India and the Olympics !!

What a lovely sight to see the Olympic opening ceremony last evening . We were simply glued to the TV and made me go late to my clinic. In the afternoon I was on the link of Olympics on the Yahoo taskbar and had gone through the teams participating . The photos are from that link.I browsed through a few , out of curiosity ,and was ' impressed ', as usual , to see only 52 from India --as against over 600 from USA and China --and the figures go on .
The events had not yet started , the account of the medal tally of all countries was yet to open and what do you find in the 'Breaking News of a News Channel ??? Can India host an Olympic !!!!

If I am not mistaken , at all Olympics and after that there are debates going on only about this topic and no one is serious about what should be done in future to improve the sports in India . India is good at organizing , as lot of money is at stake and to be made by a few ---how successful were we at corrupting the world of cricket.
Everyone knows where we lack but we are so much steeped in murky politics based on caste wars , religion , regionalism , saving governments by the 'number games ' , corruption , sting operations , ' secularisms ' a term used by parties for themselves and not the people , burning trains and buses , bandhs , and many more --lost out on the count--- that we are not allowing the country to move forward .

If our team is analyzed , we find most of them qualify on their own efforts and not due to some long term Government policy as is prevalent in many countries . I am reminded of the schools taking credit for meritorious results --- it is the private tuition classes and sheer effort of the students that take the students to the top and not the insignificant contribution of most schools and their mediocre teachers .

See the efforts of R Rathod to win the silver medal last time --was it because of some long term investment of the Government ? The sports bodies have to be reorganised and made answerable .Politicians should move out and professional business house should run the show using Government funds .They should be made answerable to the people of India of their plans and selection criteria .

Today afternoon the Olympic telecast was interrupted to show an interview with Mr. Kalmadi .I switched off the channel , just on seeing the disgusting ' pan stained ' face of Mr.S Kalmadi who ,I presume , runs the Olympic and other sport show in India. It is the sincere wish of any proud Indian to see a larger contingent from here and a few medals in the kitty instead of the news of ' failure to qualify for further rounds ' on day one of the event.

Does someone have suggestions that will drive a political will to formulate a long term plan for at least the 2016 Olympics . My suggestion is to let the Chinese come here and run the show on a Build--Operate--Transfer terms . God save us !!!

Bullet proof Poo--see

A photo from the Indian Express dated 31st July . A Hindi translation of our North East Frontier Railway . Must be meaning in Hindi 'Poorva [ Poo ] Seema [ See ]

The Chef

Do you smell the heavenly aroma of Besan being roasted for Besan ladoos ? It is there right now in my house and the chef is Shami's mother . She is seen here perched on the kitchen platform roasting the besan --a long and tedious process . She doesn't know that I have clicked her -- I used my mobile and not my camera as it would have given me away . Who would believe that she is 83 years old , just out from a cataract operation and undergoing dental treatment . She has undergone hip replacement twice in the last 10 years and a few years back an angioplasty . She does gives us a lot of inspiration . We have decided to show her the photo later on when it is published .

Please Retire Gracefully

Oh !! What a cricket match at Sri Lanka .After the pathetic display in the first test I had hoped for some great display by the oldie goldies who are still holding on to better someones record and in that process destroy some young talent . Just checked on the live score on rediff and what a misery to read the scorecard 201 not out by Sehwag from a score of 329 all out . Thank goodness the most unpredictable man clicked today !!

Oh !! come on now !! Rahul , Sachin , Saurav ,Laxman , Anil do consider quitting seriously . We have enjoyed your games and basked in your glorious successes over the past decade or more . I am lost for words now .

I don't know how to end this post !! Misery !!!