Headlines Today ran a story in the morning which saluted the six Indian
medalists at the London Olympics 2012. Like my father rightfully puts
it, "I
am happy for them individually but not for India as a whole because
they've achieved this feat in the absence of proper facilities and
support". Great Britain has managed to perform exceedingly well in
the current Olympics simply because they've invested a lot in their
sportsmen. In India, it takes a Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic medal
before the Haryana Government announces a move to allot land for a
Wrestling Academy. Not that I am a fan of Ramdev but he made sense when
he said that if corruption was in the Olympics, we Indians would then
win the gold for sure. My father went a step further in saying that if
other countries competed, then our country would lose
in this category as well. The sad truth.
The news channel also splashed photos of the medalists and I noticed something particularly disturbing which is the main subject of this post today. While the likes of Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, Yogeshwar Dutt, Vijay Kumar and Sushil Kumar did not need any introduction, Mary Kom's picture with the silver and gold medalists in the podium was shown with a red frame indicating that this is the person we are supposed to be looking at. It is sad that even after bringing laurels for the country, she needs to be pointed at before her countrymen can recognize the seasoned boxer. How pathetic is that?! North East India seems to be forever languishing in the periphery and the media, whether knowingly or unknowingly, highlights or reinforces this differentiation in a most subtle manner. I was truly saddened by the observation.
Also, Sushil Kumar mentioned rather humbly in his post medal interview that efforts would be on to try and bring gold for the country in the Rio olympics. Pretty soon the same channel had a new sticker flashing in the bottom which read "I will bring Gold for the country in Rio". Yet another example of how the media are champions in the art of manipulation. Poor Sushil must be thinking he never made such a blatant promise as being screened on the national channel. And why pin such high expectations now when his last victory is yet to be digested? The ESPN Sports Desk showed the table for South-East Asia where India top the same with a total of six medals, followed by Thailand with three medals, two each for Singapore and Malaysia and a solo bronze for Indonesia. This reminded me of a tweet I had read a few days back.
'India has won nine medals in 112 years, while Michael Phelps alone has won seventeen gold medals'.
As an individual, I am extremely proud of the medal winners but as a fellow Indian I know a lot more still remains to be done to encourage sportsmen in this country.
The news channel also splashed photos of the medalists and I noticed something particularly disturbing which is the main subject of this post today. While the likes of Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, Yogeshwar Dutt, Vijay Kumar and Sushil Kumar did not need any introduction, Mary Kom's picture with the silver and gold medalists in the podium was shown with a red frame indicating that this is the person we are supposed to be looking at. It is sad that even after bringing laurels for the country, she needs to be pointed at before her countrymen can recognize the seasoned boxer. How pathetic is that?! North East India seems to be forever languishing in the periphery and the media, whether knowingly or unknowingly, highlights or reinforces this differentiation in a most subtle manner. I was truly saddened by the observation.
Also, Sushil Kumar mentioned rather humbly in his post medal interview that efforts would be on to try and bring gold for the country in the Rio olympics. Pretty soon the same channel had a new sticker flashing in the bottom which read "I will bring Gold for the country in Rio". Yet another example of how the media are champions in the art of manipulation. Poor Sushil must be thinking he never made such a blatant promise as being screened on the national channel. And why pin such high expectations now when his last victory is yet to be digested? The ESPN Sports Desk showed the table for South-East Asia where India top the same with a total of six medals, followed by Thailand with three medals, two each for Singapore and Malaysia and a solo bronze for Indonesia. This reminded me of a tweet I had read a few days back.
'India has won nine medals in 112 years, while Michael Phelps alone has won seventeen gold medals'.
As an individual, I am extremely proud of the medal winners but as a fellow Indian I know a lot more still remains to be done to encourage sportsmen in this country.
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