When we were young, a friend and I would play crickets every free minute of the day. Once upon a time, we got good at it. When we started playing with teams from other buildings in our area, our team tend to beat some of the strongest.
One day we arrived at a rival’s pitch. It was a leg-side box pitch, which, in Mumbai gully cricket terms meant a specific hook could give you immense power and a specific kind of fielding was needed for defense.
Being the overconfident lot, we thought we would beat them. I don’t think I will ever forget that match. The humiliation was total. I started practicing my leg-side for months after that. Of course, I couldn’t hope to beat them because the conditions were against the style I’d practiced. I lost motivation. In the hindsight, I believe the cost of winning that match was too high for me to pay.
This is what I call Lagaan Syndrome. When the game is set by someone else and we are trying to beat them, it is hardly a matter or skill or motivation. It is mostly a cost-benefit trade-off. And in most cases, it is not worth the cost.
Lagaan is a Bollywood movie where a bunch of Indian villagers play the British soldiers in a match of cricket (before cricket was introduced to Indians). They practice, learn, jugaad and of course, since it is a Bollywood movie, they win.
Lagaan syndrome is when i see Indians (or any other culture) “aspiring” to beat their rulers at their own game.
There is a testosterone rush in it I think.
But in most cases, it is not worth the benefit.
Instead, we should have invited them to play Kabaddi. That is how we beat Lagaan Syndrome.
By questioning every game, every success metric, and every goal laid in front of us. If it doesn’t align with our internal, we do not need to bet on it.
In community building, Metrics of success determine the culture.