‘Invictus’ is the Latin word meaning ‘unconquered’ or ‘undefeated. During the Victorian era, a poet by the name of William Ernest Henley had written a poem about how one must how must show might on the face of adversity. The poet was fighting his own battle when he wrote this poem, having one of his legs amputated in his twenties due to tuberculosis. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
The resilient title of the poem has a strong effect from the outset forcing the readers to be brave in front of any adversity. ‘Invictus’ is a poem about resilience. This resilience comes from the courage to embrace life and refuse despair. The strong themes of this poem have inspired many people in history to face their adversity with a smile, the most notable being Nelson Mandela.
Mandela would often quote some lines of the poem during his speeches, which is perhaps why one of his biographical movies was also titled ‘Invictus’(which also happens to be what inspired me to research the background). The poem provided hope to Mandela in times of despair during his 27 years sentence in an island prison similar to the Alcatraz. Nelson Mandela found inspiration to fight from this poem. His resilience not just ended the Apartheid rule in South Africa but also brought around a revolution in the fight against political oppression around the globe. Mandela’s 2m X 2m prison cell could not stop him from becoming the leader he is regarded as today. During his long imprisonment, he used his knowledge of the law to full effect and advantage. His answer to brutality and harassment was to turn to the law, whether it was on his behalf or to assist other prisoners. When he won elections and became the first black President, he chose the path of forgiveness and united the nation. He learnt the Africans dialect to understand the protestants. He believed in the power of unity and had a vision of a free country.
In the 1990s post, the apartheid rule a new South Africa was born. Although they had a black leader, they weren’t united as racial inequality was still prevalent. To overcome this Mandela found the opportunity when South Africa was to host the 1995 Rugby world championship. Rugby was an English sport and usually associated with colonial rule and so had very little participation from the native communities. It was observed that the natives would often cheer for the rival team as a representation of their anger against their former colonizers. Mandela wanted to unite the nation by giving a common cause and sort to popularize this sport among all sections in society, even encouraging the team to go on countrywide campaigns. The team’s performance in the tournament brought national attention and gradually was the entire nation a common factor. That was the first time both the communities together cheered for their county. The tournament’s iconic moment would be when Mandela dressed in the national jersey handed over the winning trophy to the team’s captain. Nelson Mandela taught a nation not to take revenge but forgiveness, which brought the entire country together after the darkest period of racial discrimination.
This entire episode made me wonder if such a thing could happen in today’s time. Things haven’t changed, especially in India. Instead of racial indiscrimination, we have “religious conflicts” in the center stage. A country that was born with the idea of ‘secularism’, ‘equality’, and ‘democracy’ now finds itself struggling to maintain peace amongst various religious communities. Religious violence has become common now, and in these troubled times could sports unite us. ‘Cricket is not just a sport, it’s a religion’, we have heard this a lot of times but maybe it’s time to let this ‘new religion’ unite. In the pre-independence era, the British and the Parsees initially started playing cricket annually with each other. Soon, the Hindus, too, began fielding their team, followed by the Muslims, giving birth to the famous Bombay Quadrangular Cricket Tournament. From 1937 onwards, the tournament was renamed as Bombay Pentangular with the ‘Rest’, comprising Jews, Buddhists, and the Indian Christians, also entering the tournament. Since independence, the national team has been led by players of all religions. Today the national team is perceived as a ‘secular team ‘and its only your form that can get you a spot in the team. In a country where ‘religion’ almost controls everything directly or indirectly, cricket has somehow managed to stay on the neutral ground. It is only in cricket that ‘you will find the ‘majority Hindu crowd’ cheer the ‘Muslim bowler’ and celebrate the wicket with a ‘Sikh dance’. In the 1980's when the country reeled under riots, anti-communal sentiments in people were still seen with posters carrying the pictures of Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Maninder Singh, and Roger Binny, captioned ‘We can play together, we can live together’, to overcome communal tensions.
It does prove that somewhere in between the blind faith in religion there is a ration mind that acknowledges talent bypassing the filter of religion. Maybe this country awaits a leader like Mandela who would have a vision of uniting the country and harness this passion for the sports to break the barriers of religion that is still prevalent in society.
I can’t help but draw parallels with the movie and the current situation in India, maybe the next time the Men in Blue host the world cup (not far from today, as per reports India is scheduled to host the 2021 Men’s T20 ), the national team could unite the country and give a common cause to cheer for, maybe they could make them forget their religion and maybe one day we could overcome the religion fight as well. A poem that indirectly inspired one leader and nation could perhaps do it again after all history is known to repeat itself. All we need is to forgive and forget. When a man could forgive the people, who imprisoned him for 27 years for the sake of his country, we can surely forgive and move beyond the boundaries of religion. We are ‘Invictus’ only when united.