Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2016

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 22, No. 1 , October 2016
India in the 2016 Rio Olympics
Kollengode S Venkataraman
One Indian news item this summer that drew global attention — from
the media in Europe, North America, and even China — is why India
with its 1.2 billion population does so poorly in the quadrennial summer
Olympics. If you Google-search on this topic and read the top 10 news
stories, you will get a good idea of why it is so. There was no smirk in
these stories. They were simple, straightforward, and matter of fact. In
every social group — extended families, ethnic/caste groups, temples,
churches, corporations, hospitals, even nation-states — outsiders readily
see what is wrong that the insiders do
not see, or refuse to acknowledge, or are
embarrassed to admit.
This year, India’s medal count was
abysmal, even by Indian standards. The
total medal count in the last five Olympics,
including the 2016 at Rio are: 1,
1, 3, 6, 2 out of over 700 gold, silver
and bronze medals. Only two medals in
2016, one bronze for wrestling, and the
other, a silver, in badminton, both won
by women. Cherish the irony here, given
the macho atmosphere of the Indian
Sakshi Malik after winning her Bronze
for wrestling in the 2016 Olympics.
Look at her gleeful, joyous smile! In
the Indian context, Sakshi, like the
other winner Sindhu, is not “fair.” But
she is not just “lovely,” but gorgeous.
sports scene!
Shobha De, the ultimate gossip columnist
titillating anglicized Indians,
stirred the pot on the India Olympics
this year with the tweet, which, in translation
read, “Go to Rio, click your selfies,
and return empty-handed.” De is the mother of the phrase Bollywood she
coined in derision decades ago for the Bombay-based Hindi film industry.
Now, Bollywood is mainstream, and has given birth to Lollywood (for Lahore,
Pakistan), and Kollywood (Kodambakkam, Tamil), and Mollywood
(Malayalam), and Tollywood (Tollygunj, Bangla, and also Telugu).
She was widely berated for her comment. Among the many thoughtful
responses to De’s comment, one stood out. I regret not jotting down the
name of person. I do not have the exact words. If I can paraphrase his
comments, it went something like this:
“Why everybody is piling of the poor performance of the Indian athletes
in Rio? For all the money India spends every year and the vast
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