The hockey fiasco at London has indeed hit the country hard. Tall claims and massive campaigns launched prior to the games have fallen flat on the face and the team has set a new record, of losing every single game in its group. The only solace for the team is the equally dismal performance of its arch rivals from across the border. Yet the results are not at all surprising, keeping in view the track record of the nation in matters that have tall claims attached to them till the debacles surface.
Even otherwise the national contingent has performed far below the hoopla built prior to their departure. The current tally of four odd medals, sans gold, puts us at the forty fifth place in the pecking order. Not even a face saving scenario, considering that every sixth human being on this planet hails from our glorious motherland.
The tall expectations that the citizens end up having whenever a national contingent leaves our shores for a sporting extravaganza never fails to surprise me. Surprise because a nation that has been a rank failure in almost all spheres except that of unfailingly notching up its population with amazing speed, is expected to perform in the sporting arena. How the hell is that possible, for how can the mess be all pervasive, yet leave the sporting arena untouched. Our national trait of messing up everything under the sun in its attempt to remain almost always at the bottom of the list of nations cannot be allowed to corrupt itself, just for a few medals. And what are a few medals for the patriarchs of a nation immersed deep in poverty and corrupt practices.
A sterling performance in the sporting arena would need sustained inputs, hard work and perseverance, traits conspicuous by their very absence. The tantra that governs the nation has tied itself into knots and unfortunately has now started believing in its own rhetoric. At a much lower level, I am witness to rhetoric of blasphemous levels in the railways, an organization the mandarins of which have started believing that outputs can be delivered sans inputs and that mere advice instead of support is going to take the organization somewhere. Somewhere it would definitely go, but not forward, is what I am absolutely certain of.
Recently an ex minister said on camera that while all his former secretaries were loyal to him and are now loyal to the current minister, it is unfortunate that the loyalty of the team of secretaries is to the minister and not to the organization. How sad and how true. As long as the loyalty of the servants of the government remains confined to their bosses and not to the nation, fiascoes like the recent one in London shall keep on surfacing with assured regularity.
Even otherwise the national contingent has performed far below the hoopla built prior to their departure. The current tally of four odd medals, sans gold, puts us at the forty fifth place in the pecking order. Not even a face saving scenario, considering that every sixth human being on this planet hails from our glorious motherland.
The tall expectations that the citizens end up having whenever a national contingent leaves our shores for a sporting extravaganza never fails to surprise me. Surprise because a nation that has been a rank failure in almost all spheres except that of unfailingly notching up its population with amazing speed, is expected to perform in the sporting arena. How the hell is that possible, for how can the mess be all pervasive, yet leave the sporting arena untouched. Our national trait of messing up everything under the sun in its attempt to remain almost always at the bottom of the list of nations cannot be allowed to corrupt itself, just for a few medals. And what are a few medals for the patriarchs of a nation immersed deep in poverty and corrupt practices.
A sterling performance in the sporting arena would need sustained inputs, hard work and perseverance, traits conspicuous by their very absence. The tantra that governs the nation has tied itself into knots and unfortunately has now started believing in its own rhetoric. At a much lower level, I am witness to rhetoric of blasphemous levels in the railways, an organization the mandarins of which have started believing that outputs can be delivered sans inputs and that mere advice instead of support is going to take the organization somewhere. Somewhere it would definitely go, but not forward, is what I am absolutely certain of.
Recently an ex minister said on camera that while all his former secretaries were loyal to him and are now loyal to the current minister, it is unfortunate that the loyalty of the team of secretaries is to the minister and not to the organization. How sad and how true. As long as the loyalty of the servants of the government remains confined to their bosses and not to the nation, fiascoes like the recent one in London shall keep on surfacing with assured regularity.
