The Best Of A Billion

While the Indian national anthem was performed in an Olympic stadium - after 28 years - this unexpected moment of national pride was frittered away without crackers, without car horns hooting and without curious crowds like flies before large plasma screens in malls, attracted by any and every cricket match.

India’s first individual gold in modern Olympic history sent editors scurrying to redeem headlines that previously screamed "China Leads Charge, India Shoots Blanks"

The entire country and its committees showered cash bonanzas with gratitude on Abhinav Bindra - for propelling national ego from humiliating depths to the troposphere of the medals tally. Fortunately, this man in a billion possessed the mental and material resources to undertake the solitary struggle with parental support.

Growing up in a familial environment with exposure to diverse sports, I too nurtured dreams of pursuing professional basketball and cycling for Team India in the Tour de France but in a socialist India some decades ago such spirit was incongruent with opportunity.

Hearing the Indian national anthem transported me to an Olympics in the future, when I would be one amongst many hundred Indian fathers applauding our children winning medals for India.

Having learned more about teamwork, competition and failure from the sports field than the classroom, I unconditionally support my sons Rishabh (10) and Ahan (8) in their passion for swimming, training at the Basavangudi Aquatic Centre - an oasis of Olympic excellence and the perfect model of co-operation between parents, the government and the private sector.

With Olympics 2016 in our crosshairs, Kalaripayattu supplements training to instil the mental toughness that the challenges and solitude of competition demand with failure not an option.

Our national anthem should have resonated alternately with China’s in every stadium. Two cradles of civilisation similarly aged as countries, with the world’s largest populations; two cultures possessing ancient knowledge of the toughest psycho-physiological regimens in existence with one significant difference; the Chinese have inculcated its usage, to distil 600 of the worlds finest while we exist in ignorance, gloating over mere qualification and lamenting under performance.

The modern Olympics have transposed contests in national supremacy from the battlefield to the sports arena – sans bloodshed. Today, the crème de la crème represent their nations as indices of mental toughness and quality of national character.

Centuries ago Kerala cradled the battlefield expertise of Kalaripayattu presently languishing on the periphery of oblivion, while Indian children rarely touch their toes. Meanwhile, China transformed our battlefield expertise into Kung Fu from which it devised a training regimen that instils the mental toughness to face the world’s best and win a hundred medals.

India is joining the nuclear club, sending a mission to the moon, on the threshold of economic superpower status but remained precariously reliant on the resolve of one man to rescue our country from humiliation from amongst the last of 205 competing countries.

Grandmothers still excite children with the exploits of Arjuna and Eklavya yet we treat sport as a pariah profession – an avenue of mobility for the disadvantaged.

Dronacharyas are considered academic non-achievers who coach to survive, while the ‘physical’ is the first expendable from an education syllabus.

From being a noble way of life we have desecrated sport as a means to obtain college admissions and public sector jobs through quotas, thus pushing our future Olympic potential to ‘burn out’ with 300 medals won by age 15! Otherwise, we aggressively encourage our sons to train as cash cows for the cricket machine, mesmerised by the material successes of men in multi-colour.

To be counted amongst the super powers by Olympics 2020 we have metamorphose from a country of crabs and forge a national character of impeccable quality to distil five hundred of the finest.

We all do not have champions for sons or daughters but we can mobilise with our resources behind those parents with champions, and participate in bringing gold and glory to our country.