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Harbhajan deserves the Padma award over Vijayendra!

I am extremely passionate about sports. Nothing (almost nothing ;-)) excites me as much as a sport does. For those of you who believe in the Zodiac, I am a Gemini, and I think my "other" personality gets accentuated when I play / talk / debate / discuss a sport and not otherwise

 

The Padma awards announcement started the Harbhanjan Vs Vijayendra debate. On television shows I saw the socialist genes in most of the participants support the underdog. Cricket was easy to whip and Harbhajan was even easier. There was no credible debate..no one had the courage to say a cricketer deserved it as much as much as a Udit Narayan or a Penaz Masani (both of whom incidentally won the Padma Shri this year)

 

Here is the official description for the Padma awards – “Padma Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri are given for exceptional and distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Government servants. The recommendations for Padma Awards are received from the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, Central Ministries/Departments, Institutions of Excellence, etc. which are considered by an Awards Committee. On the basis of the recommendations of the Awards Committee, and after approval of the Home Minister, Prime Minister and President, the Padma Awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day.    

 

As in most controversies, there is so much subjectivity in this description that there is bound to be a debate. Expecting the government to make the selection process much more transparent is to ask for stuff that is not practical.

 

I want to plunge into this debate and defend Harbhajan. I believe that he deserves the award more than a Vijayendra or Sushil Kumar and should get the award over them if there were a restriction on the number of awards that were to be given out! Some reasons

 

·        Vijayendra and Sushil Kumar’s international success is restricted to 1 or 2 high level performances. Is this a flash in the pan? If you claim to be a world class sportsman you need to demonstrate sustained success in the global arena, which Harbhajan has. Being nicknamed the “turbanator” by the best cricketing side in the world and being part of the Indian team for the last 7-10 years means that he is a world champion.

·        A handful of countries play cricket while over 200 participate in boxing is the other argument. So what…India is still the twenty20 WORLD Champions and among the top test and one day sides in the world. Many countries have similar peculiarities and the faster the other sportsman learn to accept this, the better. Sumo wrestlers in Japan, Ice Hockey players in Canada or Baseballers in the US are some examples. Popular players of these sports in these countries make more money and are bigger icons than other more popular global sports

 

The sad but unfortunate part of all this is that for other sports persons to aspire for stardom will mean that they will have to do much more than what a cricketer does to get attention. Sustained success in sports other than cricket will ensure stardom and rewards commensurate with its popularity and this is the unwritten law. 

 

Do not write me off as a die-hard cricket buff. All I am saying is that Vijayendra’s of India will have to accept this as a reality. After all most of these folks play their sport out of sheer passion for the game and not for anything else, right? Having said that…

 

• Let us except the fact that we will never have many Vijayendras and Sushil kumars. They are rare and we need to protect them really well. They deserve their place in the sun and I hope the paparazzi, media and the ad world pamper them well. Honestly speaking, I feel that they have no other hope but to get their stardom thru these stray incidents
• Considering the mess that our sporting institutes are in, we can never expect a systematic process to produce more Olympic medalist. All those that will come up will be rare geniuses who would have beaten a rotten system. In a country of over a billion people to find a few 100 geniuses is our only hope for more Olympic success.
• We are fooling ourselves to think that some day we will be able to be amongst the top medal tally in an Olympics. This will never happen. I am willing to bet my last rupee on this. We will only have a few sparks of geniuses that will surprise us. 
• Most sports in the world are moving away from dependence on grace and talent to power and strength. In that scenario an average Indian or even an above average Indian is still smaller, weaker and slower than most other human races…be it Anglo Saxon, African or African American. 

Net net, let us focus on our strengths to produce world champions. 

• Cricket is easy as there are millions who aspire to play for the country and we will always get players who come up because of sheer talent from a larger pool of players
• In other sports, we need to focus on games that suit our physique and aptitude to produce world champions. 

Yuki Bhambri...wish you luck and please prove me wrong