Having read some of your stuff on Rediff before, I must confess I’m pretty disappointed this time around. What exactly was the point of the article? It just states patently obvious facts and repeats the hackneyed “why can’t a nation of 1 billion produce one Olympic medal” question that people has been asking for ages. Firstly, your basic premise is rooted in some misplace notion of nationalism or patriotism. Who really gives a shit if the country of India does not get a gold medal at the Olympics? My thoughts below:
1. Firstly, why is this even a “problem” to begin with? OK, so the nation of India sucks at sports. Is that so hard to digest? Frankly, if I were a “patriotic” Indian citizen, I’d be more concerned if Indian soldiers were strong enough to fight – whether Indians win some medals in a sporting contest if of marginal importance. On the military front, Indians have proved themselves to be reasonably competitive. 2. Anyway, since you deem it to be a problem, how about suggesting some real solutions? “Strategic intent” and “lack of leadership” – surely you can come up with some more practical “solutions” to this “problem”, then coming up with some B-school buzzwords. 3. Comparisons can be odious – especially with China. How on earth can you compare a communist country or other former soviet-era east block countries and their regimented (ruthless) training regimen with the state of affairs in India? Its worth noting that even the communist states of Kerala and
RE:What is the point here?
by drunken monk on Aug 04, 2008 08:00 PM Permalink
Rangarajan uncle. It does not affect patriotism in us. Its a good article which appeals to everyone here speaks the truth. Its hard to digest, but thats the truth.
RE:What is the point here?
by Abhijit Bhattacharya on Aug 04, 2008 07:27 PM Permalink
True. Very very true. In India we want cheap advertisement material not substance and hence sania who is good for nothing is praised and not PT Usha who was a super Indian athelete
RE:What is the point here?
by anoop joshi on Aug 04, 2008 07:41 PM Permalink
abhijit have u ever hold a tennis racket...forget about tht do u know PT Usha is regarded at the highest level...from the text books to national awards to the public eyes....do u know she runs a organisation funded by various ppl and corporates of the Country. We Indians appriciate winning and we feel bad when we lose provided we fight and dont give up. And ofcourse hate when we loose.
So Stop creeping and suggest some thing counstructive.
RE:What is the point here?
by S Narain on Aug 04, 2008 08:15 PM Permalink
From the comments of Rangarajan ,it appears that like so many Indians ,he doesn not care even if India does pathetic display in Olympics decades after decades... India has in recent years shown some promise in many areas like IT,industry ,growing economy which make it a potential contender for aspiring super power by 2020,however it can not reach such goal if it has educated masses who do not care for sports ( except politicised & insanely hyped cricket) and good proper governance as well as internal& external security which again is total mess . Indians lack in manys such areas and have to learn to think like a country and learn to take pride as an Indian which also means getting reasonable nos of medal in Olumpics and not have couldn't care less attitude towards issues realted to security and well being of country!!!!! Untill this happens we would remain a developing country in the eyes of the world with a tag of soft country!!!!!!!!!Lacing in self pride and patriotism .
