"Mens sana in corpore sano" - a healthy mind in a healthy body. We all know what it means, that is we know theoretically what it mean, but our generation of Indians (or rather, the entire sub continent) has failed to understand that a healthy body is a rich possession. Probably the most important possession we have been endowed with by Nature or God whatever your choice of belief is.
On this Independence Day, I am writing this article with quite a lot of disappointment. Over the last few days as I saw Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Maya Dirado, Nathan Adrian, Simon Biles and their teams going up to the podium again and again, their faces radiant at the sound of "The Star Spangled Banner", inside I was longing for that day when I would see our tricolor rising and hear the familiar tune of my most favorite song in the world. However, to this day, even after refreshing the webpage over and over again, the medal count of India still remains zero.
I have seen the comments praising our athletes, encouraging Dipa Karmakar for her "vault of death" and consoling ourselves that our athletes have won hearts if not medals. But even before you start the competition, when a country of 1.2 billion citizens only have 120 participants, we have started to lose. When a billion people pin their hopes on one 22 year old girl, that is when we have lost.
Why is it so?
Every time I raised this question I was flooded by replies of - poverty and corruption. Yes, it is true. When an athlete can't afford one square meal how can you expect them to compete with those who have the best training and nutrition? I agree, it is sad. Perhaps, worse is the corruption which is all pervading in our government. Government officials traveled business class to Rio and the athletes came all the way cramped like sardines in a can. But that isn't the only problem. The problem starts from the society.
"Which family would want a daughter in law who can run round kicking football all day, but can't make round chapattis?"
Remember this? This is where our losses start from. A society where teenagers are encouraged to study for 12 or 14 hours before exams, where engineering entrance exam is considered more important than a kid's life, where schools don't have playgrounds and parents firmly tell boys to forget about cricket and football once they have reached 9th grade can't really set the scene for athletes to grow. And if you are a girl, then you have to jump through hoops of fire.
We are setting up generations of people who have no connection with physical activities. I am one of them as well. It took me 25 years to start hiking actively and 7 more years to learn to swim. Why? Because all the activities I wanted to do, my parents told me that as I wear glasses, I should not do it, for the fear of breaking my glasses. I wonder if the glasses were more important than a life skill or learning a new sport.
Here in the West, I am reminded of our lack of physical ability quite frequently. When we went hiking yesterday, Arnab and I were the ones who had to turn around at 7500 ft because we were going much slower than the rest of the team. The others made it to base camp at 10,000 ft, we couldn't. The hobbies we talked about while young were mainly reading, listening to music, painting or singing, at most dancing. There are many people from the cities who can't even ride a bike properly (me included). Here most kids start camping and hiking from a really early age, followed by swimming, gymnastics, skiing, snowboarding and what not. Most normal people go to the gym regularly. Women can do push-ups, they train with weights, build muscles. Things that in India are still unheard of. Yes, it is true that there are millions of unhealthy people here and obesity is almost an epidemic now, but my point is that the society encourages physical activities of every kind. When we travel, finding a hotel with a good view of the mountain range is enough for most people. To trek in the Himalayas, for which Americans and Europeans travel half the world over, is an activity hardly a handful of Indians are interested in. Olympians don't grow overnight. Like it takes the athletes years and years of discipline and practice, it also takes the society years and years of patience and right decisions.
We used to write essays on the benefits of sports. Our teachers and parents probably would have done better for us if they understood those benefits themselves.
So the next time you share that picture of Dipa Karmakar glorifying that you watched gymnastics for the first time in your life because of her, remember that you are part of the reason she couldn't bring a medal back. If you watched gymnastics for the first time in 2016 only because she could make it all the way there, there is no wonder that your generation failed to produce any gymnasts. Dipa Karmakar apologized to the Nation for disappointing us, I think we are the ones who should apologize to the athletes for failing to provide a proper platform for them.
On this Independence Day, I am writing this article with quite a lot of disappointment. Over the last few days as I saw Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Maya Dirado, Nathan Adrian, Simon Biles and their teams going up to the podium again and again, their faces radiant at the sound of "The Star Spangled Banner", inside I was longing for that day when I would see our tricolor rising and hear the familiar tune of my most favorite song in the world. However, to this day, even after refreshing the webpage over and over again, the medal count of India still remains zero.
I have seen the comments praising our athletes, encouraging Dipa Karmakar for her "vault of death" and consoling ourselves that our athletes have won hearts if not medals. But even before you start the competition, when a country of 1.2 billion citizens only have 120 participants, we have started to lose. When a billion people pin their hopes on one 22 year old girl, that is when we have lost.
Why is it so?
Every time I raised this question I was flooded by replies of - poverty and corruption. Yes, it is true. When an athlete can't afford one square meal how can you expect them to compete with those who have the best training and nutrition? I agree, it is sad. Perhaps, worse is the corruption which is all pervading in our government. Government officials traveled business class to Rio and the athletes came all the way cramped like sardines in a can. But that isn't the only problem. The problem starts from the society.
"Which family would want a daughter in law who can run round kicking football all day, but can't make round chapattis?"
Remember this? This is where our losses start from. A society where teenagers are encouraged to study for 12 or 14 hours before exams, where engineering entrance exam is considered more important than a kid's life, where schools don't have playgrounds and parents firmly tell boys to forget about cricket and football once they have reached 9th grade can't really set the scene for athletes to grow. And if you are a girl, then you have to jump through hoops of fire.
We are setting up generations of people who have no connection with physical activities. I am one of them as well. It took me 25 years to start hiking actively and 7 more years to learn to swim. Why? Because all the activities I wanted to do, my parents told me that as I wear glasses, I should not do it, for the fear of breaking my glasses. I wonder if the glasses were more important than a life skill or learning a new sport.
Here in the West, I am reminded of our lack of physical ability quite frequently. When we went hiking yesterday, Arnab and I were the ones who had to turn around at 7500 ft because we were going much slower than the rest of the team. The others made it to base camp at 10,000 ft, we couldn't. The hobbies we talked about while young were mainly reading, listening to music, painting or singing, at most dancing. There are many people from the cities who can't even ride a bike properly (me included). Here most kids start camping and hiking from a really early age, followed by swimming, gymnastics, skiing, snowboarding and what not. Most normal people go to the gym regularly. Women can do push-ups, they train with weights, build muscles. Things that in India are still unheard of. Yes, it is true that there are millions of unhealthy people here and obesity is almost an epidemic now, but my point is that the society encourages physical activities of every kind. When we travel, finding a hotel with a good view of the mountain range is enough for most people. To trek in the Himalayas, for which Americans and Europeans travel half the world over, is an activity hardly a handful of Indians are interested in. Olympians don't grow overnight. Like it takes the athletes years and years of discipline and practice, it also takes the society years and years of patience and right decisions.
We used to write essays on the benefits of sports. Our teachers and parents probably would have done better for us if they understood those benefits themselves.
So the next time you share that picture of Dipa Karmakar glorifying that you watched gymnastics for the first time in your life because of her, remember that you are part of the reason she couldn't bring a medal back. If you watched gymnastics for the first time in 2016 only because she could make it all the way there, there is no wonder that your generation failed to produce any gymnasts. Dipa Karmakar apologized to the Nation for disappointing us, I think we are the ones who should apologize to the athletes for failing to provide a proper platform for them.
1 comment:
Absolutely and completely true.
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