I was enjoying my coffee
in the cosy living room of a good old friend of mine. Having just watched the
closing ceremony of 2012 London Olympics, we marvelled at India’s best ever
medal haul; half a dozen.
The country has indeed
come a long way. There was a time decades ago, when the only medal we coveted
was the hockey gold. The rest of the events were not even in our comprehension.
What a shock it was when we lost the hockey gold in Rome in 1960! The skipper,
Leslie Claudius, a national hero, never recovered from that
mortification. Neither did I … for a while! I, a teenager those days in
my tenth standard, showed my frustration by refusing dinner. My father took me
in his arms and consoled me. When I relented and we joined my mother and sister
at the dinner table, I noticed that my father’s eyes were unusually moist.
Probably, he was consoling himself as well.
Leslie Claudius
We regained the gold in
1964 in Tokyo. The news came in through All India Radio. There was no TV those
days. I still remember the excited voice of Gurbux Singh on radio, - yeh khush
khabari Hindustan pauchh gayi hogi - The good news must have reached India. It
did indeed. The entire neighbourhood was out in the street, dancing till the
wee hours of the morning.
Then the grand downslide
started. India settled for bronze in 1968 and 1972 at Mexico and Munich. In
1976 Montreal, we drew a blank. A deceptive Gold came into the kitty in 1980
Moscow Games that was boycotted by half the world including Pakistan. We never
reached the semi-finals since then. To add insult to injury, we did not even
qualify for 2008 Beijing Olympics.
But there was a silver
lining. Leander Paes, the never-say-die tennis hero brought home a bronze from
Atlanta in 1996 to emulate his illustrious father Vece Paes, a member of the
bronze winning hockey team in Munich (1972). Karnam Malleswari weight-lifted
her way to a bronze in Sydney four years later in 2000. In 2004, when the Games
went back to it cradle in Athens; Rajyavardan Rathore returned home with a
silver in a shooting event, a first ever feat by an Indian in an individual
event. Abhnav Bindra went a step further in Beijing 2008, when he captivated
the nation by winning a gold in a rifle shooting event. He was not alone in the
medal hunt. Vijendra Singh, the boxer and Sushil Kumar, the wrestler joined him
with a bronze each.
India, divested of the
traditional game of hockey, was discovering new skills.
It was in 2012 London,
when our boys and girls came home with two silver and four bronze medals. The
national anthem played six times, an unprecedented occurrence. Sushil
Kumar bettered his performance in Beijing and won a silver. His fellow-wrestler
Yogeshwar Dutt grabbed a bronze. Saina Nehwal, the badminton queen brought home
a bronze as well. Vinay Kumar rapid fired his pistol to get a silver. But the
darling of the nation was Mary Kom, the modern Chitrangada from Manipur. A
mother of twins and from an impoverished background, she stormed her way to the
boxing semi-final. The nation watched with bated breath. She lost and broke
down and apologised for letting the country down. The nation wept with her. She
returned home like a victorious heroine. Mary Kom is now a part of India’s
sports folklore.
As my friend and I
gloated over this defining moment of India’s Olympic glory, his nephew walked
in with a couple of friends. In their early twenties, they greeted us and
smartly caught the thread of our conversation. Their response jolted us out of
our blissful gratification,-
A nation of over a
billion and only six? – questioned the nephew.
But this was the best
ever – I became defensive.
And no gold? – another
young guy retorted.
Look, things are
improving – it was my friend’s turn to explain.
Look at China, look at
Korea, look at other countries; even the tiny island of Jamaica is better than
us!
Well, they did have
their figures right. These young ones had never experienced the humiliations of
the past. They would not settle for mediocrity. They are the go-getter
generation. We realized and quietly appreciated their zest.
This is Gen Next, in a
hurry, to take the nation forward. Mary Kom and the lot belong to this
generation.
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