June 11 2004, 12:41 pm
The Olympic Torch was here yesterday, in my home town of New Delhi. It was a moment of great pride for me to be present there while the torch was being carried through the ancient city. Thousands of people turned up to witness this great celebration of sports and its underlying spirit. Well..., I doubt that was the only reason for the turnout.
In here we all have a habit of finding something bad in every good thing, but many would agree with me when I say, this wasn't the event to be commercialized. From Filmstars to Hotel Chain Managers, every page 3 personality was there. 105 people got the opportunity to pass on the torch but it was very notable and a glaring fact that just less than half of them were sportsmen/women.
Every marketing and business strategist would obviously be offended, but then again, it was their fault for converting this event into such a commercial show rather a Patriotic one. The Olympics is for nations not for companies! It's not an event for Filmstars too come and showoff their sleek bodies when we all know they can hardly run a few meters.
Mr. Kalmadi (our Olympics org. head), please tell me what in the world was Miss Bipasha Basu doing there? Is she a big star, hell no! She is a nobody, not at all someone who is worthy of carrying the national pride. You can remember calling her but forget Ms. P.T. Usha who until recently was the only athletic medal hope we ever had. She did brilliantly at the Asian and Commonwealth games. She deserved that run! What about the multiple Gold medal winning team of Hockey, yes those great stars from the 60s are still around in Calcutta but to the plight of our federation never got a mention, leave alone an invitation to the event. While I am criticizing the non-worthy torch bearers our Filmstars, I must say I am highly impressed by Amir Khan, when asked whether he thinks he should be a part of this, he said, "No, only the sports men and women deserve it"; atleast he has the guts to admit that.
Some might say its too easy to point fingers but I have one thing to say, "It's just too difficult everytime to be so thoughtless and uncaring towards the little true talent we have in our country, yet our officials never seem to fail". Yes it was a great event but it was converted into a forgetful day, intentional or simply the federation style, its for you to decide.
