Aug

27

Sports ministry toys with the meaning of sports

August 27, 2009 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

India’s Youth Affairs and Sports ministry has now officially ruled that Formula 1 racing or F1 is not sports. The ministry’s ruling came in response to a private promoter’s request for about $36 million remittance for a license fee payment to the Formula 1 admin body. “…The proposed F1 race does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others, keeping in view the whole sports movement from Olympics downwards…”, ruled the sports ministry. A spokesman for the ministry, however, clarified the ministry’s stand, adding “….This project is absolutely beyond the realm of the common man. We expressed our inability to consider it…”.

The JPSK sports, floated by a private venture and officially and secretly backed by the Indian Olympic Association, had been closing in on the issue with their partnership with the UP chief minister Mayawati. So Mayawati, last year, created a special economic zone (SEZ) for her business partners in F1 racing, slating 2500 acres of prime land for the venture. But the differences between the ruling Congress and Mayawati’s BSP party, turned into a red flag for the F1 project. The Indian Olympic Association, has been controlled and ruled for years, by Congress party loyalist Suresh Kalmadi, whose connections to the party headquarters seem to have come up short for now.

Cricket, India’s biggest business (ahead of outsourcing), biggest religion (ahead of Hinduism) and biggest entertainment (ahead of Bollywood) and biggest sports (ahead of itself) is already beyond neck deep in politics, with the state and central bodies completely dominated and under the whim of powerful politicians. It wasn’t so all the time, however. It took Indian politicians a while to figure out the money equations involved in the sports entertainment industry. But now that they have wisened up, their eyes are on the other big prize in sports - the business of racing. The real reason Formula 1 racing isn’t getting a jump start is not about whether it is sports or entertainment. It is purely about which political players stand to make the most money out of it. So until that decision is made, the bureaucratic wordsmiths in the government will keep coming up with ways to rain on F1’s starting lineup in India.

When does a sport stop being a sport? When does it become ‘entertainment’? And at what point does the entertaining sport become a business? Looks like those questions will best be answered once all the business interests involved have been assured of their take in the matter.

Aug

20

Adventures in circumnavigation

August 20, 2009 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

In a couple of days, Lord Ganesh festival, an annual celebration of India’s elephant-headed God, begins in many Indian households. One of the stories about Lord Ganesh is about a circumnavigation contest where Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, the parents of Lord Ganesh and his brother, had their sons compete to navigate the planet. While his brother literally traveled the circumference, Lord Ganesh is said to have navigated his parents, arguing that circumnavigating his parents wasn’t unlike circumnavigating the whole world, since his parents were his world.

Actually, Lord Ganesha’s argument theoretically holds true at two places on the planet - the north pole and the south pole. So, if Lord Shiva and his wife had in fact been sitting at either of the poles, circumnavigating them would have meant circumnavigating the planet.

But Commander Dilip Donde of Indian navy isn’t using any of the tricks that Ganesha used. Donde, an experienced diver for Indian navy, is on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that will take him around the globe in a 56-feet yacht, over a distance of about 22000 nautical miles. Donde’s 9-month ride includes 4 halts - in Australia, New Zealand, Falkland Islands and South Africa.

The yacht named Mhadei (named after Goa’s river Mandavi) was manufactured in India, but several parts including the board have been imported from abroad. Donde’s circumnavigation has been funded and sponsored by his bosses at India’s defence ministry.

Just a month ago, Donde completed a solo sail from Mauritius to Goa in preparation for this world tour. To qualify for the honor of circumnavigating the planet, a yachtsman has to complete at least 21,600 nautical miles, cross the equator, cross every meridian and end the journey at the starting port. Commander Donde’s Sagar Parikrama (Circumnavigation) begins today and will go on for the next 9 months. Good luck Commander. Lord Ganesh, the God of wisdom is with you. And so will be the Gods of wind and of the oceans.

Jun

16

Here is how some people reacted to Bollywood hunk Shiney Ahuja’s detention on charges of raping his maid.

My husband is innocent and all this is rubbish. I love him very much. He is a wonderful father and a great partner. He’s a man with a golden heart. The entire family stands by him…
- Anupam Ahuja (wife)

As members of the society, we really cannot do anything about it. Besides, we have never heard of Shiney Ahuja indulging in such acts before.
- an Ahuja family member

When I worked with him he did not come across as that sort of person
- Vinod Pande, producer

He had done a lot of charity work while I was looking after his public relations
- Dale Bhagwagar, Ahuja’s (already) ex public relations person

I am sure there’s some misunderstanding here.
- Sudhir Mishra, filmmaker

We’ve bonded over a long period of time. Never has there been even a hint of bad behaviour from him. I wouldn’t have tolerated it. I remember once long ago a spotboy had behaved badly with a lady on my sets, I had fired him immediately. One has to be very careful about these things. It’s not fair to try Shiney on television.
- Anurag Basu, director

You can’t do this to a man who has a family, career and a bright future.
- Mukesh Bhatt, filmmaker, addressing the media and the maid

It is absolutely obvious that the age of empires has ended and its revival will not take place.
- Ahmadinejad, Iranian president

there is no other alternative but to pursue the path of dialogue, it is in our vital interest to try again to make peace
- Manmohan Singh, Prime minister

We are shying away from pin-pointing our weaknesses and fixing responsibility. We are hoping that time shall heal our wounds
- Yashwant Sinha, senior leader of opposition

When a volcano is on even a small spark (chingari) can make it flare up further
- Sushma Swaraj, a little less senior leader of opposition

Viru & I know what happened between us
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of Indian cricket team

And that hopefully is going to be a topic at the G-8 summit, as well…
- Barack Obama, US president

Mar

3

Several terrorists attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan Cricket team to Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium, injuring members of the visiting Cricket team including world famous Cricketers such as Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardhane, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana. More than a dozen terrorists are said to have attacked the visiting bus armed with AK-47s, rocket launchers and hand grenades. The bus along with injured players are now inside the stadium with the players being treated at this time. The injuries were mostly sharpnel wounds or gunshot wounds. It is said that the rocket launcher either missed the target or misfired, averting a major tragedy. But the attackers managed to kill at least 5 security personnel traveling with the Sri Lankan team. An assistant coach and an umpire were also said to be injured in the attacks.

The attacks happened near Liberty Chowk close to the stadium. The terrorists seemed to have approached the destination in a white sedan as well as auto-rickshaws. Five suspects have said to be taken into custody within the first hour of the investigations. Those included 3 suspected gunmen from the nearby Model Town society next to the stadium, and 2 merchants who were seen with suspicious equipment.

It is said that the visiting team will be returning back to Sri Lanka immediately within the next few hours. The terrorists are reported to be representing the same group as those that attacked Mumbai on 26/11. Originally, Indian cricket team was slated to play these matches, but had pulled out for security reasons following the 26/11 attacks. It was then that the Sri Lankan team replaced the Indians as the visiting team. On the day India refused to send their team, Pakistan Cricket Board characterized India’s pulling-out decision as unfortunate and disappointing. Former Cricket greats from Pakistan called India’s then decision a mistake. Javed Miandad, the director general of Pakistan Cricket Board had also called India’s decision unwise and one sending a wrong signal. Incidentally, Miandad is a very close relative of India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, who has been enjoying a luxurious and a privileged refuge in the city of Karachi (Miandad’s son is married to Dawood Ibrahim’s daughter).

The Gaddafi stadium, originally known as Lahore stadium, was renamed in honor of the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi back in 1974, following the Libyan leader’s passionate speech in favor of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

Previously, Australian and South African teams have pulled out or asked to replace the games venues in Pakistan for reasons of security. Still, the stadium in Lahore was typically considered safer than the one in Karachi. Today’s events have now changed that perception for good. This may be the last time foreign athletes will play on Pakistan’ soil for some years or decades to come. The incident has also punctured Pakistani establishment’s falsehoods and denials about its homegrown terrorism.

When India had pulled out of the same Cricket series, a noted Pakistani sports writer had slammed India, saying, “…India, the self-appointed guardian of cricket’s conscience, has thus failed its most important test of conscience…”. Today’s attacks have now doubtlessly proved that Pakistan, the self-appointed terror capital of the world and guardian of radical extremism, has thus failed its most important test of hospitality, the act of being gracious to one’s guests.

Jan

15

We, the pride chickens

January 15, 2009 posted by indiatime | 8 Comments

Here are some news headlines Indians are looking at today -

milbrand-mukherjee embrace1. David Milband, the British foreign secretary visiting India, made light of Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism against India, singlehandedly and unilaterally declared Pakistan innocent, and openly took on India’s prime minister and home minister on their recent statements that Pakistani state was complicit in 26/11 attacks. That’s Milband embracing Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, by the way.

2. International cricketing body ICC came out with its top 10 batsmen ever and omitted Indians from the list. The two Indian batsmen from Mumbai who I remember to have made most number of runs in the Cricketing history are not part of that top 10 list.

3. British movie Slumdog Millionaire is about to open in India. In praising the movie, New York Times described the India in that movie - “…India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel…”

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you Britain for ruling on my country so I could speak and write English well enough to be able to offer my thousand apologies to the queen’s ass.

Thank you World Cricketing Federations for allowing the colored natives to play and watch the world’s greatest sport side-by-side with you. Thank you for not putting Sunil and Sachin in the top batsmen list. What do those midgets know about batting anyways? Thank you for not including Kapil Dev who once barely made 174 at the ‘82 world cup, and could never really tell a bat from a ball?

Thank you Danny Boyle. Thank you all British moviemakers for showing us the real India. Thank you for showing us the spices and thank you for showing us our fetid trash.

Thank you Mr. British foreign secretary for the condescension. Thank you for your lovely warm embrace to our foreign minister. Thank you for taking him in your arms and explaining how stupid he is. Thank you for so quickly trying to negate the negative backlash after your future king’s off-the-cuff racist remarks. Oh, thank you for being so clever and charming. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you world for showing us our place. Thank you for allowing us to be part of the same clean and perfumed world as you in spite our our putrid fetid spicy nothingness. Thank you for your tourism. Thank you for allowing Indians to touch dollars and pounds. Thank you for mentioning India in your newspapers. Thank you for your invasions. Thank you for your colonizations. Thank you for your condescensions. Thank you for your religions. Thank you for our divisions. Thank you for allowing our chapped lips to kiss your clean feet. Please, please, accept our billion apologies for existing. Oh, thank you, thank you.

Nov

26

A different ballgame, for a change

November 26, 2008 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

Cricket, the only major team sport in India, is about to lose its luster in the eyes of millions of youngsters. For the first time in modern India’s sporting history, the game of Cricket now faces its new competition - the national pastime of North America, the ballgame - baseball.

Two Indians have won professional contracts to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates ball club. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, both 20-year old youngsters with strong and accurate arms, made it to the top of the contest held by the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise who have been looking to find pitching talent in India. The young duo from Uttar Pradesh have never before played baseball, are not fluent in English and had never traveled to America before. But after dazzling the Pirates coaches with 90+ mile per hour pitches, Singh and Patel have become pioneers in an arena that is sure to attract thousands of talented Indian sportsmen. If they eventually get a chance to actually play in a major league game and if they succeed, Singh and Patel stand to make huge payoffs, bigger and wilder than most top-level Cricketers.

Said baseball promoter Bernstein, “…imagine if either of these boys makes it and plays with the Pirates. You could have 300-400 million [more] people tuning into that. I think that would be hard to find in other places….”.

Baseball isn’t yet popular in India in spite of its 25-year official history and a few wins for the Indian team at the Asian level. But now that Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel have opened up the floodgates to the American major leagues, there will be a tremendous surge in kids interested in baseball.

Singh and Patel have been in the US for a few months now, learning baseball and visiting places. Sais Singh, “…It’s hard to put in words what all of this has meant to us…This is a world we didn’t even know existed. We’re living it now and we don’t want it to end….”.

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowds
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don’t care if I never get back….

- Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Aug

11

One in a billion

August 11, 2008 posted by indiatime | 4 Comments

abhinav bindraAbhinav Bindra has just proved that he is one in a billion, the first one from independent India, to ever win an individual gold medal at the modern Olympic games. Bindra achieved the incredible feat in the 10m air rifle event, beating a bunch of world-class shooters, and surprizing the sports world.

“….The difference between winning and losing is not much. I didn’t do anything very different today…”, commented a humble Bindra, after humbling the competition.

The 10M air rifle shooting event comprises of firing 60 shots within 105 minutes, with a maximum of 10 points for each shot. The 10 finalist shooters then get to fire 10 shots, each with a maximum score of 10.9. Bindra needed a 10.4 to bag the gold with his last shot. He shot a 10.7 to finish with a total of 700.5 in 70 shots.

We can now cancel each and every penny going towards Cricket in this country, and put it in the Air Rifle association funding. These shooters can finally bring some respectability to the lost cause of Indian sports. And if anyone sees a politician or an Indian Olympic committee official taking credit for Bindra’s achievement, somebody use Bindra’s air rifle, please.

Aug

8

Top 10 reasons India sucks at the Olympics

August 8, 2008 posted by indiatime | 64 Comments

Yesterday, Tim Sullivan, an Associated Press writer, wrote a stinging article about India’s decades of mediocrity at the Olympic arena. And surprizingly, for a non-Indian analyst, he hit the nail on the head when he offered the most likely explanation of India’s Olympic debacle - “…The most likely explanation seems to be that India has paid little attention to sports other than cricket, and given those sports almost no funding…”.

Here are my 10 guesses as to why India, the mighty superpower-to-be of this century, is more like a teeny-weeny micro-power, when it comes to Olympic sports.

1. History -For the entire first half of the modern Olympic history that started in 1896, India was a British colony where life as an athlete was the last thing on most people’s minds. Even today, that British influence refuses to wear off, leaving its mark in the form of the British game of Cricket, a sport that has virtually destroyed any hope of any other sport gaining any traction in India.

2. Cricket -In India, Cricket hogs more coverage, more money, more political influence, and more time of people’s lives than all other sports combined. Generations of talented athletes have been ignored, left in poverty, forgotten by the state, and just left to rot, thanks to the Cricket brats who enjoy millions and give back zilch to the sporting world in return. Even this year, India’s highest honor in sports went to a Cricketer, extinguishing any hopes and aspirations of future track and field stars who might have been dreaming to be future Olympians.

3. Politics -Just as it corrupts everything else in this country, politics and the masters who practise it, have held most Indian sports hostage, by stifling funding, meddling with selection processes, and influencing sports awards. The head of India’s Olympic contingent is a career politician, and so is the head of India’s Cricket board. Personally and financially, it is a great achievement for them both. For the athletes who represent those sports, it is nothing less than a nightmare and a shame.

4. Bollywood -Bollywood is one of the strongest influencers of India’s public life. More than 99% of the movie scripts that come out of Bollywood deal with girl meets boy stories that are decorated with stupid dances and silly romantic songs which make for a great 3-hour escape, but also help people look the other way where people need to face reality. Over a 100 years, Bollywood has made probably less than 5 notable movies about sports.

5. Education system -India’s education system discourages sports and athleticism. Most youngsters interested in sports activities tend to quit early and join either medicine or engineering fields to be viable in the competitive job markets. The school-level sports seldom produce record-breaking performances, and there aren’t any proper scouting programs that can hunt good athletes out and groom them.

6. Generalized neglect and apathy and idiocy-Most Indians did not and probably still do not know the Indian who, for decades, was the only Indian to have won an individual medal at the Olympics. As against that, most Indians know, by heart, every name on India’s cricketing roaster for last 50 years. Khashaba Jadhav won India’s first wrestling honor at the 1952 games, but was forgotten for years, just like that. Just like that. And that year and the next and the next and for many thereafter, India’s cricketers had their asses kicked by every other Cricketing team on the planet, and they were our national heroes.

7. Generalized lack of national pride -Olympics is a time of pride for nations that excel at the games and a time of shame for those who suck at it. Indians have taken themselves out of contention even before participating. Even this year, as he left for Beijing, the president of India’s Olympic contingent told the press not to expect much from the Indian contingent.

8. All action, no talk -That’s what the Olympics are all about. But that’s completely contrary to our philosophy of life which is all talk and little action. If there ever were an Olympics for oratory, demagoguery, and eloquence, Indians would bring home all the medals. But sports is action and that’s a problem (even our action heroes talk more and act less).

9. Scriptures -We are into metaphysical Olympics, not physical Olympics. Our scriptures tell us that our bodies are just temporary mediums for our souls. So why exercise something that is not going to be around in a few years? Why not, instead, exercise the soul, and the mind? Oh, you want to run faster than me? By all means, my child. But what are you running from?

10. Actually, most Indians really do not give a rat’s ass as to which country won how many medals at the games. Most of us will enjoy the Chinese firecrackers, ogle at the female gymnasts, cheer for the dwindling number of Indians still in contention, and in a few weeks, will get back to the more philosophical and more metaphysical aspects of living.

Jul

29

Raj Bhavsar is finally a US Olympic gymnast

July 29, 2008 posted by indiatime | 3 Comments

Raj Bhavsar, the Indian-American gymnast from Houston, is going to Beijing. Until yesterday, he was still going as an alternate, but now he will be competing for the medals, representing United States in the men’s gymnastics.

For Bhavsar’s olympic story, this latest twist, a sweet one this time, came yesterday when Paul Hamm, another member of the US Olympic team, withdrew from the team, saying he was less than 100% fit for the events, and that he had still not recovered from an injury sustained a few months ago.

27-year old Raj Bhavsar almost made the Olympic team back in 2004, but missed being chosen in the main contingent, and had to be satisfied with being an alternate. He almost gave up on his Olympic dreams, but worked hard on a comeback anyway. At the 2008 trials, he once again missed the certain birth by an extremely narrow margin, and once again had to settle for being an alternate. But that was until yesterday.

Raj is the third Indian-American and the first Indian-American male gymnast to compete at the Olympics. Cyclist Alexi Grewal (1984 gold) and female gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj (2004 silver) were the other two.

Here’s Raj Bhavsar, speaking about his dreams, about not giving up…

Apr

25

“…We live in India where womanhood is worshipped. How can anything obscene like this can be allowed? The organisers may have invested crores of rupees organising such matches. But this does not mean that they make semi-nude women dance in front of people…”
- Siddharam Mhetre (State home minister, Maharashtra state)

The state of Maharashtra has now decided to ban semi-nude sports cheerleaders, the bikini-clad babes who were corrupting innocent Maharashtrian males.

I scratched my head as to why this would be a big issue and have come up with a few possible explanations of why the Maharashtra politicians dislike seminude cheerleading:

1. Somebody told Maharashtra politicians that cheerleaders were a type of leaders.

2. Maharashtra politicians sincerely believe that watching cheerleading can create an epidemic of visual impairment.

3. Politicians threatened to ban cheerleading because sports organizers would not agree to 27% reservation for OBC cheerleaders.

4. Bollywood actresses complained to the state government that seminude cheerleaders were running them out of business

5. Maharashtra politicians recently banned sex education in schools, but to their dismay they found that students were still continuing their sex education by watching cheerleaders.

6. “…It’s one thing us politicians copying Gandhi, how dare these cheerleaders walk half-naked…”, blurted an enraged politician.

7. Seminude Cheerleaders refused to cheerlead for the local sports of Kabaddi, angering home minister Patil.

8. Shiv Sena complained that Marathi cheerleaders were purposely being kept out of seminude squads

9. Mumbai’s politicians feared that seminude cheerleading would attract more migrants from UP, Bihar and Bangladesh

10. It’s all erection politics

Apr

14

“…will miss sir for the rest of my life. He was like a father-figure to me due to which I never felt the loss of my father while staying at Judo Hall….He used to take care of me like a son….”.

- Budhia (6 year old boy-wonder marathoner), reacting to his coach’s murder

Yesterday, Biranchi Das, the former coach of India’s boy-wonder marathoner Budhia, was assassinated by unknown criminals. Standing outside the Orissa Judo Association and speaking on his cellphone, Das was shot a point-blank range and died within minutes.

Budhia Singh, the 6 year old boy-wonder who has made a name as the world’s youngest marathon runner, was said to have been sold by his mother to another local person for $20 a few years ago. Coach Das, the local Judo association president was also the president of the resident association, and came upon Budhi’s running prowess by chance. Upon noticing some mischief that the then 3-year old had gotten himself into, coach Das decided to punish him, and asked him to keep running on the track until he came back from some chore. The coach came back almost 5 hours later, and to his surprize the 3-year old was still running.

So coach Das met with the boy’s ‘new owner’, bought the boy back from him, and started coaching the 3-year old Budhia Singh as a long-distance runner, making him run several miles a day, and feeding him a diet of eggs, milk, soyabean and meat. Budhia Singh made it into India’s Limca book of records by running a distance of 40 miles at the age of 4. But after that feat and fame, coach Biranch Das faced severe criticism, torture & exploitation accusations and inquiries, from several non-governmental bodies, child welfare committees, and Budhia’s now born-again mother who now wanted her famous son back into the family.

Last August, 5-year old Budhia himself accused his coach of torturing and beating him, and threatened to quit running. Budhia told the police that the coach had ‘hung him upside down’ and withheld his food for almost 2 days. Coach Das was arrested after that, but contended that Budhia’s family as making those allegations up.

Reacting to his coach’s sudden death yesterday, Budhia said that his Olympic dreams were shattered. “…I have lost my foster father…”, he kept repeating. Then he skipped dinner and confined himself to his room at the boy’s hostel.

Meanwhile, the police have already declared that the coach’s murder had nothing to do with the custody battle about Budhia Singh, but was a fallout of some othr mafia connections the coach was believed to be wrangled himself into.

But time is running out for runner Budhia, who lost his natural father several years ago, got sold by his mom for 800 Rupees to a stranger, and has now lost his foster father to an apparent mafia assassination. He needs to be adopted, protected and cared for by some sane party that can guarantee his well-being and can put him in a school, get his educational priorities straightened out, and then maybe in another 6-7 years, encourage him to take up the sport of running that may be his ultimate calling. For now, the boy needs to be in a school with teachers and students of his age, enjoying the ABC’s of life the way an average 6-year old is supposed to.

Apr

10

The torching of the Olympic spirit

April 10, 2008 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

Yesterday, Suresh Kalmadi, the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) chairman, invited young parliamentarians and political personalities to participate in the Indian leg of the Olympic torch. “…They (the organisers) want people from all walks of life to take part in the relay including the sportsmen and people from various walks of life…”, said Kalmadi, before inviting young members of Indian parliament including Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jiten Prasad and Sachin Pilot.

People from all walks of life? Man, someone’s kidding us here. Kunwar Jiten Prasad is the son of late Indian National Congress Vice President Jitendra Prasad, a loyal Congress party member for years. He was recently elevated to become the minister of state for Steel. He studied at the famous Doon school. Rahul Gandhi, the son of India’s late prime minister Rajiv, also attended the famous Doon school and is recently in the midst of a ‘discover India’ tour. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who also attended the famous Doon school, is the son of the late Congress loyalist Madhavrao Scindia, and also another newly promoted minister of state in the New Delhi cabinet. Sachin Pilot, the last name of Kalmadi’s list is the son of late Congress party loyalist Rajesh Pilot.

It wasn’t known whether the young dignitaries from ‘all walks of life’ had accepted the Olympic committee’s invitation. “…We are yet to go personally and invite them…”, said IOA president.

What a proud day for the Olympic movement. As per the charter of the Olympic movement, some of the roles of the International Olympic committe are :

- to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport,….to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, …, the spirit of fair play
prevails (item 1)

- to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes (item 10)

- to encourage and support the development of sport for all (item 12)

That politics has metastasized into every walk of our lives is a given by now. But the extent to which the gullible public gets duped by the politicians and even the media is to me, beyond astounding. I have nothing against the fine young parliamentarians and young politicians who are only following their family traditions. I even have no issues with the fact that most of them pretend to come from all walks of life though they universaly seem to be coming from the famous Doon school. That can be a coincidence. What surprizes me is that in the middle of the Tibetan human rights issue that has now surely become a sideshow at the Beijing Olympics, we here in India, are still playing politics about carrying the symbol of humanity’s greatest movement, totally oblivious to human rights concerns in our very own backyard.

The reason that is disingenuous, is because, there are those who will argue that in the spirit of Olympics, the carrying of the torch should not be politicized and should be allowed to carry on without any protests. If you buy the argument about ‘not politicizing the torch bearing’, then you should also be able to protest the ‘politicization of the torch bearing’ by inviting a special group of invitees to carry the torch, people who have no history of notable sports activities ever, but are in this position merely because of their family connections, wealth, political affiliations, cronyism or as alumni of a particular high school.

For now, the IOA’s definition of ‘people from all walks of life’ does not include teachers, workers, bank employees, truck drivers, farmers, soldiers, seniors. So its list of Olympic torch bearers is full of politicians, cronies, celebrities, and a few sports heroes who are on the list probably to legitimize it. No matter who bears the Olympic torch in India two weeks from today, these so-called celebrities from all walks of life are certainly not making a good case to become this nation’s torch bearers for years to come.

Apr

3

Cricket gets a life in New York

April 3, 2008 posted by indiatime | 1 Comment

Cricket fans in India may not yet be over their gloom from this morning’s disastrous performance by the home team. But non-resident cricket fans in the USA, especially in New York, are in for a surprize this week. Yesterday, New York city’s department of education inagurated Cricket as a league sport. Cricket’s first high school season in New York starts with 600 participants from 14 schools, and will last for 12 games.

Although New York has had more than a few Cricket leagues for a while, yesterday marks the first time that the a government body in the United States has officially embraced Cricket. USACA, the official Cricketing body in the USA, currently boasts of 8 regions. Cricket is also played in several universities across the US, although so far it has evoked more curiosity than interest.

The US Cricketing association has a lot to celebate this week. Apart from the New York city initiative, they also got the good news about their re-inclusion in the International Cricketing body ICC (US was suspended by the ICC last year). This means the US Cricket team can now compete to qualify for the 2011 Cricket world cup, for whatever it’s worth.

Mar

15

Is someone at India’s Cricket Control Board reading this blog? It would seem so. After several relentless rants on how the sport of Cricket in this country, is stifling other sports arenas, I suddenly see a ray hope coming from the board’s cash vault. Ratnakar Shetty, the administrative officer for the BCCI has indicated that the Cricket Control Board will be funding the development of 5 individual Olympic Sports.

How much? Could be Rs. 25 crores per each of these. Shetty is not saying which Olympic events will be chosen, but the board has indicated an interest in sponsoring archery, boxing, judo, swimming and weightlifting. BCCI’s change of heart could have come too late for any 2008 Beijing hopefuls, but for those aiming for 2010 commonwealth games and 2012 London Olympics, this could be the miracle they’ve been waiting for - some serious dough for equipment and training, and a little more for financial stability.

The day they open those funds up, I promise to write an open thank you letter to the folks at the control board. And can we pretty please add track & field events to that begging bowl? We have so much promise in that area, all untapped and unrewarded, waiting for Olympic glory.

Mar

10

Indian Hockey loses to Indian Cricket

March 10, 2008 posted by indiatime | 5 Comments

For the first time since they started playing field hockey in the modern Olympics, India last night failed to qualify even to participate in the summer olympics. In the qualifying game being played in Santiago, Great Britain defeated India 2-0, thus sending the Indian team home.

I don’t think it was Great Britain who ousted India from the qualifiers. For years now, Indian Hockey has been fighting an opponent with much bigger financial clout, and a much bigger media hype. The defeat last evening, was like a nail in the coffin for a dying patient that has been in hospice care for a while.

Indian Hockey, last night, lost to Indian Cricket, a game that has outgrown it by leaps and bounds, politically, financially, and socially. With even the second and third-level Cricketers starting to make really big bucks, the sport of field Hockey in India has been sidelined to gross neglect and disregard.

Indian Hockey, last night, lost to the public adulation of the bad boys of Cricket, the same public that has forgotten that India’s only Olympic gold medals came at the hands of its Hockey players.

Indian Hockey, last night, lost to politicians like Sharad Pawar and Mani Shankar Ayyar. One, the agriculture minister who has channeled his political muscle and clout into building a giant Cricket machine that has hogged and monopolized the limelight, the money and the media slots, destroying not just Hockey, but every other sports in this land. The other, the Sports minister, who has shown unbelievable apathy against sports by focusing on everything else but the portfolio that he is supposed to represent.

Indian Hockey, last night, lost to the short memory of India’s public who now prefer to watch Hockey as part of a Bollywood script, and who now prefer to watch their Hockey stars dancing on TV’s stupid dance shows.

Indian Hockey, last night lost to the forgotten memories of Major Dhyan Chand Singh, who in 1927, scored 36 goals alone against, yes, the British Hockey team.

Indian Hockey, last night lost to the idiotic and ignorant media who will cover no other sport but Cricket. The media’s neglect and absolute inattention to the game of Hockey is the primemost cause that has resulted in this game fading off the public radar. Throughout the year, every day of the year, every minute of every hour of every day, India’s TV media constantly cover Cricket, neglecting every other sport.

Indian Hockey, last night, lost a long fought battle against this country’s public. We wanted this game to go away and soon, it will. Those lucky to remember the times of Ashok Kumar, Govinda, Balbir Singh, Mohammed Shahid and Zafar Iqbal, can take solace in the fact that we were, once upon a time, the world champions for several decades. But that’s ancient history now.

Rest in peace, Indian Hockey. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

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