OLYMPICS OR OLYMPITS

                    OLYMPICS   OR  OLYMPITS

Venkatesh G.

In the dying days of the Rio Olympics, our athletes brought some cheer to the country.

We have to thank  Sidhu and Sakshi  and am praying to God,  Yogeshwar  follows suit.

In, the last few days, we have responded in an unimaginable way, to their successes.

The media both printed and  visual went gaga and all out to sing the praises of the concerned athletes.

There were interviews with the parents; pictures of the athletes and their families from their childhood days;  

It looked as if the country had no other news to report on these days.

There was good wishes greetings from the President down the line to the common man.

Even the VVIPS  (matinee idols, sports stars,present & past prominent high society members, the politicians and what have you.)

But tell me are we not going overboard a little ?  

I cannot imagine  what the celebs would be like if we had a Michel Phelps or Usain Bolt in our country; 

probably the Govt would have declared a  holiday for a week and maybe some crazy followers would have made idols of these stars  and worship them for days on end !

But come to the flip side;  Where are the critics?  the few on a silent  media ( their voices ) were muted.

Does it mean that in India we have come to accept whatever is dished out and do not want an improvement  in our performance and standards!  

We have come to accept that there will be corruption and nepotism in selecting  the contingent !   

there will be members charged with doping; members who are , physically unfit, within our contingent;  

We willmake tall claims that our selection standards and performances are  world standard!only on action day, things turn out to be totally  different(there was the case of the timings of the relay squad, said to be second best in the world ,only the squad did not figure in the finals);

there will be jealousy and envy within the squad; we will continue to send athletes  based on their past performances; 

completely oblivious to their present form and of course we will send in numbers greater  than the past Olympics  (I suppose to show we have made improvements and progress, but also to accommodate more officials in the party.)   

Finally we will make tall claims that our performances ( and  therefore the medals tally)will be much much greater than in the  past Olympics. 

Only the results were completely different; 

It is shameful we only made the headlines, not based on our performances, but for other wrong reasons! 

It is a shame that a country of 1.2 billion could finish only 67th or so; 

that we could not see our national flag in the centre or hear our national anthem  play out at least once in the victory ceremony;

Please tell me, my fellow country men & women _

What is there to celebrate here?

* * *