Talent

Prafula KumarMohanty

Which human being is a born idiot? We are wholesome and talented, each in his/ her way uses talent to leave behind some memories for posterity. But the most talented, the greatest in literature, William Shakespeare in Macbeth wrote that life is a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," : Perhaps his long nights and the English weather at times made him see nothing in the vast human drama endlessly being enacted everywhere. But Sir Shakespeare had no chance to read The Sound and The Fury of Faulkner where an Idiot's imagistic world envisions man's reality. Even idiocy is charming otherwise the twitterings  of so many would not have engaged our attention. We may therefore arrive at a tentative conclusion that any one born of a woman is  'talented' to carve out his life and eke out his living. Some wags however ask; Do you need talent to live a life? Once you are born, you will grow and do things - good, bad, indifferent - and die; so why do you complain that your talents are not recognised?

The OED  defines talent as 'natural ability or skill' and its  origin is Greek and also it flows from the gospel - Mathew etc. But it does not speak of its variety. Normally people associate talent with the art world. The world of science and technology too extols talent and skill. People do not give any importance to the talent of lying, cheating, browbeating and other soft skills which the corporate world expects in the  professionals as an academic proficiency. The go to man in any organization is always suave, tongue charmer, one who makes you forget the question you had in your mind. In politics talent is the most valued; the talent of strategizing diffusion of a crisis, short circuiting the rat race, to be the conscience keeper of the most powerful, and above all to hammer a sweet lie into the minds of your voters (in a democracy) or slavish people by rhetoric. All  dictators including the religious Gurus both the Originals and their duplicates like Asharam Bapu and Ram Rahim (and many mini, midi ones in all rural areas) play God, The most Talented. The talent which the ISIS leaders displayed is in no way expendable. Osama Bin Laden and his poor cousins like Masood Ajhar, Hafiz Sayed and others are as talented as army generals and police chiefs. The terrorists may fail several times but when they succeed they become the talk of the world and the victim country puts its talented men on a white hot pitch. Talent is not confined to any specific area of human activity. 

But at times the son or wife of a politician like the Queen or Prince of a kingdom after the king's death, stakes claim to the throne. In India the fourth generation of the Nehru - Gandhi family is still relevant as some people have accepted the family's hereditary talent as divinely ordained. Political talent and royalty come as a monopoly while many "talented" men and women waste away a lifetime  in wild goose chase. And such people always complain that their talents were not recognised. The irony is, the people who taste success in any which way always think that they deserve more accolades and wish History will give them their due place. The failures always launch clamorous campaigns against God, society and the men who succeed. So, is the quality of talent different in individuals or talent needs something else to succeed, a booster dose perhaps or luck! 

How about Adolf Hitler! A mere corporal in the First World War, blinded by mustard gas but cured by a quack, how could he rise to the citadel of political power by 1934 and shake human civilization to its very bones?  Hitler could have been a great  painter and architect had the Vienna Art school given him admission. But spurned by society and ill treated by the mindless connoisseurs  he was driven  to rise as an antagonist of human fate.  So was Ravana if you go by the facts  beyond the epical imagination of Valmiki (if the  facts are historically valid). But it definitely needs talent to be a Hitler or Ravana. Talent is not a package which comes to a person readymade as a cosmic deal. The resilience of a race to survive a devastating war (eg The Kalinga war) also needs talent in the individuals to say - what though the war is lost everything is not lost - but talent should not be exhausted in rhetoric. A race tries to rise on the heap of  bones to build Konark after about a millennium not by words but by a defiant energy nursed and nourished over centuries. Man does not fight  calamity physically. The fights in life are always mental. The mind utilizes the native talent with single mindedness to overcome adversity of all kinds. But those who fail often cry foul and blame others, they defend their heroism  by cowardly logic.

Often the failures blame the stars at their nativity as if some Saturn or Rahu blackened their sights and made them self indulgent fools. The gilted lovers hit the bottle in Devadas fashion and blame, deny everything from the blue sky to full moon. Similarly the men who could not get what they desired often turn to unreason and justify their action like terrorists. If courage fails cunning is used  to cause harm to the unsuspecting innocents. Such persons can never introspect for their entrails are juiceless.

All humans are born with some talent but that does not mean the 'talent' itself will place you at the top. To reach the top you have to persevere and perspire. If you fail, try again. One victory does not make you the Emperor of the cosmos  and no victory is final. The failure likewise is not the end of any life. If a man is talented he will certainly find out alternatives and pursue them with all his nerves.  Blaming fate or metaphysical judgement is unmanly. Man is born to carve out his own universe big or small and if he fails something is very wrong with his efforts.