India Culture, Business, Sports and Food. Get all the buzz in India now

And we believe in miracles. But though faith can move mountains, would it fetch us a medal at the Beijing Games this August? May be, just may be. Refer to history and it’s not difficult to realise that in athletics, the blue riband event of the competition, it will be doubly hard.

Only six Indians have reached the finals in the track and field events since 1948. Triple jumper Henry Rebello (1948), quarter-miler Milkha Singh (1960), hurdler G.S. Randhawa (1964), 800m runner Shriram Singh (1976), hurdler P.T. Usha (1984) and jumper Anju Bobby George. A medal eluded them all. After Usha missed by a whisker in Los Angeles, we had even stopped dreaming till someone called Anju Bobby George popped up from nowhere to pluck a bronze at the World Championships in Paris in 2003. Despite performing her best at Athens Olympics, she failed to get a medal. But a dream so far dormant was revived.

“It’s tough out there,” says Anju. “You need to give more than what you have to win a medal.” “That’s how it goes,” says Anju’s husband and Coach Robert Bobby George. “To win a medal at the Games, sometimes your best is not enough.”

Getting an entry into the Games is an achievement in itself given that the world tries for a spot at the quadrennial showpiece. And when it comes to athletics, competition increases manifold. Reaching the final of a discipline thus is good enough an achievement for a nation with a reputation for sport as ours. If in the process, someone wins a medal, rejoice.

Scrutinizing the current form of our athletes, P.T. Usha believes that we should not hope for a medal. “It’s not easy. If you enter the final that means you have beaten thousands of athletes of the world.” Consolation enough for a billion souls. Milkha Singh agrees.

Only three athletes - Anju, triple jumper Renjith Maheshwari and discus thrower Vikas Gowda - have attained the qualifying norm till date. And walker Babu Bhai Panocha has attained a B norm. Yet, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) 

believes the number would increase to 20 by the time the deadline ends on the midnight of July 16.

That sounds preposterously optimistic. Add the women’s relay team (there can be six members), the near certainty of Sinimol Paulose and the three who already have made the cut and you get half that number. Throw in Chatholic Hamza, the middle and long distance runner who was piped at the post by Delhi’s Ravinder Kumar in the 1st Indian GP, and maybe women’s discus throwers Krishan Punia and Seema Antil and it still adds up to only 13. “We should have at least three women throwers in Beijing,” says Lalit Bhanot, the secretary of the AFI. Who will be the third? Neelam Jaswant Singh, who returned to competition after serving a two-year ban for failing a dope test in World Athletics Championships, Helsinki? Or Harwant Kaur, who cleared 58.54m. The B qualification mark, mind you, is 59m. “We will send the best,” says the AFI secretary.

The AFI has vowed to assist anyone who would attain the mark and even in their toil towards attaining the qualifying standard. Shot putter Navpreet Singh is training in New Jersey to improve upon his record of 19.70 which is l0cm off the qualifying standard. At the moment; however, Indians are making a rapid progress in middle and long distance. Credit goes to Belarussian coach Nikolay Sneserav. He has been working well with the athletes in building endurance and stamina, Even he felt that at least two-three athletes would qualify “and don’t be surprised if someone enters the final!”

So, in the track and field events, Indian women, as always, will carry the baton. With the athletics season having started on Thursday, all we can do is hope and pray.

Show us someone who thinks that new airports are not the desperate need of the hour, and we will show you a political party that doesn’t care about Airport Authority of India (AAI) employees. With air traffic growing exponentially, it is a no brainer that expanding existing airports alone will not do the trick. Greenfield airports have to be built and built fast. In this context, the forthcoming inauguration of the two new airports catering to Bangalore and Hyderabad is welcome.

But with the two new airports will come the closure of the two old ones. The AAI are opposed to this replacement scheme - something that had been decided upon by the Civil Aviation Ministry and the two companies, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (Bial) and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (Ghial). And there lies the crux of the agitation by some 20,000 AAI employees across the nation, who wants both old and new airports to be operational.

On the face of it, having both old and new airports running in a city makes great sense. After all, the more the merrier. But private players are no Missionaries of Charity and profitability does feature in their scheme of things. (The result of not having private players with ‘moneymaking’ in mind, as has been the case for decades on end, is there for all to see.) To make new airports economically feasible, old ones have to be shut. Interestingly, it was only after a Standing Committee headed by CPI (M) leader. Sitaram Yechury tabled the matter in Parliament that the AAI came alive all a-bristle. Do we detect a delectably timed political playing to the gallery here when we consider that the AAI is throwing a fit long after it had known the project details? The AAI maintains that the government, which had apparently promised to sit down in negotiations, has hoodwinked airport workers. For Left-watchers,’ all this sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?
There may be points to criticise about the new airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Considering their distances from the cities, the condition of roads to and from the airports could make passengers grudge the journey before and after their flights. But whether the closure of the old airports merit “a non-cooperation movement” that will make passengers more miserable than they already are, is at least as important an issue to consider as that of AAI employees’ right to work in unnecessary airports.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not all beef and neither he is all pulp. His strength does not come only from a physical frame that would do a boxer proud. Beneath a hardened exterior that conveys the impression of a man not given to too much thinking, is someone who knows his mind better than those who interpret him. The stubborn streak in him, as evident in his taking unpopular and, at times, even illogical decisions, is not because he thinks less and acts more. As more events unfold and he grows into the job, it should become obvious to most of us that there could be a well thought out method to what many think is just madness.

Compared to someone like the urbane Rahul Dravid, who would appear to think first and act later, Dhoni somehow appears to combine the two acts without burdening himself with the fear of failure.

He does not seem to care what people think of his actions nor does he cow down to the ‘rantings’ of experts who must always appear better qualified to pass judgement on events that have already taken place. Dhoni does not care if a Sunil Gavaskar finds harsh words like ’senseless ‘and useless’ for a player and questions his selection in the team. He wanted five bowlers in the team, had faith in Munaf Patel and played him again. It may be just his way of saying: thanks for your advice but I am the man in charge and I know better. You do your job, and I will do mine.

After winning against Australia in the T-20 World Cup, he told Ravi Shastri on camera that he and his team had proved his reading of the game wrong. The words had enough stress in them to convey his displeasure, but the smiling face accompanying those words had done more than enough to soften that barb.

Now in Australia where he is handling two fronts — the game and the delinquent sledging — his team has not been a great success so far. Despite India making it to the finals, Australia still look unbeatable and his backing of the young Turks has not shown great results.

He did not want seniors in the team and stuck to his guns, much to the chagrin of many. For many, former captain Sourav Ganguly is his mentor. Yet when it came to what he thought was the future of his team, he shunted him out. Today, after the openers’ failures, is he missing the presence of Ganguly? Going by what one can read of the man, certainly not. He would rather lose, backing his game plan than compromise on what he believes is the way ahead.

In many ways, he is the new Ganguly of Indian cricket. May be much calmer from the outside, but someone who is going to be there for those on whom he has faith. Ganguly, through his steadfast support to those who were talented and his aggressive approach, transformed the Indian team.

Dhoni ticked off Yuvraj baiters with the line ‘he will play all matches’ backed his vice captain and won him over. He has also assuaged any resentment Yuvraj may have had for having been overlooked for captaincy.

Does Dhoni have it in him to take this team one step ahead? Does he have the same eye as Ganguly to spot match winners?

He sure has the mental strength to transform his approach to his batting and so far in Australia he has reined himself in so much that boundaries and sixes from his blade have been a rarity. Yet he has not failed with the bat and has given his team solidity in the middle overs without which India would have embarrassed themselves.

He is going to be confronted with many severe tests, one 01 them being his relative failure as a batsman in Tests. But for the moment, Dhoni is in the saddle and all seems well with the team.

Can we all move ahead and not make so much of a fuss about what Hayden has to say about Harbhajan and vice-versa. Can we in the press too show greater maturity and not make Hayden finding Harbhajan an ‘obnoxious little weed’ the most important story emanating from Australia. Let Harbhajan retaliate and call Hayden the most ‘obnoxious ox’ to some radio station and let us get on with the game.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a 1995 Bollywood movie went on to win 10 Filmfare awards including the best director award which was bagged by Aditya Chopra. This Yash Raj productions film starred Shahrukh Khan (SRK), Kajol and Amrish Puri, who played Kajol’s father. The film’s music has been scored by Jatin-Lalit who have done a fabulous work and has contributed a lot in making the film a classic.

SRK and Kajol play NRI Brits who have nothing in common. While SRK plays a rich spoiled brat who seeks only fun in life and does not take anything seriously, Kajol is a complete opposite who has grown up as a traditionalist under the strict discipline of her father. Still Kajol has her share of dreams about a prince charming that will enter her life one day. Amrish Puri’s aim in life is to return to his country and he decides to marry Kajol to his friend’s son in India. An obedient daughter, Kajol agrees to the marriage but expresses her desire to see Europe with her friends before committing to a married life.

This Euro-trip introduces SRK and Kajol with each other and after a few rounds of brawl, they fall in love with each other but none accepts the same. After returning from Europe, Kajol and her family leave for India hoping to convince Kajol to marry even though they came to know about her love. SRK reaches India searching for her and befriends the to-be groom to get an opportunity to impress Kajol’s family and get their consent for his and Kajol’s marriage. Soon, he wins everyone’s hearts including the groom’s sister’s who falls in love with him. But the truth is accidentally revealed and SRK leaves the place. The climax moments see Kajol’s father realizing the true love and happiness of Kajol and he allows her to leave with SRK.

The film is considered to be among the top 20 Bollywood movies ever made and has been running continuously since the day of its release. The movie is believed to be one of those classics which changed the world’s impression of Indian cinema.