Desicritics Category: Sports: Olympics

Could India Host an Impressive Olympics?

mbjesq — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:33:43 EDT

India and China. China and India.

Whenever discussion turns to the New World Order, these neighboring giants are always mentioned in the same breath as the up-and-comers. I understand the arguments, but remain deeply skeptical about the prospects for both countries, though for vastly different reasons.

With the Beijing 2008 Olympics drawing to a close, one must concede that China has managed to pull off a fabulously successful advertisement for itself, even though its ugly authoritarianism and environmental shamefulness remained on plain view throughout. So the question nags: Could India hold an Olympics that would flatter, rather than embarrass the nation? I, for one, seriously doubt it.

The Olympics requires the host nation to provide three basic elements: infrastructure, architecture, pageantry. This is no mean feat; just ask the organizers of Athens 2004 and Atlanta 1996. Greece failed in two of the three, just managing to save face, largely as a result of the world’s extremely low expectations. The United States failed across the board.

Infrastructure development takes vision and planning – not areas in which India has distinguished itself. Delhi is the only metro in the country which appears to spend on infrastructure in anything but an ad hoc, purely corruption-driven way – not that Delhi’s version of forethought has made it even remotely the world-class city it purports to be. Sure, it is difficult to remake old cities – although that is, essentially, what Beijing has done – but even its built-from-scratch, nouveaux riches commercial neighbor, Gurgaon, is an almost perfect study in tastelessness and dysfunction.

One of India’s most challenging infrastructural problems, from an international public relations point of view, would be to develop habits and systems of internationally acceptable public hygiene. I suspect that most first-time visitors to India will be under-impressed by the filth and noise of their surroundings, and the television cameras will have a difficult time avoiding the blight of omnipresent garbage, which flows through the streets of India the way water flows in riverbanks.

Perhaps India, like Greece, might shine in the spectacle, even if they would fail in the organizational aspects of building proper infrastructure to host the athletes and visitors in style and comfort. From classical dance to Bollywood, India shines in artistic performance. But would this kind of close-up oriented presentation captivate the world when executed on the scale of an Opening Ceremonies? Perhaps not. Have you ever attended a major pop concert in India (or involving India performers traveling abroad, for that matter)? They are unwatchably cheesy. A.R. Rahman may write world-class music, and Adnan Sami and Asha Bholse may be stars of Indian popular song, but their live concerts are hideously amateurish affairs. They are often accompanied by filmy dancing which, though so attractive on the screen, comes off as a bad joke when the scale of the movements are dwarfed by the live venue.

Architecture is an extremely important element in the Olympic mix if, as with China, the aim is to establish one’s prestige and announce one’s global intentions. It expresses a country’s ambition, accomplishment, sense of style, sophistication, and ability to produce tangible outcomes suited to a major occasion. Most of the world sees the host nation only via satellite feed, and images of the Olympic venues are the ubiquitous “context-establishing shots” which begin the coverage of almost every event. A country can do no better advertising for itself when hosting an Olympics than provide monumental, attractive architecture. This has certainly been a key part of China’s strategy – and it has worked.

China commissioned outrageously wonderful buildings from teams of architects and landscape architects from Switzerland, Australia, France, Germany, the U.K., and China. The superb “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, the “Water Cube” National Swimming Center, and Olympic Forest Park are the glamorous face of a spectacular Olympics. The subsidiary venue structures each have a degree of architectural merit, even if they are not as jaw-droopingly innovative as the main sites, and the 1,600 unit Athlete’s Village has received LEED “gold” certification for its sustainable construction techniques and energy efficiency. In addition, Beijing has undertaken an impressive array of non-competition-hosting buildings as part of its Olympic face lift, including a spectacular National Theater, a Digital Media Center, a Convention Center, and television network complex.

Now consider India, which has hardly built a worthy piece of major architecture since Independence – I can think of only two possible candidates, one of which was designed by a Canadian, the other by a Frenchman. A couple years ago, a friend sent me this idiotic Business Week slide presentation, touting the greatness of contemporary Indian architecture. I sent him back a note congratulating him on the excellent joke. Awkwardly, it turned out not to be a joke, but an earnest (if blinkered) piece of jingoistic bragging.

Are there great Indian architects working today? Surely there must be. But what are they building? And would insular, foreigner-resenting India consider commissioning high-profile Olympic buildings from international architects? Never. Indian national pride would never allow it to do what even xenophobic China was able to do – what the entire rest of the world does: commission world class architecture from throughout the world.

Then there is the little problem of paying for the infrastructure and new architecture. After the politicians and bureaucrats have siphoned-off their monumental bribes and contractors have been selected on the basis of kick-backs rather than ability, will the bid-winners have sufficient talent and remaining resources to deliver quality buildings, on time? There is certainly plenty of past experience on which to hazard a prediction.

I have tremendous affection for India, and a like degree of antipathy for China. But there is no question which country has announced its presence on the world stage with panache and which can never hope to do so. “I love my India” as much as the next guy, but not because it has a prayer of achieving greatness in my lifetime.

India Wins Wrestling Bronze in Beijing Olympics

sufferingsocrates — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:30:50 EDT

How often does one get to see such a sports headline (courtesy CNN IBN) in India, without any cricket news? Look on the side for the cricket match which is going on at the same time. Well, for once, the whole of India is looking up and noticing and more importantly following the other sports India is faring well in, and that too at the International level. First hailing Abhinav Bindra and now, wrestler Sushil Kumar who won bronze in the 66kg category a short while back.

The newspapers, too, have cricket in the last page, even though India is fighting out in Sri Lanka. The Olympics has taken centre stage (as it well should) over cricket and this is the opportune moment for SAI and other Indian sporting organizations to join hands and build the momentum for a gold winning India. India is supremely talented in the craftsman like sports and the agile ones. This is where the focus should be on. To build on the laurels, to reward accomplishments of these sportsmen and encourage the common Indian, that Sports is a well rewarding profession.

As for cricket, one need not say much, since any cricketer joining IPL makes enough money for many years. Besides, one other reason why India's Sri Lanka tour is not being followed or given as much importance could be due to the lack of excitement in the 50 over format. So, even a debacle in the first ODI did not get much of a chiding from various quarters, while expectations were running sky high for Akhil Kumar.

Could this be the turning point in India's sporting chapter? Will there be encouragement to take up sports such as Shuttle Badminton, Table Tennis, Wrestling, Boxing, Shooting, Archery where India is emerging as a real force to reckon with ? Undoubtedly, with 2 medals in this year's Olympics, India has things going well, and should make sure that the Commonwealth Games in 2010 is given prominence in terms of media coverage and importance than the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The moment is RIGHT NOW ! Can India grab it? We shall see the results in the Commonwealth Games!

Sporting Bindra, Unsporting India

Kartikeya — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:41:12 EDT

Abhinav Bindra gave an interview after his winning effort at the Beijing Olympics, in which he basically underlined the fact that the Olympic medal was just one moment in his life, and that in his sport, the difference between winning and losing is so miniscule, that some luck is inevitable to success.

I think it is an important and non-trivial distinction between wanting to be better at something relentlessly, and wanting to be an Olympic champion. The former is an aspiration, the latter is a reward.

The overwhelming narrative about Abhinav Bindra has focused on his ambition and his success against the odds (tremors, a tampered gun). This narrative misses the point and in constructing a bollywoodesque hero myth, does Bindra serious injustice.

The whole point of Abhinav Bindra's success, as revealed in his interview, is that he wants to be the best shooter that he can be - that he's obsessively interested in training and working hard, enjoys the tough training regimens and has basically committed his life to his sport. The Olympic Medal or the World Championship Medal (both of which he has won now) are merely the biggest prizes on the way.

This is not unique to Bindra.

There is a difference between focusing on a given contest when it is at hand and bringing the entire might of one's powers to it, and aiming for it obsessively — coveting the prize. The point of being a sportsman is not being an Olympic champion. The point is to be the best sportsman you can be. Because we don't seem to understand that, we are unable to respect those athletes who have qualified for the Olympics but may not come away with podium finishes.

I have read more than one news article in the last couple of days which says something to the effect that "Indian athletes have a habit of not performing when it matters". That is not only rude, it is also hopelessly misguided.

There is a whole other aspect of this issue which has been written about ad nauseum, and Dileep Premachandran has this version of it. It refers to unprofessionally run Sports Associations which makes a complete pigs breakfast of managing and helping athletes compete at the international level.That is a bureaucratic problem, and as such is not too difficult to solve.

What is far more important, as Rajaraman points out, is our view of sport and sporting ambition. Cricketers who wake up in the morning in distant suburbs in Bombay and make their way to dawn training sessions on the maidans in town don't do it thinking about playing for India at every stage. They do it because they love playing the sport.

What does this mean? It means that there is inherent value associated with participating in sport — serious, organized sport — that contributes to the sport as well as to the sportsman. School cricket is competitive in Bombay and children who are serious about cricket move to better cricket schools, in order to pursue better cricket. A very famous cricketer once moved from IES English in Bandra to Shardashram Vidyamandir in Dadar in the mid-eighties, so that he would be able to play cricket. A illustrious friend of his travelled 50 kilometers a day to study at the same school so that he could play good cricket as well. Both went on the perform well for Bombay and India.

They did this not because they were driven by the ambition to play for India, but because they were interested more immediately in playing cricket, and in being as good at it as they could be.

Gold and Cash

We have to stop this medieval, feudal practice of showering winners with gold and cash, for it reveals a very poor attitude towards the sport.

All these agencies, which have been falling over each other to announce cash awards to Bindra (these awards range from the absurd to the downright silly), should stop and think about the other Indian athletes at the Olympics. Instead of giving the money to Bindra, they ought to contribute it to a corpus of some sort which athletes can dip into if they want to go somewhere to train or buy expensive equipment.

Bindra's Wikipedia page provides a summary of the awards he has won:

"Bindra was rewarded by various Indian state governments and private organizations for his achievements. These include the state governments of Punjab - Rs 10 million (approx. US $250,000), Harayana - Rs 2.5 million, Maharashtra - Rs 1 million, Karnataka - Rs 1 million, Tamil Nadu - Rs 0.5 million, Madhya Pradesh - Rs 0.5 million and Chattisgarh - Rs 0.5 million."

The Wikipedia page also highlights free life-long railway and airline passes from Indian Railways and Spicejet Airways, respectively.

The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh have absolutely no connection with Bindra. Neither does Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan has, in fact, gone one step further, by drawing attention to his silly World Tour in the process.

Everyone wants a piece of Bindra right now. Nobody really cares about the other Indian athletes at the Olympics, neither is anyone really interested in the sport that Bindra competes in. I'm pretty sure that none of the luminaries in question will be able to write or speak one coherent paragraph about the sport of shooting.

Misguided Souls

In short, nobody really cares about sport. Everybody cares about the winner. In doing so, they contribute nothing to the sport - indeed they undermine it at every turn. They are no different from those misguided souls who burnt effigies of Indian cricketers after the world cup. To them, as to those vandals, sport is merely a site of prestige - it has nothing to do with joy or skill or excellence.

The bureaucracy, associations, etc. etc. are all secondary issues. There is a reason why cricket is a thriving sport in India - because it is played on the streets, by middle-class kids with proper bats and balls, and by poor kids with makeshift stumps and handmade balls. Because interest in cricket goes above and beyond India winning or losing. Because Ranji Trophy cricketers can make a living playing domestic cricket in India today. In such an atmosphere, it was a matter of time before India's bare fast-bowling cupboard filled up.

The BCCI manages cricket quite well, but cricket thrives in India because it thrives in communities. That's where other sports have to gain a footing. Otherwise, all we will have is parasites like Amitabh Bachchan clinging on to Abhinav Bindra's gold medal-wearing back.

In a Land of a Billion

Blokesablogin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:05:54 EDT

My husband decided to celebrate my birthday in a most "un-Indian" fashion. The usual visit to the temple followed by an Indian restaurant high-calorie dinner was substituted by a crazy trip down the American River in a yellow raft! We went white water rafting for the first time! Response from family and friends ranged from incredulity to happiness. A few wanted to know what it was like.

This foray into an adventurous life broke new grounds (waters?) in our family traditions. I could well imagine the experience of Lewis and Clark as they went on an expedition to chart a way to reach the Pacific across the continental US.

I wondered what made the average Indian who comes to the US, adventurous as a student but who morphs into this staid, serious, married professional preferring to reduce the risk factors in life. This train of thought led me to the current status of few competitive Indians at the Olympics.

Sports, by definition, demands taking risks. Until the very end, we can never be too sure who will win. Of course, if the film Jannat is to be believed, cricket matches are mostly fixed and the underworld money speaks in above-the-board activities of the sport. Hence the huge financial support for that game in our country. Given the connection between Bollywood, cricket and moolah, it can well be believed.

For the most part, life in India is a matter of survival for many. Necessity forces skills onto her populace. These skills are not for excelling. They are meant for survival. Be it at the work place or school or leisure, skills are mainly honed more for what purpose they would serve for our survival rather than being "moved by passion" to excel in a certain field. Skills with innate talent is only half the way towards achievement.

Hand in hand with skills go strategy. Here is where we miss out on taking a shot at international contests such as the Olympics. As a nation and as an individual we fair very poorly in this. Be it working towards clearing the 10th grade exam to getting into a 'good" job, very few use strategy. Most slog it out. Strategy is where America leads the way. It is systemic and highly developed into an art form.

If you look at the way the athletes are trained in America, it is in strategy as much as in skill. The Chinese excel for the same reason. Strategy ensures that it is reproducible. We had a P T Usha who "almost" missed the bronze in the '84 Olympics. But we never systematically trained people to achieve and improve upon her performance. Of course the highly bureaucratic process of gaining government sponsorship makes up for all the "strategizing" on the athlete's part, leaving very little for the sport.

At a more subtle level, there is much we need to work with our self image. We are very good critics. We are poor "newsmakers". Some of the best opinion pieces and editorials are written in the Indian press. Very little original work comes out of it. In the US, the publishing industry thrives on original work. People care two hoots for "others' opinions". This deep rooted sense of self worth manifests in the sports arena.

The ultimate "winner" is one who knows his skill is matched with strategy. Gone are the days of the "innocent" Olympians who were amateurs. Professionals have entered the arena enforcing higher standards of strategic excellence. It is time to create a strategic plan to get our talent "showcased". The greatest edge India can have over the rest would be the dispassion as demonstrated by Abhinav Bhindra. That attitude coupled with the rest will ensure a gold mine of medals.

Abhinav Bindra Wins Gold Medal At The Olympics

sufferingsocrates — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:41:44 EDT

In news which just came in, Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual gold medal at the ongoing Beijing Olympics. The world could say, a first after a century of Olympics ? Nothing to harp about. But for a country, starved of sporting heroes aside of cricket players, which is not even an Olympic event, this is indeed a welcome change. Come to think of it, in Athens 2004, India won its first ever Silver medal through Rajyavardhan Rathore who also featured on Times Magazine's top 100 athletes to watch at this Olympics. And in 2008 India has gone one better.

India needs to shake off it's days of orthodoxy in the field of studies and expand its horizon of fields. There is no dearth of talent in the country of billions. It is a matter of a mental makeover. But, this cannot start without the support of the Sports Authority of India (SAI). With medals at any event, there needs to be a need for greed, to win more, AND more.

SAI needs to take good care of its medal winners, be it at Olympics or at Commonwealth or the Asiad, monetarily and by recognition to encourage sports in the country. A normal middle class family would want to see monetary rewards in their children's sporting honours, to encourage them to participate further. It is encouraging to note Geeth Sethi ,Prakash Padukone, Lakshmi Mittal coming forward to sponsor players, who are genuinely talented and encouraging them.

The best part about today's media is just this. The recognition (sometimes unduly necessitated) that they give to performers and hopefuls is certainly a welcome change, and can only help in India projecting itself as a Sporting nation too. Cricket may earn millions, but unless other sports, which are part of the Olympics are given due importance and recognition, Abhinav Bindras maybe far and few in between.

Beijing Olympics - Indians and Desis Missing in Action

commonsense — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:10:08 EDT

With the Beijing Olympics well under way, we are yet again bombarded with the usual myth-making machines in overdrive. The biggest myth of course is that these games are actually about sports not business. None of us is stupid enough to understand this simple point. However, the irritating advertisement blitz notwithstanding, it is a lot of fun to watch the games. For sure it gets my goat when the TV screen is constantly bombarded by the alleged “official product car/paint/drink/condom of the Games” etc. And when the hypocritical so-called “world leaders” make the usual noises patronizing noise about China’s “behaviour” vis-à-vis human rights while simultaneously signing up as many business deals as they can.

When some gold-medalists will test positive for doping, as surely they will, there will be the usual breast-beating about cheating and lack of integrity, as if other spheres of our global existence are beacons of the same. And of course, there will be the usual commentaries on the crass commercialization of the games. As if sophisticated commercialism or consumerism might be any better.

Back home in desi-land, the usual question, raised every four years, will be prominent once again. What exactly explains the spectacular absence of desis from this mega global display? Why are they always missing in action, when it comes to the Olympics? What are the best possible explanations? The usual suspects will wax eloquent about the alleged fact that desis are a cerebral lot and couldn’t care less about such trivial corporeal pursuits. Some will contend that only those who are supremely lacking in confidence really need to shamelessly strut their stuff for the world stage. The Ministry of youth affairs and sports in India and their equivalent in other South Asian nations will be blamed. They in turn will perhaps blame corruption that allows our athletes and officials to treat the Olympics like a free foreign junket, a shopping spree that might be otherwise beyond financial reach. Some will argue that we need not waste our precious resources on such trivia as sports. Others will point out that since we are apparently already on our way to becoming a superpower, who cares if over a billion people are conspicuous by their absence, not just on the medals tally, but in most of the events too. Not even the proverbial “also rans.”

It is difficult to pick a specific cause or determine what are the plausible explanations for this puzzling situation. Perhaps it is not at all a big deal after all. Any plausible, tentative explanations for this state of affairs?

Protests and Sport

Kartikeya — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:56:26 EDT

Major sporting occasions are high visibility showcases, and naturally invite attention from most interested agencies. International sport has always been fertile ground for political protest and dissent from Jesse Owens in 1936, to the Black Power salutes in the Mexico Olympics of 1968, to the current protests in cities around the world in support of Tibet in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

International Cricket has had its share of protests. India playing Cricket with Pakistan has always been a touchy political issue, both from the point of view of refraining from playing, and from the point of view of using a series as a political statement (the Friendship Series in 2004). Australia and the West Indies did not play in Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup, for security reasons. A combined team from India and Pakistan played an exhibition ODI against Arjuna Ranatunga's Sri Lankans in response to this. This was at the time when India and Pakistan were not playing bilateral series. The selection of Basil D'Oliviera in the MCC touring party for the Test tour of South Africa in the late 1960's caused the series to the cancelled after the South African government protested D'Oliviera's inclusion. This came to be known as the D'Oliviera Affair and led to South Africa being banned by the ICC until 1992.

The issues are many, and in the significantly less urgent, and less critical arena of popular sentiment, the question invariably seems to be - should politics and sport mix? Colin Cowdrey for example, writing about the D'Oliviera Affair in his autobiography, took the view that they were simply trying to play cricket, and that politics and sport ought not to have been mixed. Many have taken the view in the recent China-Tibet issue, that once the Olympics had been awarded to Beijing, it is incumbent upon the rest of the world to help China make it a success and not let it be disrupted. Richard Gere, Hollywood superstar turned activist, makes the counter argument succinctly. He suggests that the Olympics are China's opportunity to showcase their society and their country, and while the violent clampdown continues in Tibet they ought not to be allowed to produce their show unmolested.

Nasser Hussein wrote feelingly about the Zimbabwe controversy during the 2003 World Cup in his autobiography. In his view, at the time, there was a clear distinction between the British Government making a firm decision that the English team would not play in Zimbabwe, and the British Government merely suggesting that the English team not play in Zimbabwe, and leave the burden of the actual decision on the ECB. What actually happened was the latter with the result that Hussein's England were left in the lurch and lost valuable points through their Zimbabwe boycott.

Clearly, this is a complex issue, and as with most significant, charged issues, emotions run high. I remember being very upset that India's cricketers were being used for public relations purposes by the Indian Government in the hastily arranged 2004 tour to Pakistan - the so called Friendship series. But then again, why should they not be used for public relations purposes? This, as i think about it now, is not as clear cut as it once was. Public protest, as has been the case with the Tibet protests, adds another dimension to the whole thing.

How are the protesters disrupting the tour of the Olympic flame through the cities of the world by trying to extinguish the flame and or impede the bearer of the flame (Sachin Tendulkar is scheduled to be one in Delhi), different from the people who vandalized the Wankhede stadium pitch a few years ago to emphasize their disagreement about Pakistan and India playing cricket? Most of us will doubtless view the pro-Tibet protesters favorably (i do), while many (if not most) of us think that the people who dug up the pitch and poured oil into it to be vandals (i do). How do we reconcile these two things?

Many critical observers will jump at these comparisons, and indeed, this post does offer only an extremely short, extremely superficial and brief view of this complex issue. The Olympic Charter explains why Sport is important and there is little disagreement on this. Protest, in my view, and the principle of offering protest where injustice is observed or percieved, is equally important. If you think about it, Sport and Protest are two arenas which are remarkably similar, for both entail the expression and exposure of character - both are outward expressions (often direct and instinctive) of one's inner most, core being.

Something to think about...... for all of us. A great sportsman like Tendulkar should know better than to carry the Olympic torch when others like Kiran Bedi have refused to do so. We can blame the politics of it all, but the simple point is, that it is our Government, and it is our character which is revealed. We ought not to sacrifice it at the altar of "interest".

China Wants to Repress Olympic Athletes

arZan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:53:53 EST

China is asking all athletes of all nations to sign a contract that bans them from making political statements against China, or they will not be allowed to travel to China this summer.

The Daily Mail reports…

British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China’s appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.

In short, China is forcing athletes to sign a contract barring them from speaking against the country or else they won’t be allowed to Beijing and thus able to compete in the Olympics.

“The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.”

This is chilling sinister stuff the likes of which the world has not seen in the sporting arena, since the Hitler Games of 1936. China has been a nation thriving on human rights violation, repressions of freedom, illegal occupation of Tibet and now this.

I have always maintained that it is one of the worst diplomatic decisions to award the Olympics to a country like China.

I wonder what India's stand will be with its athletes who represent the country at various sports. I hope that India does not force its athletes to do what the British are asking theirs.

Movie Review: The Peaceful Warrior

Blokesablogin — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:37:13 EST

Based on Dan Millman's novel, this film is stunning. In a spiritual journey, it is hard to give words to experiences. Here, the writer has written in such a way that it has found beautiful expression on film. A rare achievement indeed.

The story is about a young UC Berkeley student who is in the university's gymnastics team, practicing hard to make it into the Olympics. He wants to go beyond what is considered the limitations of what the human body can do. He asks and he is answered. A guru whom Dan calls Socrates appears to show him the path.

The journey of this aspiring youth fits in with the theme of The Journey of the Soul by Peter Calhoun. Oftentimes we are told that this world is limited in its possibilities. We are "trained" and conditioned to limit our view of the world and deny the magic inherent in life. In his book, Calhone shares many an experiences that show otherwise. When we let our minds to drop their limitations, an alternate universe opens itself up, like a new dimension. Likewise does Socrates to Dan.

In one poignant scene, Socrates tells Dan (who preens that he knows everything), that indeed he may be right, but knowledge is not wisdom. For those familiar with the Bhagavath Geetha, there will be many echoes of it in this film. If you have taken the Art of Living course, it would appear as the course without the Kriya. Eckart Tolle's The Power of Now would appear to have been the base of this book/film.

Unlike the film, What the Bleep Do We Know that was semi documentary and quasi "New age" with some "iffy" research thrown in as pure science, this film gets away from the entire science angle. It is made so banal, that it becomes a pedestrian experience of the spiritual. Therein lies its strength. It convinces without any persuasion. By this very feature, it wins over its audience towards an openmindedness towards the here and the now.

It could appear a bit of a drag at times, but the amazing gymnastic sequences make up for the slow parts of the story. Nick Nolte as Socrates gives very little away. He is your typical martial arts teacher crossed with the deadpan face of Deepak Chopra. Scott Melchowiz as the young Dan is cute and does a fair enough job bridging his image of a regular "stud" to being a seeker going deep within himself.

Interview: Shiva Keshavan, India's Best Luger

Tony Tharakan — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:48:24 EDT

At 25, Shiva Keshavan is India's most famous luger and the most likely candidate to win the country a rare medal at the Winter Olympics.

A Winter Olympics sport since 1964, luge involves a high-speed sled ride through a semi-circular ice track.

At this young age, Keshavan's already a veteran - having taken part in three Winter Olympics and now preparing for his fourth at Vancouver 2010. At Torino last year, he finished 25th - a creditable result considering only one second separated him from the gold medallist in terms of best lap time.

Moreover, Keshavan did it against all odds - no funding or help from a defunct national luge association. And he had to compete on an inferior-quality sled because he can't afford the best.

Because his mother is Italian, the Italians had even offered him citizenship but Keshavan refused. But disgusted with the state of affairs in India, the young luger has now set up his own sports federation to help fellow athletes.

But Keshavan told us he hadn't participated in any events last winter because he didn't have any funds to do so.

Here are some excerpts from the interview -

"I have not received any help from the Sports Ministry. My application for a grant of five lakh for five years was accepted but after the Olympics I have got no word from anybody. I suspect it is the well known bureaucracy that is so good at making funds vanish under its cloak."

"The winter sports federation IFISTS is in place. Bureaucracy has it that three years must pass before it gets any recognition."

"I did not participate in any race due to a total absence of funds last winter. I did maintain myself in form by training on my own. My performance in Torino gave me confidence in my potential to move further up the world rankings. I want to give the world's top some sweat at Vancouver 2010."

"I have not been in contact with the Italian team. Despite my part Italian origins, I feel a sense of belongingness to India and I think it is here that I can make a larger difference."

"I wanted to share the fact that I have not been given my certificate, medal and Olympian pin badge for my participation at the Torino Olympics. I am sure that it is a deliberate action and that athletes dedicting themselves to the glory of their country must be given more respect."

"I am currently in India and plan to remain here for some time. I would like to dedicate myself to sports development in India. I also hope to continue my training with adequate facilities and realise my true potential in luge."

"I am currently negotiating with a company for sponsorship so will not comment before something is finalised."

"I have completed my university with specialisation in international relations from the University of Florence. One of my main areas of interest was the role of non-government organisations. I also have an NGO of my own, La Giraffa which has done its share of projects not only in India."