The Olympics

The Olympics has the power to move me to tears, and a lot of it flowed in the past two weeks.

Those emotions on display.

Those remarkable, beautiful bodies - fit, ready, and tuned to reach great heights.

That grit, the determination.

The thought of all the hard work of these athletes through the years, all for this single moment.

The sacrifices and dedication of the unseen forces behind the athletes.

The thought of those who couldn't make it so far.

It is a sobfest. And the end of the Olympics is always bittersweet - I'm glad that I witnessed another Olympics, but there is a wistfulness that I've to wait another four years for the next Summer Olympics.

Ah, tennis!

I remember watching my first Tennis match with my father.  Boris Becker was the first player I knew and recognized, I thought his name spelt "Baker" and I was both fascinated and repelled by his fair eye-lashes. 

Tennis was really in, while I was growing up.  We named ourselves after tennis players and played badminton.  In high school, we cut pictures of tennis stars out of sports magazines and collected, shared, coveted, safeguarded, begged for, showed-off, and exchanged these pictures.  (And defaced them, when we didn't like them.)  Ah those days, when the greatest problem in my life was that I didn't know how to pronounce "Stich" of Michael Stich!

I remembered all this after Puttachi and I watched the two Wimbledon finals over the weekend.  It was her first time, and she cottoned on to the basics of the game pretty quickly.  When I stepped away from the TV, she gave me running commentary too - "I think Radwanska won this point because Williams' ball hit the net."  "Amma, I think Williams won the next point because I can see her sister clapping."

She watched the whole match with me, without taking her eyes off the screen.  It fascinated me - how a sport could hold her attention for two hours!

She was intrigued that both the losing and winning parties wept - one out of sorrow and the other out of joy.

She was very eager to watch the Federer vs Murray match too, but I had warned her that she wouldn't be able to watch the whole match, since it would go on for long, and that the next day was a school day.  She watched as long as I let her, and when she went to bed, she was very worried about how she would find out who won.

That night, when she woke up for her toilet break,  she wasn't disoriented as she usually is.  She asked me, "Amma, will the match be over now?"
"Yes," I said, but didn't tell her that I had watched it and knew who had won.  I wasn't ready to answer a barrage of questions at 1 in the night!
"Will the winner's photo be in the paper tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Amma, don't look at the newspaper until I wake up.  We will see it together and find out who won."

And all these instructions from someone who usually has no idea what is going on when she wakes up at night, and who needs to be helped into the bathroom and lifted onto the toilet seat!

I am waiting for the Olympics to begin.  I'm pretty sure we'll enjoy watching the games together. :) 

The Olympics

For me, it all began with the Seoul Olympics of 1988. I was old enough to watch and understand it, and I was very fascinated by it. I would come back from school and sit hooked to the television, forgetting even to go out and play. I watched with a sense of horror as Ben Johnson was stripped of his medal, I watched with glee as Steffi Graf won the Gold Medal, I wanted to paint my nails and grow my hair like FloJo, I watched with bated breath as Greg Louganis hit his head against the spring board.... I remember so many things from that first Olympics. I can even remember the pictures used to represent each event. That set the stage for my love affair with the Olympics.

During our crazy days of trying to be Nadia Comaneci and Jesse Owens, I was quite sure that one day I would represent India at the Olympics. I didn't know in what sport, but I would. As the years passed, of course, my dream came down to just wanting to watch the Olympics some day. [That hasn't happened either... yet.]

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics did everything to fuel my fascination. I cut out the event schedule from the newspaper and pasted it on the back of my bedroom door, and everyday I would check the list to see if any of my favourite events were on, and I would be sure to watch it. The events would go on late into the night due to the time difference, but it would hardly deter me. At that time, it was fashionable to say that you had a crush on one of the Olympic athletes. (though I don't think we called it "crush") And I had chosen Vitaly Scherbo, the gymnast, who won Gold after Gold. I can still see quite clearly in my mind's eye, Scherbo's performance on the rings.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics was marked by the fact that we got a new (colour) television set just in time for the Opening Ceremony (calling the store and shouting at them because they hadn't delivered it yet, and the ceremony was to be telecast the next morning). The events, of course, only started in the evening for us, and so I had to be content with the highlights.

The 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics were nearly non-existent to me. I don't remember why I didn't watch the Sydney Olympics (most probably exams or some such thing), but I was in Mumbai during the Athens Olympics, without easy access to television. So I just read the reports in the newspapers, if I could get hold of one. It was that bad.

But the Beijing Olympics has been an unexpected party for me. For one, I am not going out to work, and so I can watch television all the time. Second, I do not even have school/college/studies. I do have some work that I have to do, but it is something I can do with the television set on. Third, I am in Mysore right now, with a bunch of people, all of them who are crazy about the Olympics, and watching with them all is even more fun. Fourth, the Olympics being held in China, the time difference is hardly anything, and I can watch all the events live, right from morning till night, without having to wait for the highlights. What fun, I tell you!

I like watching the events, yes, but do you know what I like better than that? To feel the palpable tension of the final moments in each event, to watch the athletes react after winning. To watch their faces as they climb the podium to receive their medals. To watch them fight to hold back tears as the flags of their countries go up, with their national anthems in the background. To feel their joy, to revel in their excitement. To live their moments in proxy.

But in my eyes, every Olympian is a winner. You just cannot belittle the years of hard work and sweat and dedication, that enables them to participate in this magnificent show. It is almost unfair to crown one person the winner.

But whatever it is, I love the Olympics.

Wow!

Did you see the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics? Truly spectacular, stunning, and spellbinding. I watched it live, and actually applauded when the torch lit up.

Thanks are due specially to Puttachi, who amused herself with a bowl, a spoon, and some blocks, allowing me to watch one of my favourite shows, one that comes only once every four years. It also helped that she was quite taken with Jingjing, the Panda mascot. (She is crazy about Pandas now).

Imagine the kind of hard work that has gone into this whole show! It made me feel very sad too, at times. If China can do it, can't we do it too?

Champ Mom

Lindsay Davenport won the Bali Classic Tournament on Sunday.

What's so special about that, do you ask?

She won this just three months after she gave birth to a baby.

Let me face it. She had a baby after I did, and she went out there and won an international tournament yesterday.

I am ashamed. If Lindsay can win a tournament, I should at least be able to climb a flight of stairs without panting.

I need to start my fitness regimen. Now. On second thoughts, not now, considering that it is 11 o clock at night.

Tomorrow.

Do I see a smug look on S' face?

Horsing Around

One Sunday morning, many many years ago, my father drew my attention to that section of the paper which reported news of the Bangalore Derby. He pointed out to me the names of the racing horses and said that I might enjoy them. I went through one column, and he was right, I was immediately hooked.

The names were delightful, a treat to my crazy imagination. No boring Chetaks and Ranjhas for you. The names ranged from pretty(Morning Dew, Soft Sunshine) to macho(Fierce Warrior, Daredevil) to exotic(Bravissimo, Chiquitita) to optimistic (Speed of Light, Assured Victory) to plain nonsensical (Daring Daschund, Adorable Aristotle).

I would pick a random favourite and follow its fortunes every morning, reporting delightedly to my father, "Papa, Crowning Glory won again!" or "Oh no, Ginger Garlic lost this time". My mother must have started suspecting that the father-daughter duo was placing bets on races behind her back.

Anyway, like all fads, this one passed too, until yesterday, when I chanced upon the results of the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby. Along with the results of the races, were the mugshots of all the winning horses.

Now, pardon my ignorance, but all horses look the same to me. It looked like they had taken a picture of one horse and printed it twelve times. On taking a closer look, I saw that they were slightly different shades of brown, much like the browns section of an Asian Paints colours catalogue.

I was thinking of the plight of the reporter and the photographer, if they are as ignorant about horses as I am. The photographer takes a pic, and the reporter laboriously writes down the name of the horse. And what if they mess up and put a different name on the pic of the horse? I can well imagine the irate owner ringing up the office and shouting at them, demanding a correction. What will the resulting apology look like?

"In yesterday's edition, we inadvertently mixed up the names of two horses. The one that is the colour of a roasted coffee bean is Sultry Seductress, and the one that is the colour of a lightly roasted coffee bean is Brave Bheem. The error is regretted. - Elegant Editor... err.. I mean, Editor."

This year's winner is Bourbon King. The name is not at all imaginative, as horses' names go. I was disappointed, but then, I saw that Quintessential Queen, Jumping Jackass, Shimmering Shennanigan and Rusty Rhombus weren't far behind, so I was satisfied. What about Assured Victory? He, I assure you, will gain a victory in the next derby.

The state of Indian Badminton

A couple of weeks ago, I heard from Nikhil Kanetkar, the Badminton player, who is a friend of mine, as I have told you elsewhere. He talked about not being allowed to participate in International Tournaments by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). When I pressed for details, he sent me some mails, and links explaining what is happening. Here are excerpts from a news item.

What caused the heartburn was BAI’s directive in March that the Indian team should attend a two-month camp at Hyderabad instead of two Super Series events in Singapore and Indonesia. The Super Series, which consists of a circuit of elite tournaments open only to a draw of 32 players, is what every player aspires for. Even the All England has been made into a Super Series event. The big attractions of the Super Series are its prize money and ranking points. .......
........

Several players — primarily Chetan Anand (World No 30), Anup Sridhar (No 34), Saina Nehwal (No 22), Trupti Murgunde (No 50) and the doubles teams of Sanave Thomas/ Rupesh Kumar (No 36) and Jwala Gutta/ Shruti Kurien (No 25) — were affected because their rankings will slide down and this would make it difficult to qualify for other Super Series events. This, after a long hard slog last year to gain enough points to remain in contention. Besides, this is an Olympic qualification year, and it is critical to gain as many ranking points as possible. Missing two Super Series events will help other contenders gain rankings ahead of the Indians, who might have to go back to the grind of trying to qualify. Gopi(Pullela Gopichand) has countered protests by stating that there are enough tournaments left in the year to help players regain their rankings. But what he has tactfully left unsaid is that, when the players’ rankings drop 20 places or so, they will needlessly have to play the torturous qualifying rounds. Only four slots are available for 64 players, and a player will have to win four matches in a single day to qualify for the main draw.

The other decision which has hurt players is BAI’s insistence that only those who attend the national camp will be allowed to play the international circuit. This means that players not selected to the national camp cannot play international tournaments even if they are eligible and willing to foot the bill. Nikhil Kanetkar (World No 48), for instance, has been doing the international circuit at his own expense over the last three years. Kanetkar has been spending around Rs 6 lakh a year funding his international campaigns. The BAI decree means that he cannot play on the circuit despite being among the top 50 players in the world!

Read the whole story here.

Here are also excerpts of a mail that Nikhil Kanetkar wrote to Rajyavardhan Rathore (the Olympic medalwinning shooter)

Last year when Gopi became national coach I was not included in the list of 32 players for camp.He called me and said that the reason was because I am 27 years of age and they are planning for 2010 Commonwealth Games.I said nothing but told him that I have nothing against his plans but that I should not be stopped if I want to play on my own expense.He assured me that would not happen.Just to let you know the entries for international tournaments have to go through BAI.

I travelled all over the world using my own money and from 163 in May 2006 I came upto 41 in April 2007 in the world rankings.I had no support from BAI but I never complained.Even for Athens in 2004 I qualified on my own with my own money.I was not sent anywhere even though I was the highest ranked Indian the world rankings during that period.

Now coming back to the point last year Chetan Anand,Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien(my wife) were selected for the camp but they did not attend and were travelling on their own expense and now Chetan is ranked 30 in the World and Jwala-Shruti are ranked 23 in the world.

Now from April 21st 2007 for two months they have a camp for the forthcoming Sudirman Cup which is in June.Also right now in the 1st and 2nd week of may are two Super Series tournaments in Indonesia and Sigapore where top 32 players are invited.The above mentioned 3 players along with a few others wanted to play in these SUper Series tournaments as non participation will lower their rankings upto 20 places each and being the Olympic qualification year you know very well how strong the competition level is in any sport.Going down 20 places means everyone goes back to square one and has to play in the qualifying rounds.The BAI refused to send any entries for the tournaments citing reason that they are not fit and they should attend camp.The players did not attend camp as their entries for the two tournaments were not sent.

Now I was not involved with this as I was sidelined anyway and was travelling on my own expense.But when I sent my entries for 3 tournaments which are also during this month I was refused reasons being given that if I am allowed to go others will opt out of camp and go on their own.So no one in India is allowed to play till June end which is disastrous as maybe now no Indian might qualify for the Olmpics when few players would have easily qualified.

The BAI officials say things like what is the use of playing Olympics or what is the use of just being ranked in top 40 in the World.How can they say that?In that case apart from you and some shooters no one should be sent for the Olympics.Qualifying for the Olympics is a dream for so many.It was for me too and I reached the last 16 stage in my event in Athens.

We have 8 Indians in the top 50 in Badminton in different events and they have done it on their own not due to BAI programmes.

We are not fighting for being in the Indian team.They can select who they want.All we want is to have the freedom to train and play as we want that to at our own expense.We are not even asking for government funds.Badminton is an individual sport and it is the fundamental right for any top ranked player to have the freedom to play for our country.

You can feel the pain and the frustration in this mail.

We ask what ails Indian sports - here you have one example of what ails it.

Politics, mismanagement, pure idiocy. Players like Nikhil, who are ranked in the top 50 in the world, pay out of their own pockets to participate in International Tournaments. I have no words.

I am itching to compare the Indian badminton scene and the Indian cricket scene - but I don't want to get my blood pressure up. I am sure you can connect the dots yourself.

What do you think?

Bangles for Sachin.

Cricket fans in Patna are angry with the Indian Cricket Team because of their exit from the world cup. So what do they do?

Take a poster of Sachin's, blacken it a bit, hold it up for the benefit of the photographer, and hold bangles to the poster.
[Picture here, scroll down a bit]

There are two things extremely offensive about this.

1) Offering bangles to a loser is an age-old Indian gesture of insult. Which is an abominable thing. It means that the loser is "no better than a woman". It is a terribly demeaning statement.

2) The fans who are offering bangles to the Sachin poster, are women. Yes. Not men. Women themselves, who are demeaning themselves by this act. Do they even realize what it means? Do they understand that they are putting themselves down? If they do know the significance of this gesture, do they really have that low an opinion of themselves as women?

[Anil and Emma on the same issue. Though they had already written about it, I felt I just had to write about it too.]

A request from Arun Kumar Bhardwaj - The Ultrarunner

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember the Ultrarunner Arun Kumar Bhardwaj.

Here is another message from him, which I am reproducing verbatim.

Dear Shruti,

By the medium of your blog I would like to inform the people that I am going to undertake The Great Delhi to Shimla Ultramarathon, 375+km within 100 hours (in total that means including all the elapsed time)starting on 1st Feb at 2 PM from the India Gate. We are taking the route Delhi-Chandigarh-Shimla. The last streth of 70 kms gain an height of 1500 meters, i.e. after Kalka. One of my friend is sharing the expenses of the run (I am again without any sponsorship and please let me take to liberty to use your blog to invite any potential sponsor to come with me in this work of great cause to our mother country). After this run I plan to do a Delhi to Goa, 2100km in 21 days.

Cheers,
- Arun

(“You don’t have to be a runner to appreciate it when someone goes beyond the limits. And when someone runs a hundred or a thousand miles one doesn’t have to be a genius to see that the entire human potential has just been expanded. Such examples give people hope and inspiration to change themselves, to be better, and to expect and strive for something higher, something beyond them. Perhaps, they think, if those guys can run a hundred miles then I can do something worthwhile, I can do something good. The world changes more by deeds then by words.” – Tarak Kauff)

As I post this, he will be running the first marathon. If you, or your organization, would like to support him or sponsor him, please do so.

Here are his contact details once again.

Name: Arun Kumar Bhardwaj
Email : a_runrunrun@yahoo.com
Cell Phone : +91 9213 964 901
Postal Address: Planning Commission, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110001.

Thank you.

Watching Cricket - What is it all about, really?

Somebody asked me what I have against cricket.

Actually I don't have anything against the game. It is just another sport, with its own set of (strange) rules. In fact, I really like playing cricket. I think its good fun, as long as I am not fielding. And especially if it is played with a piece of cardboard as the bat, and a crumpled-up newspaper as the ball.

I am digressing. What I want to say is that there is just one thing that I don't like about cricket, and that is, that it goes on for too long. Far too long. Ok, even that is fine. If the players really want to stay out all day and sweat under the sun, it is their choice. I can even understand spectators in the stadium watching the match with interest. It can be good fun, like I found out first hand. But what irks me is that millions of people sit around and actually spend(I dare not say "waste") hours and hours watching these endless matches on television.

In case you haven't noticed, the actual action in the entire match happens for probably just ten percent of the entire duration of the match.

How, you ask. Consider this.

A bowler measures his paces, does the run up, and bowls. The batsman hits the ball, the fielders scurry around, and the batsman takes a couple of runs. If you measure the time this entire bit of action takes, you will see that it measures up to just around 8-10 seconds. Most balls take even lesser time, but I will be generous, and take the average as 10 seconds.

A one-dayer has 50 overs, that is 300 balls are bowled.

Total time taken to bowl all the balls = 300 X 10 = 3000 seconds = 50 minutes.

Ok, let me consider other miscellaneous things, and conclude that the total time taken is 1 hour.

So the actual action in an 8-10 hour match happens for just 1 hour. Fancy that!

The rest of the time is spent in looking around, licking the ball, rubbing the ball against their clothes in unmentionable places, tapping the bat on the pitch, adjusting the helmet, adjusting the pad, doing half sit-ups, making gestures with arms, wiping sweat, and what have you.

And the entire nation sits glued to the television, watching men perform these ordinary actions for 9 hours, just for that 1 hour of actual action. And they spend at least half of those 9 hours again, watching the re-telecast.

And this is just the one-dayer. What about a test match? For five days, the nation thinks of nothing else. And at the end of it, many times, you don't even have a result to show for it.

There are very few cricket matches which I think are really exciting. In most of the matches, you get to know midway, which team is going to win. After that it is just a matter of waiting. And what a long wait! What pleasure do you get, really, in spending so much time watching a match, the conclusion of which is a foregone one?

And also, how many hours are wasted each year watching old matches between random countries, the results of which are already known!

It makes me restless. It makes me cringe. I dare not even start to think of what all these people might have been doing if they hadn't been watching this match. So many productive hours wasted! So many opportunities missed! So many beautiful moments overlooked!

I know I am in the minority, so I know I should be ready for a sound thrashing from all of you. But seriously, watching cricket makes no sense to me. What is it all about, really?

The Indian Ultrarunner - Arun Kumar Bharadwaj

Do you know what an UltraMarathon is? I confess that I did not know. Did you know that there is only one Indian Ultrarunner? I did not know.

But now I do. Arun Kumar Bharadwaj is the only known Indian ultrarunner.

But how did I get to know? Arun Kumar Bharadwaj read my post about the Times Bangalore Marathon in Metroblogging Bangalore, followed the link to my blog, and left this comment on this post in which I talked about Sreesanth, Kingfisher, and the TOI.

I will reproduce a part of his comment here:

Dear friends,
I am an ultramarathon runner and can understand it in a better way being in a state of my present situation. I think people writing here would like my little bio data.

It is :

How can we transcend ourselves if we do not challenge Our Capacities?

Name: Arun Kumar Bhardwaj
Email : a_runrunrun@yahoo.com
Cell Phone : 9213 964 901
Postal Address: Planning Commission, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110001.
DoB: 2 February 1969
Birth Place: Village Baoli, Distt. Baghpat. UP.
Education: B. Com. from Delhi University
Occupation: Govt. Service (Planning Commission, New Delhi) India
Height: 5 feet 8 inch, Weight: 68 kg
Family: Wife :Sangeeta, teacher in Central School. Daughters: Zola & Sofia (DoB 23.9.1998&12.1.2001), Son : Yiannis (12.7.2002).
Years running: On & off for 15 years. Ultras: 6 years

Personal Bests:
1. 180 km in 23.25 hours on 28-29 July 2000 (solo run from Haridwar to Baghpat, UP)
2. 270 km in 33.10 hr on 7-8 November 2001(solo run from Yojana Bhavan, New Delhi to National Ayurved Institute, Jorawar Singh Gate, Jaipur). Indian Record for the distance w.r.t. time taken.
3. 138.172 km in IAU Asia 24 hr Track Championships in Taiwan on 2-3 March 2002.(9th place). First Indian representative in any 24 hr Ultra Marathon.
4. 492 km in Australian 6-Day Race 17-23 Nov. 2002 & broke former Indian national record for 6 days race of 478 km made by Tirtha Kumar Phani in 1987. Thus, became first ever Indian to cross 300 miles in six days race (15th Place).
5. 516 km in Self-Transcendence 6-Days race, New York 27 April -3 May 2003 and became the first Indian to cross 500 km in a 6-Days race (7th Place).
6. 520 km in Copenhagen 6-Days challenge, Denmark 3 – 9 August 2003 (4TH place).
Became first Asian to complete three 6-Days races within one year, and every time with a new national record.
7. Finished IAU 100 Km World Cup 2003, Taiwan 16.11.2003. Became first ever Indian to participate and finish any 100 Km World Cup.
8. 501 km in International Six Days Running Championship, Mexico on 22-28 March 2004 (4th place in age category and 8th Place in general). First Indian representation in any Mexican ultramarathon championship.
10.532.8 km in German International 6-day race, 1-8 August 2004. Placed 15th. New Indian Record.
11. 550 km in 122.45 hr Delhi to Chandigarh and back. Appeared in Limca Book of Record 2005. 12. MIR Marathon, Moscow, finished in 3.56.45 in –4 Deg. Celsius and Rain.
13. 153 km in 24 hr Open Championship of Russia, 7-8 May 2005. Became the only Indian in the history of Russian Ultramarathon.
14. 556.45 km in 20th Australian Six Days Race, 20-26 Nov. 2005. New Indian & South Asian Record. (14th place out of 36 runners from 12 nations, after arriving only 20 hours before the start of the race and ran without any support crew).
15. 521 km Loutraki 7-Days International Race, Greece, 1-8 April 2006 (on a hilly course).

Typical training: It varies but normally 160 - 200 km/week. I sleep 4 hours only i.e. 12 mid night to 4 am and one night sleepless per week.

Injury history: None relating to running. Have undergone four major surgeries of Parotid Tumor between 14 and 17 years of age. I was very weak from my childhood, from the age of 6 to 19 yrs, I was a victim of malaria every year in rainy season. My body weight was only 26 kg when I was 14 years of age and 35 kg at 17 yrs. I, always, was the weakest boy of the class in my school time.

Favourite ultra foods: Totally vegetarian & teetotaler. Honey, fruit juice, banana and sugar cane.

Things I like most about ultra: Traveling, getting to make new friends. It gives opportunity to explore the unknown inner world and give spiritual ecstasy. I like my tears most during my ultras, I love them.

Things I hate most about ultras: Leaving my family waiting for me.

What got me started doing ultras: To produce myself as an example before my daughter that Everything is Possible for a willing heart..

Why I do ultras: I enjoy pushing myself to my limits. I am the only ultramarathon runner in India, a country of more than 1 billion people and that’s why I am facing very difficulty in continuing it. But I know that in future my story will become a great source of inspiration for coming generations and I would be satisfied by that reward. Also, the pure spirit I found in Ultra Marathoners is matchless, celestial and I want to be a part of them. When you run beyond the imagination, it gives a special sense of exceeding.

Ultra goals: 276+ in 24 hours. 400+ in 48 hours. 1000+ in 6 days. I aspire to finish and win every race of SCMT (upto 3100 miler). I also wish to run all state capitals of Indian states from New Delhi with a minimum recorded time.

Favourite ultra quotes: “Never Give Up”.
“If you have indomitable will-power then Impossibility-gate is not an obstruction.”
“When you believe then you can do it. Do you believe?”
I’ll want to quit, I’ll want to die. Let me die, don’t let me quit.”


Just look at those achievements! This man is an inspiration. He is an Indian. And sigh! We need an Australian to champion his cause. Thank you, Phil Essam!

If you want to contact him, here are his details again:
Name: Arun Kumar Bhardwaj
Email : a_runrunrun@yahoo.com
Cell Phone : 9213 964 901
Postal Address: Planning Commission, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110001.

All the best, Arun!

Frustrated.

The Kingfisher flight is at 6 am. The passenger reaches check-in counter at 5:46 am. Authorities refuse to let him on the plane. The passenger throws a tantrum. The authorities do not budge. So the passenger goes to the media with this story, and TOI publishes the story - Sreesanth had a "harrowing" experience at Bangalore airport.

1) A passenger is a passenger is a passenger. Just because he is a cricketer, he cannot board a 6 00 am flight at 5 59 am. The Kingfisher authorities were right in refusing him entry.

2) Sreesanth has said something to the effect that it was a special day for him (Onam) and his entire family was waiting for him, and the flight authorities were not at all cooperative, and he reached 4 hours late. If the event was that important for him, couldn't he have woken up an hour earlier?

A budding cricketer, and already he thinks he is God.

No wonder. Cricket (don't get me started on this game), given undue importance, and the players placed on pedestals by adoring fans.

And the media makes it all worse. Hockey player Sandeep Singh was shot 'accidentally'. There was just one column about that in the newspaper. Sreesanth missed a plane to attend a personal event, due to his own stupidity. Two columns, along with a photo dedicated to him.

You wouldn't normally hear a hardcore optimist like me making statements like this, but I see no hope for our people.

All the best, Nikhil

Many years ago, I was reluctantly attending the basic course of Art of Living. One of the guys attending the course looked vaguely familiar. He was tall, wiry, shy, and carried with him, a big pillow to sit on. He introduced himself as Nikhil. I was the chatty kind back then, and within two days, I had made friends with him. As luck would have it, he and I got grouped together in one of the interactive sessions. In the course of the discussion (about our lives), he revealed that he was a badminton player. "Nikhil + Badminton-player" resulted in a google-like search of my sparse brain, and a tiny bell tinkled somewhere in the depths of my mind.

Me: What's your full name?
He:Nikhil Kanetkar
Me:*mouth agape* THE Nikhil Kanetkar? I've seen your photo in the papers!
He:*Smiling unassumingly* Yes, you might have.

My brain morphed the shy, unpretentious guy in front of me into a sportsman, racket in hand, and a steely determination on his face. Then it morphed him back into the guy in front of me. I now knew why he looked so familiar.

I took some time to come back to normal. My head was whirring. I was in the same room as an international level badminton player from the past two days, and I got to know it only after he told me! And there he sits, completely unknown, without anyone gawking or asking him for autographs!

I listened as he reeled out all the tournaments he had won, the championships he had played in, and the countries he had visited. "I am out of action for a while", he said. "Jaundice and a leg injury". Well, that explains the pillow, I thought. "Gopi (Pullella Gopichand) says he benefited highly from the Sudarshan Kriya (taught at the Art of Living course). So I thought I would try it out".

That night I went home and googled him out. The information about him was painfully little, but what was there, was very impressive. I remember being very proud of my new celebrity friend :) I was also suddenly intimidated, but his easy demeanour put me at ease. He even gave me a very sweet card, thanking me for being a good friend. (Yes, I still have it, and treasure it!).

We met once or twice after the course, at one of the follow-up Kriya sessions. After that we called each other a few times. He was training at the Prakush Padukone academy, and stayed in a flat with other players. He told me that the female players stayed next door to them, and they all ate dinner together. Calling his flat was a kind of thrill. When someone else answered the phone, I would wonder which player was on the line. If it was a girl, I would think "Could it.... could it be Aparna Popat?" :)

In later years, we kept in touch only through email, as he was travelling a lot. I kept him informed about all the milestones in my life - my degrees, my change of jobs, my wedding, and I also sent him a birthday wish every year. He kept me updated on his life too - but still, our correspondence came down to half a dozen emails a year. I kept track of him through the World Badminton site, as the newspapers talked next to nothing about badminton. Sometimes, caught in work and other activities, I would neglect to see the site, and would lose track of what was happening in the Badminton arena. Then out of the blue, I would get a mail from Nikhil, which would be just like him - Simple, straight, to-the-point. It would update me and some other of his friends, on the latest. And the mail was always from some other country - Germany, Malaysia, South Africa.

One of his mails read "I am happy to tell you that I got selected at the last moment to represent India at the Athens Olympics, as someone else dropped out." I whooped with joy. I hold the Olympics in great esteem, and my friend was actually getting to play there! Added to that, Indian Oil(with whom he was employed), had put up huge hoardings on the Mumbai Highways. It carried photos of the four badminton players in their employ, who were representing India in the Olympics, and wished them luck. Nikhil looked very good in that hoarding, composed and smiling softly. I would silently wish him the best. At the actual event, he cleared the first round, and entered the second, before being beaten by Peter Gade of Denmark. Both his selection, and his first win, were just given a one-line mention in the newspapers.

Another mail in June of last year informed me "I am glad to inform you that I won the South Africa International championship". A couple of photos were attached. It was a big thing for him - the first international event he had won (He has been runner-up in a number of prestigious events, though). I was thrilled. I took down the newspapers, and combed the sports pages for a mention of this victory of his. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Shunya, etc.

Last month, I received a mail from him. He had attached a scanned picture in a German newspaper. It was the news of his engagement to Shruti Kurien, another elite badminton player. The photo was quite a big one, and the write-up seemed substantial. In my initial joy, I almost missed the irony. That the news of his engagement, which occured in India, between two top Indian players, was conveyed by him to his Indian friends, through a news item in a German newspaper. Well, what can I say about that?

Today I read the news that the National Badminton Championship is beginning today, and Nikhil is playing. As usual, here is a silent wish from me to him.

All the best, Nikhil.


Update: Happily, this inspired an excellent post by Sue at Dutch Diary.

A post I would not have read had I not written it.

Coz its about cricket. And I am not a cricket maniac. I don't think much of a sport where the sportsmen can afford to be tubby (think Inzy-with-a-paunch) ;) But hey, I am an Indian, and if the cricket magic does not touch you in India, you are probably living in a bubble. And that was why I went to the India-SA second one-dayer at Bangalore on Saturday. Wow! What an experience!!

It was my first cricket match. Yes, I mean that. I had not watched any match completely, even on TV. The only time I watch cricket is when India is playing a one-dayer against somebody and they are on the verge of winning and it is very close and there are a lot of other people around me all in a frenzy. Otherwise, if a match is on and I hear wild cheering, I come running to the TV and watch the replay of the dismissal or the boundary or whatever it is. That's cricket for me.

Anyway, about the match - we went early to avoid the inevitable traffic jam... and we got to see the players at the nets, and their warm-up sessions. As they came out one by one for the practice sessions, they were cheered, but nobody responded, except Greg Chappell, who gave us a gracious wave, which drove the crowds crazier. The team ran, threw, caught, hit, exercised, chatted, kidded around, even as each new bunch of spectators entered, recognized their heroes and shouted out to them. By the time the match started, the stadium was filled to capacity, and the roaring and waving and cheering was deafening.

The match began, and before I knew it, there were 3 dismissals and I had missed them all :( I was busy with something inane, like wondering why the protective fence had two bars missing, or where the chips-seller had disappeared.

I actually looked back towards the field, waiting for a replay, when I realised that I was not watching TV. I admit I felt quite stupid ;) And the large screen was not working, so no replay there either. But I really concentrated after that and caught all the other dismissals and boundaries.

Meanwhile, I had to contend with a tall unruly-haired man who plonked himself in the seat in front of me, blocking my view entirely [as a sidenote, ever wondered why all the people who sit in the seat in front of you are tall with unruly hair?] There was also this man who steadfastly refused to put out his cigarette, and asked "Why?" when requested to stop smoking.

Adding masala to the match was hubby dearest who kept up a running commentary for my benefit. He also slapped his forehead a few times when I asked him "ignorant" questions like "Why do they change sides after each over?" He was also sweet enough to keep up a constant supply of food. [Though I have a sneaking suspicion that it was to keep my mouth full so that I would not ask him any more stupid questions]

So with all the other crazy people, I screamed, jumped, threw my arms around, hi-fived, jigged, and mexican-waved and brought the cheering to a roaring crescendo as India swept to a cool victory.

I still cannot talk about offside and legside and doosras but I can brag, "Oh, I saw Tendulkar from within 20 feet", and I guess that makes me a fan!