Tag: sports

  • The Joy of Life

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    Photo Curtsy: ethiopiaskate.org

    No matter what your age is, one always seek out for joy. Even in a hell hole like notorious slums of Dharavi in Mumbai, or be it some gun running country in Africa. Today early morning, Medium digest gave me little insights of those Ethiopian kids who took this joy hunt one step further. With no roads, no paved areas around, they started to find their joy in skateboarding. Started with 7 skateboards and 25 boys, they now have grown their skateboarding club with a strong foundation, officially called as Ethiopia Skate.

    Indeed those kids have done a great job finding their bundle of joy in whatever they have with them instead of blaming their destiny. They made the most of the things around them and started living their dream, they turned abandoned buildings in their skating rings, started riding what they got; converting hurdles in the area in make-shift props to perform tricks.

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    Photo Curtsy: Daniel Reiter

    Isn’t that the same thing which we all crave for? Bit of joy in every day, a reason to laugh. But we just keep making excuses for not having something and never try to look in our backpack for small treasures of joy. Many times we even forget about the things which we own; things which used to make us happy in past. Routine for life makes us a slave to money and we simply lose touch with your skills and hobbies.

    I think its time to dig out some old brushes and colors to paint some pleasant strokes on a canvas or bring out an old camera to capture a few amazing moments. If you like music then just sit on a couch and play your old favorite track, lay back and enjoy the tune. Take a break and pamper yourself. Indulge in your favorite drink or a food which you can die for. These are the joys in simple things; real stress busters. I am very sure, everyone wants such simple stress busters of their own. So, find your own joy boosters. Have some fun!!!

    I had published this article on my Medium blog some years ago. September was busy in terms of this blogging journey. However, last 10 days of October was quite busy at work and other stuff as if I am losing the fun in small things. Today, I found about these Ethiopian kids again. They are an inspiration for me. I am sure that you will also find their love for skateboarding inspiring.

  • It’s always easy to put it on you.

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    Hey guys, I am really sorry for this rant. Today I simply can’t keep myself away from it. I just can’t take the blame game anymore which we like to play as a society. Every now and then we come across “Government of India never cares about its sportspersons” stories in a form of sad photos of the plight of our national and sometimes international champions of sports other than cricket on our social media feeds. It’s true that they are in despair, many of them are struggling even to earn the living, but these social media posts do nothing than pointing fingers at politicians and government. The attitude of “मायबाप सरकार” runs through Indian mindset and it has rooted deep inside. We need to change the focus.

    We need to change. We hardly watch any sports on television other than cricket and sometimes football. We don’t even think about or dream about watching the sports event live in a stadium if it’s not a cricket. In cricket, the circle is complete. There are fans, who go and watch, they go and watch so sponsors put the money in. Money is in so facilities are good, which in turn makes players to put the efforts and do well. When players/team does well, it earns a lot. But in other sports, the picture is not that pretty.  Everyone waiting for someone else to take the initiative.

    Pro Kabaddi has managed to make a strong entry and has got a significant following on television coverage but on the other hand badminton league in India is struggling. Even ISL teams have to take help of local fan clubs of Europian football clubs to get the following.

    Government help for the sports is no doubt crucial. In fact, every district organizes the sports tournament, mini (micro) Olympic in itself. Winners from those tournaments move ahead to State and then to the National events. The central government has many training centers spread across the country. Maybe their condition is not that great. Some of them might be lacking some infrastructure. There is no point in denying the fact that these efforts are not enough for our huge country. Let’s not forget, the government has a limited money to spend, which we give them as taxes and a part which multilateral funding agencies put in.

    There are some people working to make a change. Reliance Foundation is working on promoting the sports in India through their “Youth Sports” initiative. Organizing hundreds of events for football in 32 cities and athletics in 16 cities around the country is a big step forward in itself. Sports for all in Mumbai doing a great job of organizing 2-week sports fair in December where 35000 school kids participated in 2016 events.

    It’s time for us to take up our share of responsibility, not just share on social media. I am making it a point to start acting on this. From this new year, 2018, I am making it a point to go and watch these local sports events from the city. Come, join me for some sporting events and let’s enjoy that cheerful spirit in a stadium.

  • रिओ २०१६ च्या निमित्ताने

    रिओ २०१६ च्या निमित्ताने

    “दिसामाजी काही तरी लिहावे” हे समर्थवचन लहानपणापासून माहिती आहे, पण माहिती असलेलेल्या किती तरी गोष्टी नुसत्या माहितीतच राहतात. त्यानुसार का कधीतरीच होतं. ‘बंधमुक्त’ लिहिलं त्याला आज २०-२५ दिवस झाले. मनात पक्की खूण बांधली होती की दर आठवड्याला या धाटणीचा किमान एक छोटा लेख लिहायचा. पण असं ठरवल्याबर हुकुम घडेल तर ती तुम्हा आम्हा सामान्य जनांची कहाणी कशी होईल?

    आता तुम्ही लगेच म्हणाल, “आळशी आहेस, ठरवलं आणि मनापासून इच्छा असली की सर्व काही जमतं.” यावर आपलं अगदी एकमत आहे हो, पण काही न काही कारण होऊन या गोष्टी लिहिणं राहूनच जातं. दर आठवड्याला कुठलेसे सदर लिहिणारे लेखक, YouTubeवर नियमितपणे creative content तयार करणारे कलाकार या साऱ्यांचा मला या एकाच कारणामुळे हेवा वाटतो. पण त्याच बरोबर यांच्याकडून मला खूप प्रेरणा आणि प्रोत्साहन देखील मिळत असतं.

    मागला आठवडाभर सर्वत्र olympic चे वारे वाहत आहेत. गेले दोन दिवस तर भारतीयांच्या आनंदाला सीमा उरल्या नाहीयेत. साक्षीच पाहिलं वहिलं कांस्य पदक आलं आणि या रिओ २०१६ मधला भारताचा भोपळा फुटला. पाठोपाठ सिंधूनी आपल्या खात्यात एक रजत जमा करून पदक तालिकेत भारतासाठी १० जागांची लांब उडी मिळवून दिली.अर्थातच दोघींवर कौतुकाचा वर्षाव आणि बक्षिसांची खैरात सुरु झाली. पण सारा देश त्या आधी भारताच्या पदरी आलेल्या शून्य पदकांवरून पार टोकाच्या भूमिका घेऊन मोकळा झाला होता. रामाजाच्या सर्व स्तरांतून निराशावादी सूर येत होता. सरकारच्या नाकर्तेपणापासून ते “फक्त सेल्फी काढायला गेलेत का?” इथपर्यंत कित्येक वेगवेगळे तर्क सुरु होते.

    पण olympic मध्ये खेळण्यासाठी पात्र व्हायला या सर्व खेळाडूंनी कित्येक वर्ष जीवाचं रान केलं याकडे कोणलाच लक्ष द्यावेसे वाटत नव्हते. मनात आलं म्हणून गेलो olympic ला असा थोडंच आहे? आपल्या देशात एकूणच क्रीडा क्षेत्राबाद्द्ल अनास्था आहे यात वाद नाही. पण या साऱ्या प्रतिकूल परिस्थितीवर मात करत हे सर्व खेळाडू आपल्या देशाच्या नावासाठी तिथे जीवाचं रान करत असतात. मैदानावर उतरताना दिवसाच्या शेवटी भारताचे राष्ट्रगान कसे वाजेल याचेच गणित, आणि त्यासाठी करायचे डावपेच प्रत्येकाच्याच मनात असणार यात तिळमात्र शंका नाही.

    आपापल्या घरात टीव्ही समोर बसून त्यांचे यशापयश बघत आजूबाजूच्यांना फुकटचे सल्ले देणं खूप सोपं आहे. हे सर्व खेळाडू आपापल्या खेळांमध्ये भारतात अव्वल आहेत हे मात्र सर्व जण सोयीस्करपणे विसरलेले असतात. आज वयाच्या वीस बाविसाव्या वर्षी आपल्या देशाची मान अभिमानाने ताठ करण्यासाठी सर्व खेळाडू प्रयत्नशील आहेत. त्यांच्यावर टीका करताना किंवा हरले म्हणून आपल्याच घरात आणि सोशल मिडियावर आरडा ओरडा करतांना आपण त्या वयात काय करत होतो याकडे हळूच वळून पाहिलं तर फार बरं होईल. सर्वच गोष्टींची जबाबदारी सरकारवर ढकलण्यापेक्षा आपापल्या परीनी यात कसा बदल करता येईल याकडे जर सर्वांनी लक्ष दिलं तर भारत टोकियो २०२० मध्ये नक्कीच जास्त पदकांची आशा करू शकेल.