Just after any big sporting event, the biggest past-time for all Indians is to debateing about our achievements. How an island country like Jamaica has performed far better than us in Beijing Olympics, how corrupt are our sports authorities, why we Indians lack the killer instinct, what should be done to improve the situation, so and so forth.
However, none of us ever discuss how much sporting culture we individuals have. How many of us have played a game of cricket, or badminton or atleast chess or carrom recently! do we have a membership at any of the sports clubs... do our children take sports as seriously as studies... or do we let them do that!
Let me narrate yet another tragic story of Indian sports
In 2005, renowned actor and Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sunil Dutt passed away after a heart attack at his home in Mumbai. The whole nation paid tribute to this noble soul who was not only an eminent actor, but also a social activist admired by even his bitter rivals. Though he has been MP from Mumbai for five times, he became a union minister for the first time in this UPA govt. As a sports minister, Dutt not only had time to hear the plight of sports persons, he also made a concerted effort to improve the standard of Indian athletes.
But his death seems to be a bigger tragedy for some athletes in particular. Two weeks before his death, the Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs sent an open invitation to all current national and international champions to personally meet the minister to present their training needs and get financial assistance. This Champions Promotion Initiative was supposed to be held on 26th May 2005 in New Delhi, but tragically Dutt passed way just one day before.
In reel life, Munnabhai didn’t finish his MBBS as per Babuji’s wishes, but in real life champions did live upto expectations, but Babuji couldn’t!
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