Not many who know me, know this. At one point in my life I boxed for the Mumbai University. Seems unlikely looking at my weight now, but that was a reality of my past. And who else but Ali was the aspirational teacher of ones imagination until serious professional career pursuit took over and I gave up boxing.
Much later as an HR professional at GE Appliances, I was in Louisville, KY with my OD mentor. Fireside chatting at his residence was common. One evening I told him about my boxing times...more about Ali being the inspirational heavyweight 'butterfly' man. Somewhere, he kept on smiling as if he was about to give me some secret thrill of my life. Unknowingly, I kept on talking about Ali. Suddenly, he said.. "would you like to go to his house where he grew up ? ". I thought he was pulling me so I too said yes, let's go and say hi to his family.
Pronto, he said jump into the car. 7 minutes thence we were outside the house Ali grew up with his mom. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, me imagining his childhood etc. and then we returned home.
Those few minutes I recalled to everybody, so much was I in awe of him. Ali - the butterfly. Ali - the hustler. Ali - the boaster. Ali - the soft man. Ali - the statesman. Ali.. Ali.. Ali.
May his soul rest in peace. Surely, up there he will meet Bruce Lee. At least that one kiddish unresolved question in our minds will get resolved...who would win if Ali fought Lee !
RIP Ali.
