Editor,
Kudos to Mr. Kabir Ahmed Saikia for the letter titled “Self-belief is everything”(September 30).
Indeed, Self-belief is extremely important as it forms the very basic foundation of life, without which edifice of one’s self cannot be built.
But it is not everything i.e. Self-belief cannot call the last shot in life.
Let’s take the example of the 1984 Bangla film titled ‘Kony’ directed by Saroj Dey which depicts the unfathomable struggle of a swimmer of economically poor background who ultimately achieved success by winning a gold medal for Bengal in a relay competition in the National Games in then Madras.
Without self-belief, the poor girl Kony couldn’t have attained the podium by overcoming poverty, cold-blooded conspiracy and discrimination by the elite influential members of the swimming fraternity.
But also the fact remains that without the fatherly guidance and protection of the selfless dedicated skilled coach (one of the best performances of the legendary Soumitra Chatterjee) who had also extended financial backing through free coaching and taken responsibility of her healthy diet from his meagre savings and also without the help of destiny (one swimmer in the original relay team had fallen sick just before the race); the much marginalised hated Kony couldn’t have turned Kony the Champion!
Self-belief is very important in the sense that one remains prepared to utilise opportunities and openings which arrive at any juncture in life.
K.Chatterjee
Kolkata
