THE NEED TO RATIONALISE THE NATION BEFORE REAL RESULTS SHOW UP AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

THE NEED TO RATIONALISE THE NATION BEFORE REAL RESULTS SHOW UP AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES 

Our country must be rationalised. Unless we are clear in our thinking, we will continue to be outwitted by our opponents from other countries in international meets. There is too much of crass commercialisation of our social culture which is evident on media, specially television.

Our athletes, along with training in their respective sporting disciplines, must be given rigorous academic training to help them emerge top class performers. Abhinav Bindra won gold in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He did so not merely through shooting skill but through a host of allied regimen that he followed, not the least of which was mental training and concentration practice. Olympic gold medallists are not born, according to him. They have to be groomed to becoming such.

The right environment is lacking in India where sloppiness of thinking, mass hysteria, chaotic behaviour and irrational expectations rule the roost. The film world and the world of commercial advertisement today run amock in the polity with stupidity and distraction compounded into a debilitating drug that is adversely conditioning the people. Cinema and commercial communication must change to rational, real terms so that their poison does not spread and destroy the mass thought system.

Our celebrations are wild, our nervous excitation overmuch and our commitment in the overall sense deficient. We need to look into these things and make the necessary adjustments. Only then we may emerge as a strong sporting nation and perform like real champions at the highest level. And, just in case you forget, real champions win gold medals at the #Olympics and are not each time somehow thwarted in doing so.

Written by Sugata Bose