Boxing base Bhiwani's cricket connection

The gay and glory of the Beijing Olympics is over. And what an awesome spectacle it has been; frightening at times, challenging human tenacity all along. I have never seen anything like this before. Perhaps, I had more time to myself and watched the Beijing Olympics with enormous interest, like I have never seen Olympics before.

Beijing turned out to be absolutely the greatest sports extravaganza on our planet. To be honest, I was never a great Chinese fan ever since their invasion of India in the early 60s which led to the shock demise of our first Prime Minister of independent India. That I never met Pandit Nehru is a low point of my personal life. But you can’t live with a grudge indefinitely. Beijing Olympics has enlightened me graciously as well as lightened me of the needless wait of a personal grouse.

India’s early breakthrough with Abhinav Bindra’s gold in shooting had the entire nation going berserk except the gold medalist himself, which was such a good bit of maturity on Abhinav’s part. But some of the relentless media wouldn’t rest unless Bindra was provoked into something controversial. Happily, the sound upbringing of Abhinav carried the day.

Why is our media so obsessed with brand material? Every time a new star is born, the marketing forces getting into overdrive without realizing that throwing a half-baked international product at the deep end of the pool could be disastrous.

Abhinav is well protected, but I am not too sure of our boxers from Bhiwani or the somber wrestler from Najafgarh. Money is important, just as fame is. Both need cautious and delicate handling. Bhiwani is now called the little Cuba. Not many are aware that Bhiwani’s earlier sporting connection was via cricket – a former President of the BCCI, Ranbir Singh Mahendra is a Bhiwani resident.