Last year I was in Germany thanks to the clumsy management of geometric and I had visited the newly built and very much talked-about stadium in Munich. To seize the moment (exclusively for public exhibition in years to follow) I flashed a smile keeping the phenomenal stadium in background and got myself shot. As Germany plays world cup soccer with considerable probability of winning and India doesn't even aspire seriously, I resolved to apply my emotional energy in the support of Germany as a mark of gratitude, coz they hadn't thrown me out of running train as I had feared.
If it won, I would win too. I would enjoy 'maine to pehle hi kaha tha' status. Else who minds if you support something for emotional reasons? Nobody can match me in all this petty business.
I was eagerly waiting for the world cup to come so that I could paste my Munich snap at orkut. But it is beyond me why others are so much excited about it? People of Kolkata with painted faces shouting slogans on TV and waving flags of Brazil look ludicrous to me. I fail to understand their passion. It looks a bit too much to me. Oh kitsch!
What is the nature of our passion? Are we passionate as sportsmen? Or as gamblers? Or as wanna-bes? Or as moviegoers? Think about it. I am rather sceptic about the first. Anything but that. We are not sportsmen. We don't play and we don't want our kids to play. We are those who believe in 'padhoge-likhoge to banoge nawaab, kheloge-koodoge to banoge kharab'. We play only as far as it helps us with our studies and above all with our CVs. We have become incapable to feel the spirit of sports. We have lost that. We have lost touch with the ground. If we didn't have power shortage, we wouldn't know the smell of sweat. No, I refuse to accept that. What explains this glaring inconsistency between our professed passion and our pathetic performance?
In actuality we are a nation of moviegoers. We want someone to do some heroic stuff to make us feel alive. We want someone to run and jump to titillate our fat bodies full of flatulence. We come out of cinema hall and rush to the railway reservation counter and reach their late coz of traffic hold-up. We spend half of our life standing in queues and we burn half of our blood in cursing the ubiquitous bollywood enthusiasts who think 'jahan hum khade ho, line wahin se shuru hoti hai'. We hardly get time to think beyond admission in schools and colleges. When you see the DU cut-off marks being displayed on TV and hear your parents wailing how they sacrificed whole of their life for your education, you are not left with nerves to kick a football. I find it hard to be optimistic about the future of sports in India under these conditions. I wish I am wrong.
So keep cheering while sitting in your wheel-chair. Who are you cheering for? France or Italy?
If it won, I would win too. I would enjoy 'maine to pehle hi kaha tha' status. Else who minds if you support something for emotional reasons? Nobody can match me in all this petty business.
I was eagerly waiting for the world cup to come so that I could paste my Munich snap at orkut. But it is beyond me why others are so much excited about it? People of Kolkata with painted faces shouting slogans on TV and waving flags of Brazil look ludicrous to me. I fail to understand their passion. It looks a bit too much to me. Oh kitsch!
What is the nature of our passion? Are we passionate as sportsmen? Or as gamblers? Or as wanna-bes? Or as moviegoers? Think about it. I am rather sceptic about the first. Anything but that. We are not sportsmen. We don't play and we don't want our kids to play. We are those who believe in 'padhoge-likhoge to banoge nawaab, kheloge-koodoge to banoge kharab'. We play only as far as it helps us with our studies and above all with our CVs. We have become incapable to feel the spirit of sports. We have lost that. We have lost touch with the ground. If we didn't have power shortage, we wouldn't know the smell of sweat. No, I refuse to accept that. What explains this glaring inconsistency between our professed passion and our pathetic performance?
In actuality we are a nation of moviegoers. We want someone to do some heroic stuff to make us feel alive. We want someone to run and jump to titillate our fat bodies full of flatulence. We come out of cinema hall and rush to the railway reservation counter and reach their late coz of traffic hold-up. We spend half of our life standing in queues and we burn half of our blood in cursing the ubiquitous bollywood enthusiasts who think 'jahan hum khade ho, line wahin se shuru hoti hai'. We hardly get time to think beyond admission in schools and colleges. When you see the DU cut-off marks being displayed on TV and hear your parents wailing how they sacrificed whole of their life for your education, you are not left with nerves to kick a football. I find it hard to be optimistic about the future of sports in India under these conditions. I wish I am wrong.
So keep cheering while sitting in your wheel-chair. Who are you cheering for? France or Italy?
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