Indian sport is on the rise – that is what the eternal optimist thinks taking pride in the face that our cricket team is going gang busters, a lesser known pair together with a significant other won a grand slam and we just closed a historic year when we won 4 medals in the Olympics. Add to the list that Vishwanathan Anand won the world championship of chess and Saina made some rapid progress in badminton and there’s every heart swelling with pride.

Every time an Indian wins anything significant in the world stage, they come back to a hero’s reception. Be it the much talked out T20 celebrations that got Mumbai to a grinding halt or even the under-19 cricket champs that got an already gridlocked Bangalore to a literal freeze, we go to extremes to celebrate these wins. The story is not so different with other sports, albeit, the scale may be significantly different. That said, the celebrations are on overdrive. From State governments offering cash rewards to land and trophies being a given in a situation like this to the neighboring states suddenly waking up to say me too and throwing in a few lakhs of cash as rewards, it all happens. The “celebrity” lives life on the fast lane enjoying the newly acquired status.

While the pomp and celebrations last for a few weeks (sometimes a few months), it dies a slow death and so to, our sportsmen/women. Their rare victory invariably is a flash in the pan and we folks seem to pick the flash up like a shining beacon and make so much ado about it.

When was the last time that someone went on to repeat their so called “ feats” ? I can’t think of one in recent memory. There may be an odd exception that I am missing, but the reality is that we lack consistency when it comes to this.

A classic case is Sania Mirza. Touted as the next best thing that ever happened to Indian tennis, she broke into the top 50. We were gaga over her feat and laid out the red carpet. The sponsors queued up to have her signed; she was the face of “Lotto” and “Head”.

How can one forget the posters that donned the fuel stations of the company that she endorsed ? A couple of years down the line, if you look back at her accomplishments, you will all but draw a blank expression apart from the most recent “luck by chance” win down under. Her recent accomplishment was recognized with a felicitation ceremony by her state Chief Minister with promises of more to come! (I truly wish these are sporting accomplishments)

Is this the way the world celebrates? I pause to wonder…

I happen to be travelling at this time and came across a paper ad in the states – simple one page ad with pictures of the winners, a line detailing the feat, just so that you know, they are talking about a pair of sisters who’ve won nearly 7 grand slam titles together, a pair of brothers who have won 8 and an individual who won 7-8, I don’t recall the exact number. Wow – these are huge accomplishment by any stretch of imagination and guess what the reward is limited to? A one page color print recognition from their friends at the USTA. That is it. I was speaking to a few of my colleagues here and checked if this was indeed the case and they said, “Yes, what more do they want”? I was so glad that he didn’t ask me how we would do it back home. Lucky that I was saved of the embarrassment, I quickly started talking about the weather!

In a country of a billion people, there is a ton of potential. Being one of the world’s largest countries in terms of population, we don’t probably have the awards / medals and whatever else you have to justify being the size that we are. A quick look at neighboring China will give us a huge complex – they truly live to their size.

While there are issues plaguing the infrastructure, the so called bright ones who make it to the top need to master the art of consistency

Winning once in a light year and going over the moon celebrating it is definitely not on!

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About 10 terrorists occupied the centre stage of our national consciousness challenging us, an entire nation of 1 billion people. They shook us. Especially people in cities are insecure and baying for the blood of those who should have prevented this.

The misguided and indoctrinated youths who took on the might of the Indian State did not come to kill a few hundred people. They came with the target of weakening the spirit of India by accentuating the divides between communities, halting the wheels of progress, fueling the insecurities and fear among the people. They do not like to see a rising, prosperous India.

Till recently, none of the terror attacks managed to shake the confidence of the country. The media gave the lead, extolling the spirit of India and the country reverberated with, “We are one and none can shake our spirit.” After the recent Mumbai blasts, however, the refrain of the media is, “Enough is enough. We are disgusted with the politicians and the system.”

The entire country is echoing with, “Enough is enough, hang the politicians”. We are prone to exhibiting a herd mentality at crunch situations.

Here lies the problem. At times, we applaud the politician for playing to the galleries and whipping up passions, spitting venom and fire on people based on their caste, religious or regional roots. One day it is the season for hero worship of the politician and on another day, it is time for pelting abuses and stones at the entire lot of them.

Look how this mentality even consumed the father of the slain commando, Sandeep Unnikrishnan and led him to drive away the Chief Minister of Kerala from his home.

When an upright police officer stood up and conducted an impartial enquiry into terrorist links of some religious leaders, there were top political leaders casting aspersions on the integrity of the officer. Hardly anyone stood by the officer then.

Today, brave individuals in India are rare. We have to value and preserve upright police officers who do their jobs fairly. We have to applaud the honest, hard working politician because that again is a rarity. We have to thank the heavens for giving us a judiciary at the highest level with tremendous strength and backbone. India is alive and kicking because of people like them.

Just as a few mad young people could induce feelings of despair in the minds of people, these rare individual leaders carry the country on their shoulders and give us hope. We have to treasure them.

We tend to praise the dead, or praise them after they win acclaim in foreign lands. We follow, not lead. How I wish that we had more Indians with innate strength, people who know it is no use hero worshipping when each of us has the capacity to be heroes in our own right. Standing by what is and who is right. Till that happens, our country will go through cyclical periods of applause and abuse.

We are now dry fodder for any terrorist. They must be a happy lot. Where is the spirit of India?

I wish we made some effort to get out of the thick envelope of gloom and recriminations. Let us not allow the terrorists to steal our thunder. We have to stand tall as individuals and as a nation. And prevent them from wounding our national psyche.

It is ultimately an individual choice.

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