Beijing Olympics and after….

The Olympics are over… this I am a little more happy…

We got three medals… highest ever for the nation… out of curiosity I used to keep open the Olympics official website open whole day and used to check the medal tally.

Initially at bottom… after Abhinav Bindra's gpld medal, India suddenly zoomed at a position around 10-12…. Buoyed… my frequency for checking medal tally and news websites for any more medals also increased.

Out of excitement I also put up a wall paper from Olympics website on my desktop.. :-)

Days passed by… from the "teens" we slowly graduated into the "twenties" then "thirties" and finally ended up in the "fifties"

In the end two of our men got bronze medals… thanks to Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar . This took our tally to 3... Our highest ever…

The interesting part started after that. The winners were bestowed with too many prizes… a rare sight in a country where only cricketers get all the money. If they had given that much money to them before Olympics for practice and equipments etc… and provided them with quality coaches then results might have been even better…

As I kept browsing through different news.. Articled… posts etc… I came across a few more interesting things…like The sports ministry has a budget of around 170 crores… most of which is spent on salaries of the staff…

For some teams like badminton, there was no coach but a "government official" was sent with them instead… What a way to have a full sponsored "picnic" at the of not only govt money but also the prospect of winning some medals…

Worst came after Abhinav Bindra wrote some articles in Times of India after they invited him as a guest editor…

After he rightly pointed toward the apathy and lack of knowledge and skills among those who manage the sports in India.. Mostly politicians and officials who have never played the game…

Next day the newspaper had remark from Mr. Kalmadi on those articles… saying that politicians are best suited as sports chiefs since they can gather large amounts of funds…

The question is where are those funds…?

So much of apathy… in a way it is woven in our culture that projects sports in bad light…

I remember something like..

"Padhoge likhoge banoge nawab"

"Kheloge koodoge banoge kharab…."

I am not sure of exact wording… but it is something like that…If this is our viewpoint then no wonder we lack behind in sports...

The player who reached in the quarter finals in the boxing during Sidney Olympics… Gurcharan Singh

after he failed to win medal… he did not want to waste his career in a country where he would have to weight for another 4 years… he quit playing for India and went to US for joining professional boxing circuits…

I hope that somehow our govt will not let this happen to other players…. Otherwise it won't be too long before we see Vijender kumar quitting boxing and turning to modeling and acting as career.

No doubt china ruled the games in all respects.. . I was also amazed by how small countries manage to clinch quite a few medals… and that too countries like Kenya that are not only poor but also facing internal problems…

For first few days in the medal tally behind the US and China was south Korea and not the usual suspects like Russia Britain or Australia…

So much of passion... Efforts… to win for own country…that more than 30 world records were broken during the Olympics.

As far as our country is concerned the fears of Abhinav Bindra are already coming true it seems… the days of glory seem to be over for those brave sportsmen who fought against all odds… even when their own government that did not support them…

Sri Lanka tour has already taken importance….

We are back to square one...

क्या लोग थे वो दीवाने … क्या लोग थे वो अभिमानी… जो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी…

Once again 15th August dawned… I got up very early morning ( 6 30.. :-)). Reason was the patriotic songs being played at nearby school. All the usual songs that are generally played on 15th Aug and 26th Jan were being played. Usual stuff…

After some time the famous “Aye Mere Vatan Ke Logo” started. I was listening lying on the bed… after some time my eyes were moist… such powerful lyrics… and equally powerful voice…

So began my “Independence Day” nothing great really happened… I was still following the loudspeaker at the school… some speeches… then some song sung by students and that was it…it was all over.

I sometimes feel the day is losing its charm… somehow becoming a sort of formality.

In office most people were not even thinking of Independence day… Just a Holiday. Unfortunately I was also one of them (so shameless…)

After 10 00 am... there was virtually no trace of Independence day except for the flags on the top of many buildings and the same old patriotic songs at some places…

I think generally we tend not to feel the importance of the things that we get without any efforts of our own. I still remember during school days so many old people used to come to the school just to attend the ceremony... they knew what the word “Independence Day” really meant.

And in Mumbai we have not bear any brunt of any of the wars either… (Aye Mere Vatan Ke logo… was written at the time of Indo China war of 1962). So response here is even pathetic I guess…

I realized this when I visited Sikkim early this year… On the way to Gurudongmar Lake. the lake is near China border and obviously one has to pass through strict security of the army and only Indian nationals are allowed to visit there.

(Above : The Cold Desert of North Sikkim...)

At one such post one soldier gave us a Sikh religious flag to put up at the small shrine near the lake on his behalf. The lake is worshiped by Hindus as well as Sikhs and Buddhists and the shrine is common for all. We took it along and put it up on a flagpole there. Now on our way back we were treated as guests... taken inside the bunker... were served tea... fruity and all...

Now even though one can drive there, the lake is at a super height of 17000+ feet... the area is so low in temp that it is other extreme of hot... it is cold desert... even ice is so hard that it feels like stone. There is medical camp run by the army at 15000 feet and not all make beyond it... some go back from there...

(Above : Me and Deepa with our brave soldiers at the army check post...)

The soldiers stay for a full span of 6 months there... during course of conversation so many points came up. for all the sufferings those poor chaps were getting only 9k as salary and 5k as allowance when on border.

When asked... for the first time in my life i was feeling ashamed to say about my salary... I told him a decent figure... they were impressed to know that me and Deepa both were engineers... some of the soldiers had dreams of seeing their children become engineers. they were also not happy with the 6th pay commission... I felt very bad and i explained to them how they are respected everywhere and the booming private security business in the country hire retired army personals at high salaries as officers there and all...

Before leaving we thanked them for protecting we all....

All this time while stay secured and earn a lot and talk a lot about a lot os security issues and problems and all without practically doing anything.... the people who really face it are in such a pathetic condition... they don't even earn enough... :-(

For this one thing I appreciate government's decision to give a 21% hike over and above 6th pay commission.

Same story applies to our police friends... what they get is almost like pittance if you see what they go through daily...

The only thing I think that can keep them motivated may be love for the nation... but that alone won't be enough... after all they too have families...

Even though it is wrong.... nothing surprising if they take bribes....