MEDALS AHOY!

Thus spake Swamiji:

We are for ever trying to make our weakness look like strength, our sentiment like love, our cowardice like courage, and so on.

Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5. 417.

India as a Sporting Nation saw only 2 (two) medals in her kitty at the recently concluded Olympic games at Rio de Janeiro. But how sporting we are remains a big question. We've been taking the criticisms and admirations as the same side of the coin sparing the other side with enough space for some solution to the problems that we ourselves are unaware!

It's perhaps a well acknowledged fact that we don't always see problems from an expert's point of view and, being a nation infested with jugaad initiatives don't heed to a layman's outlook that gives an alternate solution. Stories like these need to be shared in order to delete hopelessness, negativism from our collective mindset. Two (too) less for comfort: The dismal show at Rio causelists all that’s wrong with Indian sports system!

When British journalist Piers Morgan's sarcastic tweets on India's massive celebrations after winning two medals at the Rio Olympics have led to a war of words between him and cricketing great Virender Sehwag, the fiery, former opening batsman rightly pulled back no punches when he reminded Mr Morgan on Twitter that "Indians cherish every small happiness," but England who invented the sport of cricket are yet to win a world cup. Such trolls by the Westerners are pretty uncalled for when they designed and engineered the games per their convenience.

Take the tweets of Shobha De! How she was hounded and trolled for making such a negative statement! How could she? It was Virender Sehwag again who came to the rescue of the poor us to say that the comments “Shobha nahin De ti” (i.e her comments were not appropriate) and what not!

So, it's a big disadvantage for us in the games as it's all western “videshi” games. None come naturally to us and we are not so successful playing those games of western convenience. Wondering how will the Europeans and other westerners fare if olympics had desi games like the Daria Bandha, Kho kho, Dangal, Gilli Danda, Kabaddi, Jali Kattu, Chirri Pati, Chuppan Chuppai, Oonch Neech etc. to mention a few of them, popularly played with great enthusiasm and zeal. Dahi Handi would add glam to the games as well!

All Olympic sports are videshi, so no wonder we swadeshi people don’t do so well at them, Sindhu and Sakshi being exceptions to the rule. What we need to do is introduce some truly swadeshi sports into the Games, then see the fun! In case we fail to ruffle the feathers of the UN or the IOA over the most pertinent of issues facing the games today, say let's participate only in the opening ceremony with a huge presence as we dance and sing well. It's a stark reality that Britain has a professional stadium in the radius of every 5 miles whereas, India has a professional temple/mosque in the radius of every 2 miles. Perhaps it's improper & inappropriate to raise our levels of expectations for Olympic medals.

Whereas,
We don't play to win,

We just pray to win..

from the innumerable Shani or Shitala temples by the roadside acting as profit centres

It's popular belief that just as Lord Krishna was born in the darkness of the night, into the locked confines of a jail and, at the moment of his birth, all the guards fell asleep, the chains were broken and the barred doors gently opened. As soon as Krishna (Chetna, Awareness) takes birth in our hearts, all darkness (Negativity) fades. All chains (Ego, I, Me, Myself) are broken. All prison doors we keep ourselves confined in (Caste, Religion, Profession, Relations etc) are opened.

That real message and essence of Janmashtmi is what we all are waiting for with bated breath as we see our country perform at various venues on the world stage. Perhaps it's our staunch belief in God and their Godmen in making wonders happen that recently, a sports minister makes a hefty donation to prepare Olympics level sports persons.

There is this intangible thing called sports culture. It’s not about the amount of money that’s spent possibly, it’s got more to do with just how many people show up for local sport. For instance there are black people across the world but somehow Jamaica seems to produce the best athletes.

Parents in India turn up for the academic evaluation by teachers for sure, they needn’t when the kid plays inter-school sport. Our cities are concrete jungles, playgrounds aren’t a priority; needless to say about Green Park, our abode of tranquility! Children are forced to play on the busy streets only to be hounded by the residents not to.

For India to breed Olympians with regularity, we have to have a huge change in mindset -- respect our athletes more and not just pander to the winners. Most importantly of all, we have to get our achievers involved in the process of nurturing the next generation. As of now, they take their laurels and scoot from the bog that’s our sports administration.

To be the best you have to get the best. That costs money. We don’t invest in the best brains as the thought that a coach would get $10,000 (about ` 6.7 lakh) per month sends our sanctioning authorities into convulsions. Access to the best equipment stays a fantasy as lobbies ensure imports stay expensive. The emphasis on ‘Make in India’ is superb but by the time our sports goods industry reaches world levels in Olympic discipline equipment, a couple of more Games would have passed. Should we pitch in for SALE of such equipment for early access?

More the so, the basic necessity for good food, infrastructure and decent equipment for a majority of Indian kids is a distant dream. If you don't have these your best bet is to be a Ekalavya and never a Arjuna.

Sports and the zeal to win need intrinsic aggression duly channelised to bring forth the best results. We as a race are not so. Maybe religion plays a role in our psychology and a skewed attitude towards sports that the killer instinct we miss as a race has gained an undefeating proportion. Its better we know our core competencies and "play the right games" to succeed in winning Olympic gold medals.

A distant or an impossible daydream: to even think about having a playground in our abode “Green Park” to foster the slightest idea of sports for health and fitness if not win medals at all.