Spoken words

On the same day that the Sensex crossed 20000 points, the news comes of stinky toilets and dog feaces at the Commonwealth Games preparation in Delhi. Apparently the facilities are "unlivable", which is in complete contrast to the "world class" standards that we were made to believe. On one hand we see a bright and proud shining India where foreign money is pouring in, and on the other we have a case of us failing miserably to organize a decent world class event. Are we so incompetent to be incapable of handling something like this? Are Indians, who are at the top of the game all around the world, not worthy enough to build decent facilities for the Games, let alone win some of them. I can understand up to a certain degree the need for politicians, bureaucrats and contractors to pocket a few crores (conservative estimate) for their personal expenses, but is it fair to put the nation's prestige at stake? Is it really worth it? It might as well have been better...

Its probably not often that India gets to host large international sporting events of this magnitude. And it does not even involve cricket. So I guess the Commonwealth games is a huge occasion for India. Probably a great opportunity to announce its arrival on to the major sporting stage. To show the world that we are more than a nation of businessmen and IT geeks.Ah well... at least that was the dream. I bet the Chinese are just waiting for us to fail and embarrass ourselves here, and they didn't even have to move a finger. We got this great opportunity to show that we can do it "bigger" and "better", and we are very close to flushing it straight down the toilet. To begin with the screw-ups, I don't really know if all the facilities would be ready on time. That given a time of nearly 7 years to prepare, is a rather pitiful accomplishment. Of course at every stage, regular assurances were given that things were right on track. I guess the officials took it ...

Yes, that is the final medal count of India. None more can be hoped or wished for. Its definitely a lot better than what most of us expected out of this event. Seriously, how many would expected such a result...?? Our aspirations definitely did go up and down during the course of the tournament. We began to expect a possible Gold from every Indian, after a medal was won from a formerly invisible Indian sportsman...! A country of ONE Billion population just managing 3 medals, speaks a lot about us as a sporting nation. But taking nothing away from those chosen few - Abhinav , Sushil and Vijender , who saved us from major blushes, i believe the country should have done a lot lot better. When i see small countries like Jamaica* ( 6G 3S 2B ) whose population is probably just half of that of Chennai**, i cant help but think whats wrong with us? They had such an authority over a particular event that the whole world was amazed. Winning is one thing, but resetting the bar of success is ...

It seems my prayers as well as of the prayers of the one billion population has finally been answered. We have finally a reason to celebrate a sportsman, and that reason is not cricket. An incredible win at the 10m Air Rifle event and it must have taken more than mere prayers for Abhinav Bindra to achieve this. India finally clinches an Olympic gold after 28 years and its first ever in an individual event . Really it came as a pleasant surprise when i happened to see the news on television. At a time when everyone least expected, we have made it to the medals tally on the just the 3rd day of the games...!! For those of you who missed it, here is the points table of the finals of the 10m Air Rifle event. And see how close the competition was...!! Amazing..! 1. Abhinav Bindra (India) 700.5 2. Zhu Qinan (China) 699.7 3. Henri Hakkinen (Finland) 699.4 4. Alin George Moldoveanu (Romania) 698.9 5. Konstantin Prikhodtchenko (Russia) 698.4 6. Peter Sidi (Hungary) 698.4 7. Stevan Pletikosic ...

That is the motto chosen by China for this edition of the Olympics...! And what a truly spectacular opening ceremony the Chinese put up..! Their years of tradition and culture reflecting in their efforts. The whole world was awed by the way they set off one of the most awaited sporting festival of the year...!! The effects, stunts and the fireworks were some of the most incredible stuff that I had ever seen. It was a sign of what they are capable of. It was a sign of even more breathtaking performance by the Chinese athletes...! Fielding one of the largest contingent, they are determined to prove a point to the world...!! They are here to show that they can beat the world, the best of the best. Watch out world : Here come China...!!! It must have been truly spectacular moment for each of the 10,500 athlete to be present in the middle of such fan fare. Being watched by 100,000 at the National Stadium and billions through their TV sets. They were the central focus, and not the world lea...

Just ONE more day for the Olympics - one of the greatest sporting event of the world. To bring glory in Olympics is one of the highest honor that a sportsman or sportswoman can achieve for his/her country. For most of them at least, sports is the only cause for existence. Their commitments and their country's support ensures that they succeed in their attempts. When the right amount of passion is put in to it, scooping a bucketful of medals comes as no surprise. When most big countries eagerly await their countries to top the list, we wait for ours to at least come up on the list.... Anyway, for us Indians, as usual its time just to pray for at least ONE or TWO medals. Even a bronze will do. We will make them a hero, give them a couple of awards, a good government house and job ( unless they already have all that ) and a few days of fame. End of story. And then what? Soon the Olympian will be lost from the memories ( like many have ), till some news comes up that he/she is de...

As expected the debates and the blame game is on. Indian cricket is being analysed and dissected by experts, the cricket board, former players, the shop keeper down the street, the milk man, the bike mechanic, my neighbours and almost everybody ( Not my mom though. She hates the whole game.). Everybody who has a mouth has an opinion. Who is to be blamed for the poor show at the World Cup? One or all? What changes should be done in the team? Should X quit and should Y be the captain? Many questions to answer and every one ready with one. Quite surprisingly Greg Chappell had a very neat answer. He had a lot to say regarding the pathetic performance.Chappell had claimed a lot during his unabated bashing of senior Indian players a couple of days. For one thing he blamed the Indian seniors for poor sportsmanship. He said that the seniors operate like the "mafia" . He also claimed that "They hammer and abuse them because they feel threatened by the junior players and don'...

As far as I know, it was India's most terrible performance ever in the World Cup(I was not born when it supposedly happened the last time, so i can't be a judge of that). The Indian team has certainly shocked the enti re nation with their pathetic performance. It was unbelievable the way they went down so meekly against their opponents. Even against average opponents like Bangladesh, their loss was very disgraceful. No one expected them to be beaten by teams of such caliber. It really is very embarrassing when something like this happens. Seriously, the only team that they were able to beat since the tournament began was Bermuda - a team composed of part time players and weekend cricketers. When it came to playing against professional players we had our backs against the wall, waiting for the trigger to be pressed and our heads blown off. India was considered to be one of the strong contenders for the world cup. The reality was quite the opposite. Not even being able to make it...