Nandu's Nightmare

	You know what, we should all be thankful that the Olympics are not 
	being held in India, let alone Karnataka. It would have be the first 
	time the Year 2000 Olympics would be held in the year 2010. After all, 
	look at the way we handled the National Games - two years behind 
	schedule, and the last ten days, a frenetic rush to complete the 
	preparations.
	
	For the last two years construction has been supposedly going on 
	at the stadium. Well, that’s true I guess, if you count ant - hill 
	construction, but otherwise the site was fairly deserted. The problem,
	apparently was that the construction company hadn’t been fully paid 
	by the government for the work completed, so, quite understandably, 
	they brought everything to a halt. Well, I wonder what happened. 
	Maybe the corporators were too busy tearing up invitations because 
	they broke with protocol, and the ministers were too busy claiming 
	credit for bringing the National Games to Karnataka, to bother 
	with piddling things like bills and money. Of course, that must 
	have been it.
	
	And then the athletes moved into their luxurious quarters - no 
	fans (in summer!!!) and inadequate water and electricity facilities. 
	Man, we sure know how to welcome people to this beautiful city 
	of ours.
	
	The opening ceremony was carried out very creditably, considering 
	that the uniforms had to be rushed through and only arrived the 
	previous day. I suppose the tailors in charge awoke with a start 
	from their hibernation and cried, "Gracious! You know those games 
	that were to be held two years ago? Well, they’re being held 
	tomorrow. I guess we’d better get to work, boys!"
	
	No wonder sports is in such a sorry state in our country. And 
	there’s another thing to be thankful for - the Olympics only come 
	once in four years, so it’s only once in four years that our 
	athletes have to return to India empty handed.
	
	It’s surprising that as a country with a population of 900 million, 
	we find it so difficult to send some first rate sports people to 
	compete abroad. When was the last time India won an Olympic gold 
	in a sport that didn’t originate in our country?
	
	Oh, I’m not saying we don’t have the talent. We do, but somewhere 
	along the line things don’t work out. There are many reasons - the 
	lack of emphasis on sports, inadequate sponsorship and funds, and 
	of course, the determined bungling by the authorities in charge. 
	They’re so busy going abroad to study the sports conditions, that 
	there isn’t the time or the money to cater to the basic  needs of 
	the sportsperson - either they send a 6ft athlete a tracksuit 
	designed for an average size African pygmy, or they despatch a box 
	load of sport shoes - all for the left foot! What with the finance 
	problems, and administrative problems, it’s no wonder many of the 
	genuinely talented people decide to hang up their running shoes, 
	and take up Chinese Checkers instead!
	
	Up until now, we had one small consolation, one area in which we 
	shone - chess.
	
	After all, we boast of having our very own International Grandmaster, 
	but things aren’t look so good these days. Haven’t you heard? There’s 
	this nasty, upstart of a creature called Deep Blue (the pride of IBM) 
	causing wrath in the heart of chess players the world over!
	
	So, do you really want to ‘Go on, be a sport’?!
	
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	© 1997 Maya Chandrasekaran. Maya is an 18 year college student in 
	Banglore, India. Her first novel was published when she
	was 13. Since then, she has four novels and numerous articles 
	to her credit.'
	
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