How big is India?
How small is the Indian? How petty is the mind that manages Indian sports? How minuscule is the pride that a nation should have in its sports team? How complacent are we Indians or for that matter, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, the wretched nonperformers of South Asia that we permit our sports czars to crush our national pride so that they may pick up the travel allowance perks of officialdom? How humiliating that young men of Calcutta pray for the success of Brazil (or possibly, after Crespo, Messi and a goal against Serbia and Montenegro that will remain imperishable in my memory, Argentina) in the World Cup because the Indian football team is a pathetic joke that would not find a place in the dustbin of MAD magazine. It was not always so. In the 1950s, India was a pre-eminent side in Asia, in the hunt for medals at the Asian Games or even the Olympics. Chuni Goswami can tell you the story over a glass of something soothing at his club in Calcutta. But while other
How small is the Indian? How petty is the mind that manages Indian sports? How minuscule is the pride that a nation should have in its sports team? How complacent are we Indians or for that matter, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, the wretched non-performers of South Asia that we permit our sports czars to crush our national pride so that they may pick up the travel allowance perks of officialdom.How humiliating that young men of Kolkata pray for the success of Brazil (or possibly, after Crespo, Messi and a goal against Serbia and Montenegro that will remain imperishable in my memory, Argentina) in the World Cup because the Indian football team is a pathetic joke that would not find a place in the dustbin of MAD magazine. It was not always so. In the 1950s India was a pre-eminent side in Asia, in the hunt for medals at the Asian Games or even the Olympics. Chuni Goswami can tell you the story over a glass of something soothing at his club in Kolkata. But while other nat
