Why Sports education is important in India?

Olympic fever is on!

And I am happy that more and more people are following it closely this time.

In fact, on Saturday when India won against Sri Lanka in the cricket match nobody really went gaga over it. 

Cricket was completely overshadowed by Saina’s bronze medal!

I was happy to see that for once cricket took a backseat and badminton was given due importance.

But this post is not about cricket or any other sport.

It is about why a country that has a large pool of talent is lagging behind in terms of medal tally?

China which is more populated than our nation has proved the worth of its citizens by getting highest number of medals. Other countries that are nowhere close to our demography is winning more medals than us. But here in a country of billion people, we have just 3 medals as of now! Probably more medals might come, but that again will be quite less.

So this brings me to my question - what could be the reason for this population: medal tally disproportion?

Is it lack of resources, lack of awareness, lack of motivation for non-cricket players, what is it?

Reasons could be many and only a sports expert like my friend Moulin can comment on it.

But in my view one of the major reasons why we have fewer medals must be due to lack of sports education.

Let’s look at each aspect one by one:

Lazy school days:  Just go back to your school days. Remember we used to have just two sessions of Physical Training every week?

Yes, out of the entire 36 hours in a week, just 2 hours were dedicated to Physical Training.

And in that session, we would just do some random exercises, run around the ground 2-3 times, and that’s it. There was no option such as choosing your favourite sport, practicing it and excelling in it (at least school didn’t have such facilities). Of course, there were sports club, but they were meant for Richie rich people. Middle class people like me had to play in the colony. Now the situation is even worse. I hardly see children running around and playing. Angry bird type of games has replaced kho-kho and kabbadi.

Unconventional career = short career span: As a kid, you dare not say you want to be a sportsman or a sports woman. Because chances are you will be looked down upon as a ‘dumb’ kid. I remember, in school, even if you won a medal, you were considered a dumb kid just because you did not get a rank between the first 10.

In our nation, a child is expected to study, study and just study. You either have to be an engineer, an MBA, a CA or a doctor. Sport is only to get a sports quota just in case you fall short of percentage required for admission in a coveted college. Here sport is given a step motherly treatment and is looked down upon as a ‘career for not so intelligent people’.  I have decided, when I have kids, I will enrol them for professional training in whichever sport they like. It is one of the most essential things for holistic development of an individual. You will remain not just healthy, but it will also help you learn about sportsmanship and team spirit.

Another myth is if you are a sportsman, your career is short. This in my view is just a myth. In India, sportsmen do have value. Ok you might not feature in ads like our cricketers, but after retirement, you can run an academy like Gopichand or become an MP just like our cricketers ;-). Why you even get a job in ONGC, railways, police force etc – places where you and I can only dream of working.

So basically, you won’t become a Paan Singh Tomar if you play and retire smartly.

High priced fees: Let’s be honest. Asking a person to shell out 50,000 Rs to one lakh for professional training might not seem too much now-a-days. But in reality it is pretty high. No matter how famous the institution is, the fees should be reasonable. I personally know of a lady whose daughter was a talented tennis player. But the girl could not train beyond a level because she could not afford the fees. At the cost of sounding pompous I can say, India has indeed lost a talented player. So, I hope the institutions reconsider their fee structure.

But having said that, I am really happy that a lot of players are doing well. Ok some players like our hockey players are losing out without fighting. But some like P Kashyap, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom have performed very well. And I believe the credit must also go to the Olympic Gold Quest an initiative started by stalwarts like Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi who are doing their best to support these talented sports people.

But still considering that the Population: Medal Tally ratio is quite low; it is high time that sports education is seriously considered in schools and colleges.

Let’s encourage the next generation to take up sports and make us proud!

I am sure they will, if it means going out and playing instead of just studying ;-)

True story of a gritty lady...

Some four decades back, a group of students in 9^th standard came to a girl’s place and gave her a question paper.

“Study this much, yehi aayega kal ke exam mein”, they said.

The girl was nervous for being a part of this ‘crime’. She read only those questions that were to be asked in the exams.

She went to the school and sat for the examination. Before the exams could start, the principal asked the students to assemble in the foyer and asked, “who leaked the paper?”.

Nobody raised their hand, except for this girl. The girl was punished. The class mates did not talk to her for a year.

Her last year in school was not as enjoyable as she wanted it to be. But she did not repent her decision. She knew what she did was correct.

She could have escaped this mess, but she chose to confess than remain a coward. She truly followed the basic lesson that Gandhiji taught us i.e. to be honest.

That girl is none other than my dearest mom Mrs. Uma Vishwanathan who is celebrating her b’day today.

I love this characteristic of my mother. She is frank, honest and pure at heart.  You can trust her completely. 

She says it is better to confess to mistakes and face the music rather than hiding it and making thousands of stories to hide the truth.

Though I try to be honest, there are times when I lie without even blinking an eyelid.

For instance, daily I tell my parents that I will reach home in 15 minutes when actually I am an hour away from the destination. When quizzed about the delay, I would conveniently put the blame on the traffic.

Not that they believe me, but this has become my most often repeated lie. Dad once told me sarcastically, why don’t you come by train instead of rickshaws and cabs?

Must say honesty is the best but a difficult policy.

Another thing that I love about my mom is her progressive and no pretention attitude. She is quite progressive for her age. Though she gets worked up about how the society thinks, she never forces me into anything. Be it about my marriage or about my career choice. When I decided to take up writing as my career, my father was not quite impressed by my choice. But my mom took it in right spirits and allowed me to do what I like.

Like every other child, according to me, my mom is the best woman I have ever come across.

She is sweet, kind, beautiful and a great human being. And oh she is a hit among my friends. They love her more than they love me J.

I am very proud to have her as my mom and I hope god blesses me with her in my next birth too.

I can go on and on about my mom. But I know I have to stop somewhere.

So I would like to end this post with a quote that I read somewhere: God couldn’t be everywhere, so he created mothers.

This seems to be true in my case J. 

 Thank you mummy for being my pillar of support J.

Why Vasant Dhoble is not entirely wrong!

Yesterday, a leading newspaper in Mumbai carried an article whose headline read as:

‘Beta so jao varna Dhoble aa jayega’.

For the uninitiated, Dhoble uncle is the ACP of Mumbai Police (Social Service department). And he is in news because of his unconventional rather aggressive ways of raiding pubs, discotheques and even cafes.

He was trending on Twitter yesterday because he had raided Cafe Zoe and shot a video of the place to prove that it was over crowded.

Now I must say his method is completely wrong. If you think that a certain place is carrying out illegal activities, go raid silently and treat the patrons with dignity.

Tell the media to shoo off so that the patrons are not left embarrassed. I mean no innocent girl would like to be tagged as a prostitute just because she was present in the club where the raid occurred.

The method used is completely wrong and I hope Arup Patnaik (Commissioner of Mumbai Police) tells him exactly how he should conduct the raids.

But having said that, it is completely wrong to target just one man and blame him for talibanizing Mumbai’s night life.

In a bid to accuse Dhoble for ruining the night life of Mumbai, we are forgetting one thing.

He has a very strong defence for his actions.

According to him, he follows the laws laid down by the judiciary system.

So what if they are old and do not apply to the current times.

They still exist right?

Police will do exactly what the law says.

If they had the power to over - rule the laws of the land, Kasab would have been dead by now!

Who would not like to kill him and avenge the death of Tukaram Omble who died for the nation while catching Kasab alive?

So, my concern is that instead of cribbing and protesting about Dhoble’s actions... protest against the archaic laws that rule our society.

Protest against the pubs, discotheques, raaste pe laga huva thelas for not carrying correct licenses.

If everything is ‘right’... no mai kaa lal can accuse you of doing anything ‘wrong’.

Honestly, I have no night life. Because half of my time goes in travelling from one end of the city to another.

And Sundays are too precious for me as that’s the only day I get to be at home.

But here’s what I think the pubs, cafes and all other places where the raids occur should do:

·         Put all your licenses on public display i.e. on your walls. So even if some authority comes and tells you that your license is not valid, show it to them. Ensure that you have all the required documents in place. Don’t allow the police to tell you that you have flouted the rules.

·         Check all the patrons thoroughly, irrespective of whether you find them suspicious or not.

And for patrons, here’s what you should do:

·         Carry your age proof with you, just to ensure that nobody throws you out of the pub for looking like a kid.

·         Cooperate with the police if they come. The more you resist, the more aggressive they will become. Be calm if they check you. You know you have not done anything wrong, then why fear.

·         Most importantly, if you notice anything wrong, please have the guts to be a witness and call the cops. It is easy to say that cops should do their duty. Solve cases that are pending. Trust me no other police force in India do their duty as sincerely as our Mumbai police. They have the strongest network of khabris. So until and unless you do not go ahead and render support to them... they will not be able to solve any case. Cooperate with them.

I agree, Dhoble should not teach us how to behave and what to do. But if something goes wrong, the first one to be targeted after the guilty is our bechara cops.

Call it insecurity, sadistic pleasure or taking advance precaution, Dhoble is only doing his duty. No one can stop him from doing that!

And that’s the harsh truth!

So go ahead, start a petition to change the laws, which is the root cause to all these problems! And not Dhoble...

Signing off,

Lecture dene wali dadimaa!

An open letter to South and North Indian public

Dear North Indian and South Indian public,

Enough is enough! Why do you guys have to take away the limelight from the rest of the country?

First it was Kamal Hassan and Rati Agnihotri in Ek Duje Ke Liye. Then came Chetan Bhagat with a book on his marriage where again the protagonists were North Indians and South Indians.

And now just when Kolkata started getting recognition from Kahaani and West started getting recognition from Aradhya bachan and grandpa bachan, you guys successfully took away the limelight from us by writing immature articles such as this one.

Kabhi socha hain humein kitna complex hotha hoga.

You remember us only when someone gets you rasgullas or vada pav. You discuss about us only during budget as our FM is a bengali and when the sensex reaches a new low during economic crisis.

Otherwise you never pay any attention to our existence :(

FYI, we also have our own music, dance, distinct cuisine, our own charm and idiosyncrasies haan. So zyada shine nahi maarneka.

For you music is categorized into carnatic and Hindustani classical only, ever thought the soulful tukaram abhangs are also a form of music? 

For you Indian classical dance is all about Kathak and Bharat Nataym,  ever seen Manipuri dancers dance?

For you North Indians = brawn, South = brain, ever thought Subash Chandra Bose and Vikram Sarabhai were neither South Indian nor North Indian.

Its not that we want any bhaav, we just want peace. India is a great country but we are already in doldrums due to multiple problems. Instead of fighting within ourselves over trivial matters such as whose culture is the best... can't we set an example by showing the world how united we are despite diversity?

Our sincere request, stop acting pricey. Just go to Madras Cafe or a highway ka dhaba and eat Dosas + mor or parathas + lassi and patch up. Don't make curds out of my brain now (dhimaak ka dahi), just stop fighting like chunnu munnu and pinky. 

Hope you will behave properly from now on.

Chalo aavjo!

With loads of love,
- Western, Eastern and Central part of India!