It’s the story of Alexander the Great, the man who dreamed of conquering the whole world. When he came to the Indian subcontinent, he had to enter India by crossing the Jhelum River. The strong winds and disastrous speed of water did not allow his soldier to cross the river. But he was a man of ideas and man of courage. He started to take control over the situation by finding shallow water by using bamboo and creating new temporary bridges by using woods. At that night he not only conquered that river but conquered the luck and unsupportive conditions as well justifying that When wind will not serve, take the oars.

Understanding thesis behind the statement:

Above mentioned quote tells us about the importance of having other plans and having ready to change the track when the road is not helping you. This quote also mentions the importance of having new ideas and new things to achieve desired goals. And finally the quote highlights the one important thing for human life that is do not remain dependent on luck but achieve things by hard work and dedication.

The Indian ancient philosophy “karmanye vadhikaraste” highlights the idea of karma. Those karmas are nothing but the oars. The idea of “Tapasya” and teaching of “parishrama” makes human beings more successful to take oars and control winds as well.

In this essay we travel across the dimensions regarding wind and oars. At the beginning we will explain what winds and uncontrollable things are in human life. Then we will analyse where people achieved success by taking oars and why we have to be always prepared for taking risks. Then we will analyse whether humanity has the capacity to take oars. At the end we will move towards the theme of how to make people capable of taking oars. 

In the context of human life, the concept of wind contributed to fixed things and people’s fixed ways of achieving things. We can term it as a traditional approach and the importance of luck or things not in hand. Take the example of fishermen, here he can control his boat but he cannot control wind and ocean waves. Many times, in the journey of dream chasing, things go against us, but like oars help navigate the boat, we as strong men need to accept reality. We need to face the challenge and always try to find alternative ways to go beyond.

Then a question arises about why we should take the oars. So oars is about having plan B, or having capacity to find a route in difficult situations, or control the controllable things. We should take oars because achieving success is not an easy thing. Also life is not a straight line but it is a sign wave of ups and down. At a down situation, to again begin with potential the role of oars is crucial.

Travelling through different aspects

Taking oars is much more helpful at the individual sphere. Because human life is full of uncertainty and time, every individual has problems in achieving goals. Internally or externally people have limitations. It may be financial, skill wise, health wise, emotional etc. nothing is going well and according to plan. But at that time quitting is not the option but having another plan is a strategy.

If an individual fails an exam by reading one book, then he should expand his resources, and should study extra hours. That is the oars. If health is not good and physical weakness is there then that individual should take oars of healthy diet and exercise. That is also true regarding changing the field. We have many examples of people who did not get selected in civil services but live beautiful and successful lives.

Historically our tradition always teaches about learning from failures and if things are not going by hand, then try to alter decisions by the fuel of commitment and dedication. We have great examples of Subhash Chandra Bose. During the initial national movement, winds were not serving to our side. The imperial British rule was beyond the control of Indian politicians. Then Subhash babu started taking oars and controlling things. That’s why, in the midst of World War 2, he met Adolph Hitler, went to Japan and led the Indian National Army. By the force of commitment, dedication and planning he formed the first independent government of India at Andaman Nicobar.

Taking oars is not only associated with individual level. But at large as a society, as a country and as a civilization this attitude is essential. The 1990s was a turbulent period for the Indian economy. All winds were blowing out of the Indian subcontinent. Issue of balance of payment, issue of financial deficit turned into a hurricane of uncertainty. But as a country we took oars of LPG reform. That resulted into a $3 trillion economy today and has created a path for a $5 trillion economy in the next few years.

This phenomenon is also witnessed in the political sphere. We have a great example of Nelson Mandela. At an early age, things were very bad and winds of uncertainty created a cyclone of depression in his political career. But again, the value system of not giving up created a new path for his political career and today the world looks at him as a man of values and good politics.

One of the best examples of taking oars is also seen in another incident—the COVID-19 pandemic, a tsunami of disaster. At that point, nothing was going well. No traditional methods served. All winds were going against alas rather than helping us. But commitment, collective work and collaborative approach turned into fruitful results and we succeeded in managing the pandemic. We took oars of self-discipline, vaccine preparation, community participation and different plans for common goals to control the spread of virus. The oars of not going outside and remaining socially disconnected was a new thing but we accepted and did well.

Not only during the pandemic, but in the Indian governance sphere we see this phenomenon. Remember the chaos before 1990 w.r.t electoral frauds. There was no good voter list and proper identity card. Things were not good. Nothing was working to stop bogus voting, corruption and booth capturing. Then one man stood against this — the then Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan. He took oars of creating decentralised voter id. Implemented reforms in the election system, curbed illegal voting and today the fruit of these oars are seen as India becoming a one of the successful models of democracy.

Arunima Simha, The first woman who conquered Mount Everest with one leg. Just imagine yourself in her place. The girl had a dream but her legs were taken away by thieves in a moving train. She has said in her book that destiny took my one leg but destiny could not take my dream to achieve such a success.

Wind will not serve a purpose every time. But taking oars is the quality of strong individuals. In sports as well, everyone knows the Sydney Test of 2004, where traditional cover drive, the important weapon of Sachin Tendulkar had already pushed him in trouble 3 times in the series. Then he took oars of leaving alone the balls outside off stump and that yielded into a double century on such a tough pitch. “If Destiny throws a stone at you, don’t let it become a millstone. Make it into a milestone.” he explained in his book Playing it by my way.

This statement is also true for business ideas and startups. New business ideas are always prone to fail. At that time another plan should be in mind and in strategy. Elon Musk failed in his initial models but he took oars of expanding base, incorporations of new ideas, learning from failures and today what we witness the Tesla and SpaceX. Most successful model of business and achievements.

Another side of coin 

Then the question arises whether taking oars every time serves the purpose? The answer is no. Human life and life on earth is controlled by many variables. The only thing in a person’s hand is to try hard and remain uplifted and energised. Because many times taking oars also does not serve the purpose and we need to depend on ‘Niyati ‘. Here the philosophies of ‘Charvaka ‘ come into force. But that doesn’t mean one should always remain dependent on Niyati. Because it creates a hindrance to human critical thinking and creative ideas. Had our ancestors not taken the oars then most probably, we might not have existed as a good civilization. We could not have witnessed the creative architecture of temples, caves and stupas.

Taking life to the next step: increasing capabilities: 

Then the question is how to make human beings capable of taking oars? How to prepare alternative plans and not make life as a toy of Niyati? Answer is simple. By capability building, by value nurturing and making the young generation brave and courageous by different activities. 

In the education system, we only teach fixed formulas of living life. But at a higher level that living is subjective. We need modifications and updates from time to time in life. So, the education system should inculcate that thing into the curriculum. Practical learning rather than rule book, rote learning is essential. 

Second important thing is learning from ashes, from failures and experiences. A great philosopher has said that ‘ I never say I failed, but I say, I learned’. Imagine if Dr APJ kalam sir had not learned from previous failures how could we have achieved such success from ISRO? That learning from experiences makes human beings powerful enough to take oars. As we have discussed in the opening paragraph of this essay. 

In conclusion, we can say that a person should accept reality. Face the challenges and also learn from them and at the end of it, we should have another plan ready. That another plan makes one more worthy to taste your success.

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