me bored !!!

Summer vacations !! We reached Trivandrum, to rendezvous with my brother, sis in law and their 7 year old, R - from UK. Me bored !! says R in propah british accent. R wails. Brother panics. Guitar lessons are arranged. My daughter is game too. Guitar saar has language problem - interpreter (me) is arranged. Lessons begin. Twang, Twang.....twaaaaang. After guitar....me bored!!
Next day, our cousins visit. With their mallu medium kids, S and D aged 7 and 8. I expect trouble. Brit kids cant talk Mallu, and vice versa. The kids are silent, eyeing each other. We throw a ball at them. Ice is broken. The game begins. R knows all the rules.. he knows all about AC Milan, Arsenel and Wayne Rooney. About the D, and offside. But there is a problem. The others don't. All hell breaks loose - S and D are scoring with thier hands, feet, butts and much else. R protests - who is listening? R wails - who is listening? R shuts up and tries desperately to staunch the haemmorhage of goals!!
Later...
we start a chess game. R knows that too ..propah!! the others are less well equipped. S's father has given him a board and left him to his own devices. R wins against S, once, twice. The game is close fought. S relies on instinct. R is better trained, has better tactics. S loses. I am watching S. He doesnt wail. He suggests another game, loses again. But he is picking up.. what is castling? what is this en passant? what is this, that? R is at ease. One more game. S loses again. No tears. He looks at the computerised board. Is this a computer? yes. My papa got me a marble one - he says proudly.
I look at the gulf between the two. R has every chance in life - but he doesnt know how to lose. S has lost, but has casually picked himself up, dusted his backside and played again, and again, and again - losing all the time, but learning all the time.
I look at S. There are thousands like him out there. Talented, gritty - like diamonds in the dust. The day we give them a chance, they will grab it. But in our country every other factor matters but talent - thats life.