The Hindu Business Line : Contrasting lives

Two great lives, deserving of that overused epithet, legends in their lifetime, ended within the week just past. Bobby Fischer was unique in the special world of chess, having been a prodigy, the first ever American to become world champion in a game dominated by Russia. He was an unwilling pawn, a proxy in a mad, Cold War.

He died a broken man, mentally disturbed and long out of touch with what we have come to call normal life. When he occasionally emerged from self-imposed obscurity, it was only to rant embarrassingly against the US and Jews. Many questioned his sanity, yet never his position as the greatest chess player of all time.

Uni-dimensional excellence

Assailed by paranoia and hate, he was troubled by a difficult past, attributed to a broken family, and doubts as to who his real father was. He professed bizarre political views and took on the Government and the establishment in America, held in custody in Japan and had to be rescued by compassionate citizenship by Iceland, the scene of his last and most famous victory over Boris Spassky.

Credited with an IQ of 181, Fischer declined all the fruits of celebrity and remained an enigma and an infuriatingly difficult man to deal with for all outsiders. Clearly here was a case where a uni-dimensional excellence in a narrow field totally distorted a life.

Peak of human endeavour

At the other end of the world, in New Zealand, Sir Edmund Hillary died, full of years and achievement after a contented and happy life. He was the first on the ultimate peak of human endeavour, Mount Everest, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

He became a much loved figure both in his homeland and in Nepal, known for his unremitting enthusiasm for promoting all forms of adventure sport, athleticism and sheer joy of living.

He was richly decorated by both the Queen and his own country, and deserved it. Yet, it was said he was somewhat short with strangers and hid his generous nature behind a gruff exterior.

He wrote prodigiously, freely sharing his knowledge and experience. It was only after Tenzing’s passing that he admitted to having been the first among the two to set foot on the roof of the earth. Until then he did not want the slightest hint of rivalry between them.

Saint in Buddhist society

Jan Morris, the writer who scooped the original Everest story fondly recalls a lifelong friend, who somehow managed to grow throughout his life into a role that grew with him, until he was on postage stamps and given a hero’s state funeral. “He devoted his last years to the happiness of the Sherpa people, the people of Everest, who had provided him the highest of all peaks to climb, and the perfect companion to climb it with.”

The Himalayan Trust, founded by him, built schools, hospitals, clinics, roads, bridges, and reconstructed monasteries in Nepal, where he was considered almost a saint in that Buddhist society.

Thus, does greatness affect people so very differently. The main difference clearly is the need to retain one’s humanity, balance, humility in the face of flattering attention and a sense of one’s true place in the scheme of things. Those of us who drive ourselves and others by a mindlessly narrow focus and worship competitive winning at all costs, have many lessons to learn.

An eloquent one is provided by this contrast. Success on a colossal scale often exacts a matching price.

(Response can be sent to sr.chander@gmail.com)

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