The cricket World Cup has concluded with Australia taking the trophy for an unprecedented fourth time (the last three in a row), spelling the end of an event that had been in the headlines for the last six months or so, particularly in popular Indian news channels. Looking at the overzealous news anchors, you would be forgiven for believing that the very existence of India depended on its cricket team coming home with the coveted trophy.

I can only imagine the pressure on the players with such huge expectations on their tender soldiers. What must they have been thinking when they took to the field in West Indies? Cricket or the larger-than-life expectations of their countrymen?

It isn’t long either that the football world cup concluded in Germany with Italy emerging as the winner: The final in Berlin as memorable for the infamous Zidane head-butt as the cricket world cup final will be for the downpour and Aussie dominance.

When it’s all over, you heave a deep sigh, and get on with your life. In many ways, sporting contests are the epitome of our hopes and dreams. We spend all our lives trying to get ‘somewhere’. Some day. Some way. When the journey ends, the achievement feels sweet, the satisfaction is immense and a sense of fulfilment engulfs you. But that feeling does not last long. The momentary glory soon vanishes, replaced by another yearning. When one desire gets fulfilled, another takes its place. It’s a never-ending cycle.

Talking of dreams, there lived a tiller who used to work on our family-owned plantation in Tarai. His only dream was to earn enough to feed his family and educate his four children. Through God’s grace or sheer luck, he managed to make his dream a reality. When he was old, he spent most of his time recalling his fulfilling life. The look of satisfaction in his eyes was there for all to see.

That is why I was literally dumbstruck on learning that at 60 he had run away to India in order to get married again. I could not make any sense of it. Why, indeed? At the end of the day, no one really knows what people truly desire and why they do what they do. This is one of the great mysteries of life that I have not been able to fathom so far.