Saina: Go play, play till the end of time

A nation mourns the loss of Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinals of the World Championship. A nation which followed the 20-year-old’s graph as she scaled different heights in her career, bringing laurels to a country starved off any recognition in Olympic sports such as badminton.

It was a dream that was shattered. A dream that was weaved over the years of watching the little star making giant strides in the field of badminton, making history and creating moments that India never believed ever existed before. And now that all these dreams have come crushing after her defeat in the World Championship, millions have suffered heartbreaks but even all these zillions of heartbreaks can’t ever equal the pain and disappointment that she must have gone through after the defeat.

At an age when teens walk in the corridors of college, either digging deep in their books or trying to live life in the fast lanes, here is Saina, carrying a billion hopes in her young shoulders, striving hard to make her country proud in a field where she found her calling. It takes guts to shut oneself from the world and all amenities and live a life of a monk, with discipline and dedication. And here she is walking the line without complaining because this is what she chose for herself.

It can be maddening to stand in all the glittery, to be the focus of the world, to be the cynosure of a billion eyes because at the end of the day as Paulo Coelho puts it “A winner stands alone”. Add to that the ubiquitous media, which want to know everything about you, the moment you return from winning a crown and then shuts you out once you lose. The amount of pressure that rests on Saina, I am sure none of the former champions such as Prakash Padukone or her mentor Pullela Gopichand had to face in their career.

So let’s not mourn her defeat but rejoice the moments that she has given to this country, moments which filled our heart with pride to say that we are Indians. Let’s wish her and pray for her and give her the confidence that we are there irrespective of the results because we believe in you. So go and play, play till the end of time.

The three-month-old status of my blog was getting obnoxiously (I learnt it from Hayden) difficult with each day. There are things to express but not enough willingness perhaps to do so, or perhaps i'v become more lazy or handicap in my expression that i stayed away. It is difficult to be honest, I mean it could have been so easy to blame it on my 'lack of time' and 'm busy these days' reasons. Anyways, whatever.

What has changed in these three months?

                                                                   credit
As far as I can remember, India played Sri Lanka in three different tournaments. I can only imagine what the boredom of watching(or listening or hearing anything about) them might have affected the fans. Well, many depression patients got over the habit of popping those sleeping pills as it was a natural sleep inducer.

The Players tried there best to make it interesting though, complaining about overwork or perhaps not. I mean it is still a mystery as Srinivasan has stuck to his robotic head-gear denial: "We have received no letter".

But the way 'Times Now' followed it up, I guess more than the players, it was the journalists who got really pissed off seeing the same faces every day and it had its affect.

Seeing the helpless Indians, Randiv also tried his bit to make it interesting by depriving Sehwag a century, desperately hoping that it will jolt the BCCI from their slumber and they will call it a day or may be will give the indian fans some fodder to chew on.

Such a selfless guy, lost his match fee and was banned for a match, still he tried and was amply helped by Dilshan and Sangakkara. But all went in vein. Not all though, as it did give 'Times Now' enough to plough on for 3-4 days and make it a national crisis.

Commonwealth Games (CWG) became 'controversy-ridden' CWG, bad for Kalmadi. I mean things were going pretty fine for him but his scapegoats...aarr...i mean..his collegues failed to plug the leaks and ofcourse 'Times Now'. I mean how can you forget them. The result is in front of you, the OC chief lost so much (read dough) in plugging the holes and it's still not over.

Well, i guess, now I need something to chew on or plough on atleast. Being Lazy is bliss, at times.