As far as it gets!

    There it ends!London Olympics.In a grand and glorious manner.Ending the journey of Record breaking performances,triumphs,tears,pride & joy of the 204 participated nations.And on the records front,well, the list goes on.Starting from the number of nations participated,the records just pile up.In fact,London 2012 Olympics is the most watched event in the U.S television history as per the reports at CNN Entertainment.And on the national front,India has bagged its highest ever medal count!
   If you are happy with that fact,well you may have the right to be,a little.But nothing more than that.Telling it as the highest ever medal count ,is a Mellifluous way of saying it.
   Leaving beside the history, the number of medals India has won in all the events put together is just equal to the number of Bronze medals won by Azerbaijan.Haven't you heard of the country named Azerbaijan,which is located at the border of Asia & Europe,placed a good 25 positions above India in the medal tally? Well,even I didn't! Never even read about it. Not until I came across it in the medal tally.And with a little insight from Wikipedia,my mind ends up thinking how does a country having 120 times more population than the other, end up on a less triumphant note in a competition which underlines the importance of its people as an asset .Well,isn't that the topic all the national dailies are taking their fodder from. A few articles on the main page about giving the medal-winners a hero's welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and all the talking about hell breaking lose as the 'proud' citizens of the country breaking the police barricades just to put a garland around the athletes' neck.Turn the page; and you'll find all the so called intellectual people talking about the nation not putting forward enough and sensible expectations and the medal-winning athletes not being produced in proportion to the nation's mind boggling and ever-growing population.
    Well,what do I say.Monogamy is not only a traditionally preached practice in the nation, but even the citizens abide to it, while following a sport.With no disrespect to the Nehwal's, Chhetri's, Dhyan Chand's and Anand's,India is a one sport nation. Even a 9 year old in my country would happily watch Indian Cricket team play against Bangladesh at Dhaka, rather than giving a damn for Vishwanathan Anand's outstandingly brilliant game.Well, to paraphrase Agatha Christie, It's the grey cells that's of the utmost importance & it's the grey matter that demand's the opposition's respect.In reality,it's far from it!
   That's how the scenario has become.If you randomly listen in on a conversation between two people drinking tea at a road side stall in hyd,the probability of hearing "kya baat karte ustaad,aaj sachin jaroor century marega!" in a typical Hyderabadi slang is quite high!(Its quite funny to hear it though.Damn,I miss a friend who had that slang!) To point it,that's how deep, cricket has its roots in the hearts of the citizens.Let it be the amount of money being pumped in by Corporate giants just for a 2 minute commercial involving a cricketer (or) the amount of time alloted to cricket even in a 5 minute news reading,the huge volumes of cash being splashed over our new found interest in the form of a domestic league or the prospect of the amount of fame at stake even at the expense of luck (remember Joginder sharma?), what not,everything has contributed towards the deep-rooting of cricket in India,till the extent of giving it a religious status.In Harsha Bhogle's own words,as spoken at TED Talks,"Even in a small patch of land you might find more than a dozen matches taking place,letting the fielder to wonder,to which match he actually belongs!" In short,India speaks cricket,plays cricket and lives cricket.
   Then how can we expect athletes to just go & win us a bunch of medals,when no one even cares about them for the better part of the four year period between two Olympic games. Let alone providing them with world class training facilities , the bare minimum requirements of the athletes had to come under scrutiny. Achievements need to be appreciated,funds has to be allotted,importance has to be given,Corporate sector need to find new brand ambassadors amongst them.In short India has a long way to go,to win medals in proportion with our population;provided the entire nation gives them the respect they demand but not just during the heat of the moment!Right now,this is all the athletes can achieve.This is all, the nation can expect. This, is as far as it gets.Lets just hope,the good day is not far away.Right now,on the occasion of the 66th independence day of our country,lets just bask in the glory and pride of the fact that India has achieved its best ever medal count!

P.S-I am not saying that support is not being given to our athletes.Some of them even stress the point of the amount of support they received, from government and other charitable organisations.Its just that the reach of these things is supposed to be far more better into the remote areas for encouraging and developing budding talents.How else would a wide spread disease be cured without the right dosage of medicine?

A typical Indian Wedding!

   I rested the helmet on the rear view mirror of the bike, while smiling at the waving hand at a distant sight. Even the slightest rustle of my sleeve started to catch as much attention of my thoughts, as a heavy gush of cross breeze brushing against my face would do. After all,why not,I was in that mood.The one where even the minute changes in the surroundings were being observed and registered in my brain,the work usually pertaining to the subconscious part of the mind,but at that hour,being noted at the forefront of thoughts.

  After the exchange of pleasantries with my dad's closest friend,more out of affection, and a small conversation with their family,this time more out of formality,my eyes didn't have to search for long before catching the attention of the dazzling board displaying the names of the bride and groom(Groom being my dad's friend's nephew!). One look at the brightness of this function hall;and I was thinking about the recent national blackout where more than half of the country were deprived of electricity.Wow,I muttered.

  Placed in the middle of a pack of strangers and interacting with new people,I looked out for my uncle,may be because of feeling a tad uncomfortable with others but mostly because I hardly knew anyone else other than his immediate family. Infact,this was the only concern while I was weighing options whether to attend the marriage or not. But his earnest invitation was too hard to decline. Plus,I missed attending marriages!It has been more than a year,since I attended a family gathering.It was not like I had any active interactions with anyone else there,but I just liked hanging around and noticing the minute things.A father boasting about his son's results,all the uncles discussing about matters raging from politics to sports,remarks being made about the next-in-line bachelors, an elderly person talking about marriage function during the days of Joint families,bride's and groom side introducing all their relatives to each other,the jibber jabber of the cousins meeting after a long time,the mindless ranting of siblings, echoes of laughter over a humorous one liner of the 90's...in all,a perfect place for everyone to get away from their work induced state of mind and live life!All these things,were in fact the rudimentary sights possible at weddings.The real glitter about this one was, it was love marriage!In fact, an inter caste love marriage.The kind of which,we would happily watch in a movie,which usually ends with a happy ending before the rolling titles take over their mandatory stake;letting the audience leave with a 'happily everafter' feeling inscribed on their minds.But as uncle described it later,it was a huge pain for the couple to convince their respective families.Let alone the hope of a Brahmin(of Andhra origin) groom marrying a Devagouda(of Karnatak origin) bride,their conservative parents did not even allow the prospect of it in the first place.What it took to make that prospect into reality was an outstandingly firm stand on their decision and a long convincing process.But at the end,to put it poetically, what he did was to marry the love of his life! Well,that's what every LCD Television set placed at the function hall screamed across its width!
   What followed was a long chat with uncle,which mostly included of describing my day to day schedule at Bangalore and what all I have done in the past few weeks(being fully aware of the fact that he would detail all the note-worthy events to my dad!) and an extraordinary wedding meal.Bidding everyone goodbye,I started walking towards my bike.Left in solidarity,my thoughts started to race(Thoughts,proably beyond my age).Firstly, I sweared at myself for missing out on my cousin's marriage recently ,mostly as an after thought about the amount of fun I would have had...Well,then it was all about this wedding!A typical Indian wedding,which rarely takes place in our social circle. On contrary to concepts depicted in most of the movies, the reality is that its just not about a boy meeting a girl and a happily ever after.Its a wedding where two families are united with each other, underlying the importance of our tradition and our cultural values.Well,atleast I am appreciative of the fact that our rich heritage means something to me!