Thank You London!

Slow Star & Ending with a Bang

London Olympics 2012 - that started off slowly and smoothly - reached a crescendo with the athletics event and finally finished with a bang yesterday. As an Indian, this was the first time I was looking forward to Olympics - primarily because of the various Indian Olympic Medal prospects  - Deepika Kumari, Saina, Abhinav, Gagan, Paes + Sania, Sushil, Virender. I was convinced of the Indian support for the team at Olympics and also of the potential of the Olympic Participants. And they did not disappoint my faith in them. 

Unexpected Delights

Among the qualified players for London Summer Olympics, some of them fell short of their potential on the 'D' Day and some of them brought their best performance to the table. But my biggest delight was seeing the unknown/unheard/unexpected like Gowda & Krishna Poonia qualifying for an Athletic finals (6th and 7th Indians to do so), Kashyap qualifying for Q/Fs, Yogeshwar Dutt's bronze, etc.  Thank you all the Indian players, for making us proud in the last two weeks. 

Thousands of Stories

If somebody writes an account of Indian performance in London Olympics 2012, there are many stories to say

• Sania falling against the Chinese Hurdle
• 2 Indians Qualifying for London Athletic Finals
• Expected Medals in Boxing, Shooting & Wrestling
• After all the fighting and squabbling on the press, tennis players having the expected poor performance. 
• Mary Kom wining her deserved medal and fame in India
• Yogeshwar Dutt ensuring that his name is not forgotten in Wrestling History
• Sushil Kumar establishing himself as India's premier sports player
• & many more. 

And I am thankful & happy for all of them. 

Thank You OCQ & MCT

But the biggest thanks should go to organizations like Olympic Gold Quest and Mittal Champions Trust. And I am sure that the team is thrilled to see their efforts in the last few years bearing fruit Hope these organizations (or similar organizations) don't lose sight - because of India's best ever Olympic Performance and Continue to find ways to support new & upcoming Indian athletes. 

Challenge 2016

But the biggest challenge for the Rio Olympics 2016 is whether a new set of athletes - who are inspired and buoyed by these 6 medals  - will go and win 6 gold medals for India. Hope 1.2 Billion Indians receive their deserved haul of gold medals in Rio Olympics 2016.  

Bye & Thank You London! Here we come Rio!

P.S: Seeing the Olympics also reminded me of my beautiful trip to London - a year earlier. 

Why I love Quora?

For some of us, who are hearing about the word Quora for the first time - Quora was created as Yahoo Q&A done for the Web 2.0 world. You can read more about it at http://www.quora.com/about.

But the reasons I love the service is that i generally come to know stuff about the things i really want to know. For example, what the heck does Olympic medallists do in London after they win the medal.  Yeah, the kind of the questions the interviews are supposed to ask from famous personalities. But they never ask. I get those answers at Quora.

e.g. Go read at Quora - What is it like to be an Olympic athlete after winning (or not winning) the Olympics? and also Do Olympic or competitive swimmers ever pee in the pool?

National Holiday in India Too???

After Kirani James won Grenada first ever Olympic Gold, the government has declared Tuesday afternoon a holiday. So when Mary Kom wins India's first ever women Olympic Gold medal, we should declare a national holiday too.. Right? :)

Read more at BBC News

Bye 2011! Welcome 2012!

As another year comes to an end, I can't stop myself from looking at the year gone by and remember the key moments of the year. As the famous quote goes, 

We don't remember days, We remember moments

This was an year characterized by change. Also this was an year when everything looks the same as the last year.  When i look back, the moments that WOWed are few but the moments that brought a change in me were a lot.. 

WOW Moment:

2011 will be remembered - for India's World Cup Win. Personally, my WOW moments happened after the matches: quarter-finals (Excited in Tawang Cold that i was going to see India-Pakistan @ Mohali LIVE), semi-finals (No Words can describe the elation, the pure joy of walking & sharing the triumph with fellow cricket fans in the stadium and the people from Mohali) & finals (Spontaneous Outpouring of Delhities on the streets). 

In the field, it was not Dhoni's Six in the world cup final that wowed me..  but Gambhir-Kohli innings at the final. Finally, Indian Cricketers did not choke and had the winning mentality. Thank you! Gary Kirsten!. We miss you!! 

WOW Moment - 2:

Anna Hazare's Protests caught media and public attention. India Media gots its 'Tahiri Square' Moment. From the perfect timing ('No News' seasons) to well-planned strategy & tactics, ensured that India took a step closer to its Lokpal bill dream. Hope this would be the beginning of much more active participation of civil society in the major policies of the government. 

Surprisingly all the major nations had one protest or the other. US - Occupy Wall Street Moment. UK - London Riots, etc.. 

WOW Moment - 3

 By far, this would be my most traveled year. Memories of 2 Wonderful Trip Posts here - Assam & UK

Hope 2012 to have many more memorable moments for all of us. Wishing you all to have a lot more memorable moments in 2012.

Indian Leaders! Where are you?

As the nation moves to a new year, the lack of leadership especially political leadership is the biggest national problem. As I am back in Tamilnadu, I am able to experience it - better than ever  The state today is grappling with multiple political issues

1. Fight with Kerala regarding Mullai-Periyar Dam
2. Fight with Central Government regarding KoodanKualam - (while the entire state is grappling with daily 4-hour electric power cuts. )
3. Srilankan Tamil Issue - Mostly on the Fringes

Thankfully, the rains are good this year. Otherwise, the age-old struggle with Karnataka for Cauvery waters would have started again.  None of these issues have easy answers or solutions. 

Successful 'Past' Protests:

Protests like Siliguri & Lokpal has given enormous confidence to other protesters that continuous & sustained protests by a minority will bring desired results in today's media covered India. So expecting the protests to die away (like yester-years) is not going to happen. 

Compromises & Quick Decisions:

So the government requires to be quick on feet. Need to be quick to 

1. Kill Protests - right at the budding stage. Like how Karunanidhi shut off colleges to prevent any pro-Srilankan Tamil protests during the final stages of Srilankan Army - LTTE war. And it involves compromises & quick decisions. And the nation requires have a leader who is trusted by the nation and who brings states/groups to accept compromises. 

2. Make Decisions - Prolonging decisions like Telengana State Formation is not going to help both the parties. 

3. Create Process to handle fasts & protests: As creating a policy of not negotiating with plane hijackers, the government needs to create a policy of not negotiating with people who pressure by fasting or protesting. 

Require 'Connected' Leaders:

And government & political parties can be quick only when they have leaders and not managers on the top. And the recent advances in communications and technology means these leaders can afford to be connected 24*7 with the people. 

Why I love this nation?

While Leninist China can bull-doze over people's wishes, India's democracy needs it to take care of the wishes of a small group. But that is exactly the reason i love this nation - even though it is painful.