At GunPoint

"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going." - Joan W. Donaldson

"Sawant shoots historic gold at World Championships" was the front page (right hand corner though) news on today's TOI. I bet you it would have been a stylish poster-size image of Yuvi cover driving, if he would have scored a century somewhere despite team India loosing the match... lolz. Well, jokes apart, I believe many of you have definitely gone through the news with goose-bumps running through your body. As the column continued, it revealed several jaw dropping and head spinning facts about this 29-years old sharp shooter of India. It said:

" Tejaswini Sawant scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to clinch gold at the World Shooting Championship when she won the 50m rifle prone event on Sunday, equalling the world record in the process... The 29-year-old shot a score of 597/600 (100, 100, 100, 99, 99, 99), equalling the world record set by Russia's Marina Bobkova in 1998."


Wow! that really sounds cool, isn't it? But what made me write this blog post was the story on the other side of the coin. As I read on, the column revealed several breath-taking facts about Sawant. Some of those were as follows:


"...some years ago had struggled to pay installments for the rifle she had bought on loan... The gritty girl recalled how at one point financial constraints forced her to consider giving up shooting, but the strong support of her family, especially her father, kept her going... 'I dedicate this gold to my father,' she said. Her father, Ravindra Sawant, a former Navy officer, passed away on February 23 when she was competing at the Commonwealth Championships... 'I was shattered after hearing the news, but I could not leave the competition. I was part of the team and had I left, the team would not not have been able to participate,' Tejaswini said... "


If you haven't already watched above video yet, now is the right time coz' 99.99999 % of us remembers on our finger tips the number of century's Sachin has scored in the current cricketing year. (Yeah we love Sachin a lot and thats a fact even God can't change! ) But why is it that everything else is ignored in our nation? Why Tejaswini Sawant appears to be a name unheared each time she bags a gold and becomes the front-page news (and winning a gold is the only condition)? Whom should we blame now? Or rather who gives a damn about even thinking? We update our FB status for a single sneeze but to my disappointment, EOD I didn't find even a single post about Sawant (or may be they were not in good enough number to have survived the ever dynamic updates). This makes me feel ourselves the culprit for the condition of other games which have made us proud every now and then. How many of us even knew that there was a World Championship going on somewhere in the world for shooting? Hardly any.

You reap what you sow. Media serves what we want them to serve, and only what we want, nothing more nothing less. Nobody gives a damn if these athletes come even on 4th position at world level. And how can one expect them to, as all of us are so very busy. More than half of the Media busy in covering bullshit over the places and the remaining either are so very busy covering the laughter/dance shows or in singing songs of  cricket World Cup next year (Who says we don't spend time in preparations?). And as far as Govt bodies (who actually are given the responsibility of promoting other sports) are concerned, they have so much more to take care of... or who else will take care of the thousands of corers of rupees that are sanctioned for the sports development. And hey, how can we miss the forthcoming CWG's. The scams and money involved seems to be increasing at exponential rate as the number of days remaining are coming to an end. Read a fact somewhere a few days back which said that the CWG will cost India more than what Olympics were to China (and I have no reason to second that thought).


Well, isn't it the same vicious circle? Politics, corruption, awareness, media, youth... everything going round and round and round. But I wish from the bottom of my heart that no athlete like Tejaswini will ever have to think giving up what really makes them special and our country proud. And may her mothers dream of bringing an Olympic Gold gets fulfilled so that we can sing songs of victory for atleast one more time...


PS: OK guys, I know you are asking me "Tune kya kar liya be jo itna hero ban raha hai???" :) Well, I'm asking myself the same ;)... I'll try my best to cast my first vote next time I get a chance and this is the least I can do. This post ain't gonna do any good, but I believe will give me a good night sleep now :)... Jaagte Raho !!!