Friday, September 19, 2008

Abhinav Bindra Ungrateful? Why not?

LOL! Almost exactly as if in response to my earlier post on Abhinav Bindra....

Abhinav Bindra accused of being ungrateful to the system!!!

After winning India's first individual gold in the Olympics, Abhinav Bindra apparently gave credit to his father for his success. He is supposed to have said that his victory was more in spite of the system than because of it. This comment has now infuriated Digvijay Singh, the president of the Shooting Federation of India who is now saying that shooters like Abhinav Bindra and Jaspal Rana were being ungrateful by saying things like this.

Abhinav Bindra has now responded by saying it is not true that he is ungrateful and that as soon as he won the Gold medal, he thanked everybody concerned and to comment further on this would be a waste of time!!!

We Indians love to harvest sour grapes, don't we? It isn't enough if a guy wins us an Olympic Gold. We need to squeeze every little bit out of every little association he has. I bet the neighbourhood banana seller has a stake in supplying Bindra with the potassium needed for his steady hands, and every bus driver in Delhi has a stake in this achievement by not killing him prematurely on the way to practice!

I wonder how we would react if a guy who came in at 54th place said he is really grateful to the "system", since he got a lot of encouragement and help and resources from the Shooting Federation of India, and without that kind of support he would only have managed the 66th place! If you're laughing, you agree with me. Thank you.

So, Abhinav Bindra thanked his Dad for providing him with all he ever needed. Fair enough, and quite nice of the young man, I should say. The Shooting Federation wants him to be grateful since they sent him abroad, apparently for training. So, what else is the Shooting Federation supposed to do - clean his underwear? Why do we have to torture Bindra after he has done his job?

What is it that we want from our sportspersons? Winners or just good guys who are always being grateful? Thankfully our cricketers are cocky enough to script their own lives and successful and smart enough to know what it takes. M S Dhoni always parties hard after a win, knowing fully well that the kids in his team need to let off steam and hang loose and bond more than anything else. They give their lives for him on the field and they can beat anyone. That is a fact. Cricket thrives because it respects individual brilliance.

Above and beyond the full import of having ungrateful sportspersons, it is the WINNERS that inspire greatness in others, not the nice guys. I personally feel that being a "good person" finds rather nebulous and overrated importance in our culture. We do not breed winners as much as we try to breed good people, and for most part, we seem to fail on both counts!

What is wrong with a cocky, arrogant and brash winner who can thrash everybody in the world, spit on his opponents with disdain and walk away like a king? I bet we'd enjoy it even more than the good guy who loses! No call to add any of these qualities to any of our winners in the making, but we don't win medals for being good guys, do we? Long live the ungrateful winners. The world has leaped forward in every field because of people who know what they want and go get it. I am grateful to them, and damn whoever they are not grateful to.

Facts are - the Shooting Federation never produced an Olympic Gold medalist before Abhinav Bindra and Abhinav Bindra chose to thank his Dad. I see no problem with the latter, but a huge hole in the former. It is time the "system" got its act together and looked forward instead of trying to piggyback on one success they may have played some part in.

Most impressively the young man added today that it is time to "Forget about him, and help the others"! Looking forward! That's why I love this kid!

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showsports.aspx?id=SPOEN20080065865

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