A strange week passed by where we celebrated our
Independence Day and turned on our intermittent patriotism during the ‘highs
and lows’ of India’s performance at the RIO Olympics…
On one day, we were caught cursing our sportsmen and
doubting our national spirit…another eventful day where a medal was finally won...
we are flying our patriotic flag high up in the air…as if each one of us put in
our worth of efforts to get Sakshi her victory….suddenly she is the daughter of
the nation, the first woman..and I presume there will be many takers to embrace
her region, her caste, creed and other segmentation that this country runs on!
This is the shallow waters where our patriotism rests….while
the drums are beating, the whole nation will support this sportswoman…awards,
endorsements and many other recognition will surely come here way…few more days
of euphoria and ‘the end’…the other sportspeople who toiled their years and
returned without a medal would be forgotten..fading into oblivion….the lone
medalists will receive a pie of the adulation for a limited time and then again
comes ‘the end’..we will all go back to our neutrality of emotions..forgetting
the efforts needed, the support needed and the consistent backing needed for
our sportspeople to achieve what other nations achieve…we will all go back to
the IPL happy to cheer the concoction of teams..we will all go back to our
godly admiration for Bollywood stars…we will all go back to taking pride in the
‘IndoAmericans’ and ‘IndoEuropeans’ who
make it big in the arenas of politics, sports and arts.. frantically tracing these achievers to some Indian root that we
can stake our claim on…. the dubious start and end to our patriotic fever!
And come the next Olympics, we will again believe in
miracles..that one fine day, an athlete will simply erupt from poverty, from the
meagre sports facilities provided, from the utter snubs that India gives her ‘non’
cricket population of sports stars and bring us glory….till then its business
as usual for India!
