Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Gold medal 1 and counting...

By now the whole world knows that India has, at last, won the very first ever gold medal in the Olympics, thanks to Abhinav Bindra. Hats off to the guy for all the hard work and to his parents for supporting him to achieve this goal! It's fantastic news. Congratulations to Abhinav & India.

While the billion plus of us Indians are getting joyful with tears in our eyes and celebrating this achievement, some of us also feel helpless, shameful, angry, upset, ... (list continues) for not being able to make it to the top ten list despite being the second largest populated country in the world.

Question is: Why do we feel the need to show off without putting any efforts? I'm not talking about the people who've already made it there and are participating... they have actually worked very hard to get there and they should be very proud of that. I'm talking about the kind who sit in front of TV, make wisecracks about others but refuse to move their rears. When will these people learn? Don't they realize that what sowed is what will be reaped? And if nothing is sowed, there won't be anything to reap. And when they are argued with, they blame the country and everyone else but themselves. Why is it like that?

Another thing I couldn't help notice is that Mr. Bindra comes from an extremely rich family and has studied in the USA. Why does it take a freaking rich father to achieve something so grand? I do not think India has anything to be ashamed of with the fact that this was the first and only gold medal. The progress by Indians have been made in so many significant and variety of fields and it's only growing strong by leaps and bounds. Olympics is not the end of the world. And for those of us who feel it is, are we putting in enough effort for it? I highly doubt it. It is true that we are learning from our mistakes and avoiding the ones we are aware of. We are also learning from observing others and the creative minds and hard work are helping take things to next level. While all of this progress is going on constantly, there are challenges, higher than the highest mountains we have ever seen. Challenges to earn the daily basic needs for us, for people around us. Challenges that keep us from moving further in our paths. We will only be able to continue this if we have good support in every area of the society starting from the lowest level to the top most. The awareness needs to be created at every single level. The carelessness would need to go away gradually and it is possible. When everyone's needs are fulfilled and they feel satisfied with what they are receiving, and they know they are deserving, they will get more motivated to do more of what they're good at. Parents need to start encouraging their talented children to master the areas they have an aptitude for. Sports and other extra-curricular activities are not something derogatory and something that replaces education. These two can coexist and progress can be made. These changes need to start from ourselves and then move to people around us. May India and Indians keep progressing in all fields and God give us courage and strength to change with time.

Jai Hind!

No comments: