India Shining and I will be right there with Her!!

You know, a beautiful day when the first thing your husband who gets up much early in the morning and has read up on all the Indian/ world news online, while you celebrate your midnight dreams and now whose first precious “good morning” words to you are “India claims another medal”. And before you properly open your swollen eyes and an over enthusiastic mouth to claim the gold, he rushes to fill in the millisecond delay with the “still very awesome” Bronze. I absolutely don’t mind it. I love any kinds of metal. Metal is expensive.

Sushil kumar in free style Wresting. Thats wonderful news. And, I get even more excited and fall all over in love with India and Vijender Kumar whose existence I did not know of until his claim to the Bronze, (maybe silver God willing or Gold) in Boxing at Beijing Olympics (he has yet to win it but since he is in the the semi finals, its understood). I have a soft corner for boxers because my father was an amatuer boxer and my paternal uncle was a school champion and one time district boxing champion. He is no more with us, God bless his beautiful soul.
I am ecstatic, jumping over the moon such "macho" feats, Air rifle (gold), wrestling (bronze), Boxing (silver/bronze). I am jumping with joy (with a secondary motive of losing some pounds) before I breathin the "desi khushboo". SH goes on to inform me that we have yet another chance to win a medal with wrestler Yoginder still in action. I am now exuberant and on the ninth cloud by now.

I go into a rhetoric when SH declares that the sports that do not have much publicity hence nominal sponsorship (monetary support) are the ones that are now making the “more than a billion” Indians very proud. I trump on the oratory mode, “I don’t think the winners go into the arena thinking about money; it is always the love for the game. It is always the love and the dedication and a heavenly force that make them work hard and claim their place in history in spite of all the hurdles. Yes, some support (moral and monetary) is always welcome. But when you are in love, every adversity is just another encouraging push.


Once SH leaves for office instead of doing what I need to do I wind up online doing what I want to do- checking the medal count list on the official Olympics Games site. I read the news that Joginder lost the semi finals which would have secured him a bronze.
India right now has 1 gold, 1 bronze (wrestling in free style) Sushil Kumar. I have no words to express my elated state. I just wish I was in Beijing to witness this moment myself. I want to scream, hoot, cry and laugh loud till I go hoarse but alone in my house, I will content myself with this rampant blog post.

Right now, I am busy finishing my draft number two for the publication (but I had this OCS to run this post) and then have to pack, unpack and repack all necessities and infinite sets of gifts on both sides of the family, for the long Indian monsoon holiday rush and festival season. After a short hiatus at Singapore, I will see you in my Des.

Excited that I will watch the rest of the Olympics with the Indian perspective on Indian news networks and not just watch the American athletes on NBC.

The Indian media will give me wholesome news since they are not restricted to only Indian athletics. Somehow, I feel Indians rejoice for anyone who is good at their action/games, and overly skeptic of their own brood. Come to think, it’s a lot like how I picture my parents, super-critical of every action of mine while the next door neighbor’s kid was always better. Hmmm..

So congratulations Vijender and Sushil. Congratulations to Yoginder too (though he lost the semi finals) for bringing focus on their choice of sports and to India. For the love of the games and for our country and with the hope that our country recognizes it’s potential. Cheers to every athlete and their families who love the action and don’t see it as a stepping stone to a job securing exploit. You totally elate me. And Sushil's expression says it all.

I am glowing because India is shining all Gold, Bronze and with positive energy.

Michael Phelps the world's Best and Abhinav Bindra's Blog

This blog was supposed to be about Michael Phelps. And so I will mention him first. He is surely the best of the few we have as an inspiration and an excellent example of dream accomplishments.

I will digress a bit but still stay on the "best of" topic. On Bindra again.

I am getting into the habit of checking the daily "Blog of Note". And guess whose blog is of note today??? Abhinav Bindra.

7 posts old. Starts on 5th Aug and wins a gold on the fourth day of Olympics and will be back home soon. I sincerely hope for this Olympics blog to keep going and hope he talks about his practice, his Athens Olympics debacle and his life time dedication and finally the realization of his lifelong dream, to inspire youths about dedication and positive focus.

Here is a video clip of the award ceremony. During the Indian national anthem, I felt goosebumps and my eyes moistened. Its an awesome feeling at these proud moments. I am hoping for another medal from Paes and Bhupati duo. Tathastu.

Back to Phelps: 11 Olympic gold medals for this one extraordinary individual, the champion swimmer Michael Phelps. He too is very efficiently showing the world its first in his own way.

Till now in Beijing: 5 events, 5 gold medals, 5 world records.

Just watching him was an absolute magic. And just while watching him compete I kept thinking of the most efficient and powerful sharks and elegant quiet whale. And, I found magazine cover.

You and Me and the Bird's Nest: Olympics 2008

In my excitement I took pictures of the Television while the ceremony was going on. So here are some:


This post started the night I watched the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing but somehow got delayed and now we have the first individual Gold, the first ever for India. And suddenly the whole of India and every Indian is excited about Olympics and Sports (other than cricket and football. Yeah, hockey is long forgotten. We did not even qualify in Beijing.).
When I got the news that India won a gold I was elated, not because an Indian had won "it" The Gold atlas but a wholesome reliefe that the long due job is finally done.

More than a Billion people and not one who is worth the iron (I mean the Gold). Of coz there is. Abhinav Bindra initiated it and I am hoping more will follow. What I am worried about is the commercial and political advantages that people start thinking of. I am happy for India, Bindra and the sports fraternity to find another baby to fiddle with but I have my own apprehensions as well. Reminds me of the year when Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai brought the titles of world beauty and India was the focus of the beauty world. The whole mollycoddling that followed and all the pageants on television were obscenely troubling to me.

Thankfully, Olympics is not to be taken so lightly. It required lifetime of dedication and devotion to ones talent and art, so I am hopeful and pray the very best for the Indian sportsmenship. Bindra who, according to the newspapers, belongs to a well off family did not have to depend on the government facilities to forward his practice. But now I hope and pray the government will care for the upcoming sports prodigies of Mighty India.

Now, about the spectacular opening ceremony; it was SPECTACULAR, awe inspiring and quite intimidating. And these are not just my words but the words used by the NBC commentators. Everyone was simply stupefied by the Chinese spectacle and surely that is what their intentions were. It was an expensive display of power and superiority but whatever it was intended for the foremost intention was to be loved and appreciated and so it was. I loved it; I just can’t stop gushing at what a magnificent assortment of extravaganza it was. For some reason the only American network with the sole rights to the Olympics Games planned not to show the Live Opening ceremony. So everyone in US could only watch it 12 hrs after it took place, along with the deluge of advertisements. Still loved every bit of it.

While I write about Bindra, I want to mention Raj Bhavsar, the 27 year old Indian American Gymnast who finally made the US gymnast team this time. The US gymnast team won a bronze and I was able to catch the late night Olympics recordings and the interview of the gymnasts. I feel happy for Raj. Bhavsar makes the Indian American community proud.

Note: You and Me is the Olympics 2008 Theme song.