Yesterday was celebrated as "Columbus Day" in US to celebrate the discovery of the American continent by the famous explorer in 1492.It is common knowledge that it was the Indian subcontinent and its exotic riches that the explorer ( and several European contemporaries of his time) was after....No but hold on...I'm not in a mood to give you a history lesson....certainly not!But i happened to see a special programme being aired on the History channel yesterday,focusing on the last and "lost" voyage of this explorer.
Last? you may ask...why yes...for this guy sailed across the Atlantic (unknown territories in those days) for 4 times!.Now it seems even though Columbus discovered the New world and also set up Spanish colonies in one of the Caribbean islands, he created a complete mess while managing the colonies.So much so that the explorer was arrested, and tried in the Spanish court for the crimes against his name.Result: He lost his titles and whatever respect he had earned.
So our guy goes on this last voyage to find the "Westward passage" to the Indian ocean ...this time to redeem his tarnished image and also most importantly make riches.
And yet again, our man fails on all quarters.Everything that could go wrong, goes wrong.The crew gets caught in hurricanes, gets marooned in an unknown island...They end up fighting the natives on the island...the crew mutiny against him...not to mention his own failing health.Ill-fate hits him every time but still our man doggedly pursues on...When it is clear he will not find out the westward passage he orders his men to plunder as much gold as possible from the New land.But unlucky as he was it only earns him more problems and infamy amongst his men.
Finally Columbus returns to his homeland , a humiliated and infamous man ,not richer than before to die in obscurity.However even on his deathbed he believes to have discovered the passage to the orient (India actually).
Now this man blundered many times, took wrong decisions was inhuman at times and was motivated by the ambition of earning riches and rising above his mediocrity.He was disgraced in his lifetime but still history remembers him as a great explorer!
Why? For he doggedly and single-mindedly pursued his goal , had enough conviction , guts to explore the unknown and a never - say - die attitude.
History has several such examples of people branded losers in their lifetime but remembered for ages.Who can forget Mozart? This great composer died a pauper.His family could not even afford his coffin.But yet his name and his work live on.Had Mangal Pandey ever imagined that his revolt and hanging would trigger off the the independence struggle that would eventually drive out the British from India?Perhaps there is little truth in that saying that "Winners write history and losers read them".What say?
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