What difference!

Writing in TOI today, Yuvraj Singh makes gentle fun of Pune captain, Saurav Ganguly's hair after taking Kevin Peterson's wicket against Delhi. " My hair gel bottle is lying idle and it could surely come handy for our captain if he wishes to avoid a similar ' hair raising incident '," he writes. He is joking about his own loss of hair from chemotherapy for cancer. This is some courage. Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton midfielder who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing against Spurs and was " dead " for 90 minutes, is getting ready to get back to playing again. In sports there are countless heroes who struggle against tremendous odds and still come out on top. Who would do the job of managing a football team where you have to deal with expectations of passionate fans as well billionaire owners with gigantic egos and little humanity. Del Bosque was sacked by Real Madrid one day after winning the La Liga in 2003. He went on to win the World Cup with Spain in 2010. Pep Guardiola has won everything with Barcelona and has evolved a magical method of playing that enchants everyone across the world. Yet Barcelona lost to Real Madrid on Sunday after beating them 8 times recently. The man who pulled of this feat is Jose Mourinho, also known as the " Special One ". This is not the only time he has crafted a defeat of Barcelona. In the Champions League of 2010 he was manager of Inter Milan as they took on Barca in the semi finals. Inter beat Barca 3-1 at the San Siro and then traveled to Nou Camp for the second leg. Inter had one player sent off mid way in the first half and set out to defend their lead. They kept their shape, allowed Barca to have all the possession but would not allow them any shooting chance. If Barca moved the ball wide to the left the entire Inter team moved with it and if Barca switched flanks the whole team moved in that direction. Eventually, late in the second half Barca scored but Inter held out to win 3-2 on aggregate. It was a display of most fantastic coaching you will have ever seen. A purely defensive game is usually boring but this was one of the most enthralling matches ever. Inter went to win the Champions League beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final. Since Mourinho left Inter has not won anything. Compare these giants to politicians and civil servants, little people with no ideas or courage, happy just to stay in their kursis for the opportunities this gives for self enrichment. Our most revered Prime Minister said 2 days back that civil servants should not be afraid to take " risks " because there will not be any " witch-hunts " if they make mistakes. People earning millions in salaries and doing nothing. How can there be such difference between human beings?