RUMINATE

Instead of wasting time on fruitless festivities round P. V. Sindhu and, so, upsetting the rhythm of her regimen that will catapult her to higher levels of performance in the future, the politicians should let her be herself now and focus on her game, while providing the best facilities for her future development. The same should be done for other athletes as well if we are to emerge as a sporting nation of some consequence. Else, it will be another opportunity wasted, another high tide gone by and we shall be laid low once more in 'shallows and miseries' in Tokyo 2020.

Whither Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand, Balbir Singh, Vishwanathan Anand, Tenzing Norgay, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha, Prakash Padukone and Abhinav Bindra? Are these sporting greats of our nation not deserving of the country's highest civilian award, now that the Pandora's Box has been opened by Sachin Tendulkar?

Politicians are opportunists and have nothing in common with men of God for whom the wide world is the uniform field of love. Equally true is the fact that conquerors and war-lords cannot be termed spiritual by any stretch of imagination.

A scheming person cannot be spiritual. The essential qualities to be spiritually alive are simplicity, innocence, purity and straight-forwardness.