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RIO, DHYAN CHAND & TENDULKAR:

A MISSING SENSE OF PROPORTION

As the grand opening and equally grand closing of the 31st Olympiad at Rio de Jeneiro would go into the pages of history, stark realisation would have dawned on the dreamers of India becoming a Super Power. The truth is India cannot be a super power before for a very long time to come.

As a nation, we are a society of contrasts. Either we over do or we never do. A country of some 1.27 billion, had sent some 117 participants, highest ever, in different track events and games. The contingent of 117 came back with 2 medals, a silver and a bronze. Thank God, we did not come back empty handed. The fear that we might just return with nothing was hanging like a sword of Damocles. All those who were thought to be medal prospects fell by the way side. Both medal winners were there to win the medal. In fact the whole contingent of 117 were supposed to be medal prospects.  Or else they will not be at the Olympics. But then, there were very bright prospects and not so bright ones. In the event, it was the not so brights who brought all the glitter for the country.

P.V. Sindhu, the toast of the nation, who remained in the shadow of her more high profile senior Saina Nehwal hogged all the lime light, with  both Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, claiming her to be theirs. There was a competition as usual to over do. Andhra gave her a cash reward of Rs: 3 crores. Not to be left behind, Telengana gave her Rs: 5 crores, half a dozen states followed with their awards, including BMW cars. And Tendulkar was handy to hand it over. Other medalist Sakshi Malik too got cash awards, but not to match that of Sindhu. Sindhu was suddenly floating in crores, and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratan (RGKR) came calling. This year the government gave RGKR to four of them, highest for any year. However Pullela Gopichand, whose Badminton Academy played the stellar role in making Sindhu a winner on a big stage, was not adequately honoured. Gopi was involved with even Saina, until she herself left him. Yes, we overdo some time but do nothing many a time.

Paralympics that followed the formal closure of Olympiad 31, had only 19 participants from India, but they returned with 4 medals and 2 of them Gold. But no crores, no sponsors, no Sachin Tendulkar, no Khel Ratnas and not even mobbing media and of course no BMWs. Why? Not even Maruthi! Government of Narendra Modi, and other state governments too went euphoric with both PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik. But nobody, no sound bytes from the corridors of power, for the Paralympics heroes.

Coming to the 117 athletes and players, some of them reportedly figured as low as 15th or lower in the ultimate outcomes. So how did they manage to reach Rio, when their chances could have been so low? Shouldn’t their coaches be sacked, or what did the Indian Olympic Association do? They did not do their homework? Or is it as usual, friends, relations and cronies?!

We have heard of officials travelling business class and staying 5 star, while athletes and players travel economy and made to stay in dormitories. We have heard of Minister Vijay Goel wanting to be in the limelight and was more interested in taking selfies.  We heard of task forces being formed to monitor performances, but what about sporting bodies being in the vice-like grips of deep rooted vested interests. There are VK Goels and RK Khannas, who are in their 80s and still does not want to give up control of sports bodies under them. There are many others who only promoted nepotism and indulged in favouritism. 

It is true that as a nation we lack playgrounds, our sports infrastructure is crumbling or non-existent and of course lack of appropriate funding are some of the problems of development of sports as a national activity. But we also do not have a sports policy. A recent shocking report in the print media informed about a provision of 30 paise per child in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) sports budget provision. It is incredible, but true. Wasn’t it the same U.P, which celebrated the birthday of Mulayam Singh, the ruling Samajawadi Party Supremo in his village, and paid Rs. 5 crore to cinema actor Salman Khan for giving a dance number with Alia Bhat joining in? This is the kind of priorities, India suffer from.  

It is also true that as a society, we do not give enough importance to sports as a stepping stone in character building. Of course, the general level of health also reflects on the performance of athletes and players in Olympic events, where stamina, physical endurance, general level of strength has a prominent part, in making a person a winning candidate.

However, when all is said and done, there is some serious lacunae when it comes to recognition of talents in public space. As is our wont, of being in excess on some occasion, but very low on many occasion, has been our usual practice.

We have this glaring example of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar being given the highest civilian award of Bharath Ratna. This is a case of extreme going overboard, to please a section political class from Maharashtra. Politicians being politicians, most of the times they think of only vote bank, when they do not think of their friends, relatives & cronies. How an act of commission or an act of omission, is going to influence the psyche of people?, who when the day of voting comes, this act of commission or omission, can influence their decision to vote for a particular party, is their eternal calculation.

It was Sharad Pawar, the NCP Supremo, who recommended Sachin Tendulkar. Sharad Pawar, inspite of not being a cricketer himself had become, the President of BCCI, Chairman of ICC and then the boss of Maharashtra Cricket Association. He was in political partnership with Congress Party at the centre. In 2013, when Tendulkar was awarded the Bharat Ratna, Congress was the head of ruling UPA II. They too thought this act of bestowing to the cricketer, the nation’s highest award, will yield political dividend to Congress also. Both Sharad Pawar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, did not think, that they were insulting Bharat Ratna, by awarding it to a mere cricketer. They did not stop at Bharat Ratna, they even nominated Tendulkar as the Rajya Sabha member. That was indeed a big joke. A mere 10th standard, probably incomplete, how was he expected to ask questions of national relevance in either politics or in economics! It clearly was beyond his comprehension. But it was the politics, a case of overdoing to the extreme.

In the past no-sportsperson was ever given, this Bharat Ratna, but there was a proposal for couple of years, before Tendulkar was proposed. In fact, the same year Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand too was being considered for conferring the highest civilian award. But Sharad Pawar, in a moment of sheer opportunism recommended Tendulkar, and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. An RTI filed with CIC claimed that the Prime Minister’s office in 2013 had ignored the sports ministry recommendation to give the award to Dhyan Chand.

However if sports person was to be given this highest civilian national award, then Dhyan Chand deserved it hands down. Between 1928 and 1956, India had won 6 Olympic gold medals, and Dhayan Chand was part of most of them. However, it was in 1936 that he wrote the history of Indian Hockey in golden letters. 

His wizardy was on full display in Berlin Olympics of 1936. Reportedly some 40000 crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle of final hockey showdown between India & Germany. In the audience were, Adolf Hitler, besides top Nazi officials, so also Maharaja of Baroda, who travelled to Berlin along with many prominent Indians and Britishers of the time. 1936, was 11 years before India formally got independence. Indians had gone to the Olympics as a British Colony, yet reportedly our players sang Vande Mataram before the game began instead of British National Anthem, so also in the locker room they had managed to unfurl the Indian tricolor. Reverently, the team saluted the flag, prayed and marched onto the field.

Being in different groups, India had won all matches, similarly Germany too had won all matches. Thus, both India and Germany were to play the final. Like a paper puts it “The hockey world was about to see Dhyan Chand in one of his most memorable mesmerising display of stick work”. The India/Germany final had the vast crowd at the edge of their seats. It was a very fast paced game. Germany managed to stop India from scoring by making it difficult for Indian forwards to take control of the ball.

India somehow, managed to score a single goal before half time, through Roop Singh, the brother of Dhyan Chand. But recognizing, the frailty of 1 goal lead, Dhyan Chand cautioned Indian team not to be complacent. Thus, as soon as 2nd half started, there was a newer rhythm in the Indians’ ball movement and control, hence, in minutes, Dhyan Chand scored 2nd goal of the match for India. However, in the next 5 to 10 minutes, Indians led by Captain Dhyan Chand scored 4 goals one after another. Whole stadium was aghast at the masterly display by India and their points man Dhyan Chand. When match ended with India wining 8-1, Dhyan Chand had scored 6 of them despite injury to his dentures, where he broke a teeth.

If the Olympic hockey final in Berlin, was the high water mark for the hockey wizard, it is pertinent to know his rise as the undisputed hero of the game of hockey.

Dhyan Chand was born on 29th Aug 1905. Incidentally, this day is observed as National Sports Day, and all awards like Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratans, Arjuna Awards, Dronacharya Awards are given on this day by the President of India at Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Having born to a British Indian Army man, Sameshwar Singh, young Dhyan Chand had travelled extensively during his school going days to different parts of India because of his father’s transfers. Thus, his school education did not continue properly. At the age of 16, he joined the British Indian army. Although, hockey was never his passion before joining the army, he took keen interest in the game of stick once he joined the army. With British Army discipline, he consciously practiced after his duty hours in the army. There were no sports clubs or sports camps or sports facilities. He had to practice his love for hockey only on moon lit nights, but he would do it, every time the moon was there. Hence the word Chand became a part of his name Dhyan. From Dhyan Singh he became Dhyan Chand. None at that time, ever had any inkling that this boy from Allahabad, would make history as probably the greatest hockey player of all time. During his active hockey playing life of some 26 years, from 1922 to 1948, he had reportedly scored more than 400 goals during his international career. He was known for his clever stick work. It was rumoured that Dhyan Chand used to practice ball control by sprinting along the length of railway tracks while balancing the ball on the track rail. Before participating in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, the Indian hockey team with Dhyan Chand had travelled to Great Britain to take part in the London Folkestone Festival in 1927. Indian team played 11 matches against local teams and won them all. Even the national team of Great Britain had lost to the Indian team. The humiliation was too much, and Great Britain decided not to send their team to Amsterdam Hockey Olympics. On May 17, 1928, Indian National Hockey team made its Olympics debut against Austria, winning 6-0, with Dhyan Chand scoring 3 goals. Since then, till 1956, they strode like colossus. They defeated the home team of the Netherlands in final by 3-0, with Dhyan Chand scoring 2 of them. This was the 1st of the 6 straight Olympic gold for India. Local papers had described “This is not a game of hockey, but magic. Dhyan Chand is the magician of hockey”. Seeing the ball glued to his stick in Netherlands, authorities even broke his hockey stick to check if there was a magnet inside. The Los Angeles Olympic of 1932, the Indian team played its final against the host USA, and USA lost against India by 24-1. It remained a world record for over 70 years. And Dhyan Chand had scored the highest with 8 goals. Describing the Indian team as a ‘typhoon out of the east” the Los Angles news paper had remarked “They trampled under their feet and all but shoved out of the Olympic stadium, the eleven players representing the United States”. On its way back, Indian Hockey Team, to pay for their expenses, arrived in England to play some internationals against Netherland, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia so also Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Of the 37 games played India won 34, drew 2 and one abandoned. Dhyan Chand scored 133 of India’s 338 goals.

Before the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Indian Hockey Federation sent a team to New Zealand under Dhyan Chand’s captainship. They played some 48 matches with 28 in New Zealand & the remaining in Australia & Ceylon. Total score by India in this tour was 584 goals with 201 by Dhyan Chand in 43 games, and India winning all 48 games. Legend has it that while in Adelaide, Australia, Dhyan Chand came once face to face with cricket’s greatest, Don Bradman. On seeing Dhyan Chand in action Don had remarked, “He scores goals like runs in cricket”. Such was his wizardy. However, his exploits in Berlin drew deep appreciation of Germans. Post German press accolades there were posters all over Berlin! “VISIT THE HOCKEY STADIUM TO WATCH THE INDIAN MAGICIAN DHYAN CHAND IN ACTION”. Reportedly Hitler offered a senior army position of Colonel to Dhyan Chand, which he smilingly declined to accept.

But India did not give him his due. Some weeks ago, on Dhyan Chand’s birthday, some hockey greats of yesteryears demonstrated at Jantar Mantar demanding Bharat Ratna to Dhyan Chand. And cricketer like Tendulkar, who only retired from first class cricket after being forced to quit, had all good things going for him, money, fame, power, and was given even Bharat Ratna. And Dhyan Chand died unsung, of liver cancer, in penury, in the general ward of AIIMS. DOESN’T INDIA AS A NATION SUFFER FROM A SERIOUS SENSE OF PROPORTION?!

                    

J. Shriyan