show three summers ago! At the best,
it was a duopoly (yes, presence of their side-kick was just as a facilitator)
for the crown-term but when it got threatened to be busted just mid-way through,
heavens fell and how!
All through the
duration of the game, there were many openings and a prolonged mid-game before
many assumed that an end game was indeed in sight. In sight it surely was, just
that the nature of the climax with the very end move by the king turned
kingmaker made it into an anti-climax of sorts! Will there still be a sequel to
this intriguing game? The jury is out. This is precisely the stuff Hollywood scriptwriters
are always on the lookout for.
Life hacks for us. If
life throws watermelons to you, make them all lemons. Who knows when a lemon
would get costlier than a watermelon? The now king was threatened for life by
none other than the right-hand of his previous boss but he firmly stood his
ground and quite resiliently turned all the brickbats he was subjected to, into
a beautiful pot-pourri of a bouquet any GM worth his appearance fee would be
proud of. When it’s the moment of reckoning, make it count and count it REAL BIG!
© Rits Original @ https://scorpiofury.blogspot.com
