I had a wierd dream, a couple of nights back. I woke up feeling tired with a headache. Let's not get into dream analysis but what I saw was amazing. Here it is:
Following Chak De India, there is another Hockey based movie that has released. In the city of Delhi, I go to see the movie. The movie is about the current state of affairs in Hockey, primarily off the field. It has nearly everyone that I have seen on television in the past few weeks: Gill, Carvalho, Charlesworth, players, coaches, journalists.
It was a gripping plot, however the end of the movie was quite sarcastic. Amidst massive chaos, there comes a caption, ".. and this continues..." and guess what? The movie ends!!
In a complete bamboozled state of mind, I come out of theatre and meet a few people related to Hockey and express how miserable I feel after watching the movie.
That's the end of dream.
When I woke up, I felt that the dream was no different from reality. The buzz is going down. There is much more lined up for the public. Olympic Torch crisis, Tibetian massacre, hard hitting Inflation, Advani's book, Nuclear deal and last but not the least Sehwag and the test series. So, automatically, Indian Hockey goes to the backburner.
Past few weeks the media hasn't covered much of what really happened in those meetings of Charlersworth, Gill, Carvalho. Even if it did, there was not much intensity in it. So, see how public memory works:
India looses in Olympics Qualifier. You make it a news for 7 days. A person who doesn't know anything about Hockey, now knows one thing: Indian Hockey is in shambles and there are a couple of villians who are sitting at the top who have spoiled the game. That's all. Over! You blew it up when they lost and left a indelible mark in public's memories. You know what mark did you leave! No follow up ... nothing. Positively created a negative impression and doomed the game!
Sometimes, I feel that media is against Gill because Gill knows how to not get affected by intense criticism. The more you criticize, more he prefers not to react. For sure, he is made of iron. He proved victorious in 1998. He has nearly come out victorious now as well.
(I have a feeling that some Gandhigiri may work in this case)
Past couple of days I have been reading in the dailies that Indian Men team are training in SAI Center, Bangalore. Today, the players came up with a statement stating that it's not association, it's not the adminstration, it's their fault that they couldn't execute the plan to perfection!
Come on yaar, you are forgetting a crucial fact! You played 2 matches against Britain! Had you played well in the first one, I would have digested your argument. If you just watch the video of your own match, you, as a pure Hockey viewer, will admit that they were much much better than you in all parts of the game! I, as a Hockey enthusiast, would like to take your argument on the face value but I have a strange feeling. Do you really feel so? or you are being told to say so?
There is a positive side of all the created hype as well. Women Hockey has started getting coverage now! Charlesworth along with M K Kaushik are in Lucknow with the Womens Hockey team rubbing them to the core. I have absolute faith in both. As I wait for the Women Olympics Qualifiers to start, I just hope that Women Hockey gets a better (read it: positive) coverage...
