Ek Akela iss shehar mein ...... Raat mein aur dopahar mein.....
Thus go the words of a timeless classic made immortal by the redoubtable pristine brilliance of an amazing poet and sung by d legendary voice of Bhupendra Singh. Over the decades, these lines have soothed many a lonely heart and helped them wade through the streets while trying to find their true calling.
The song gains relevance in an article meant to be a write-up on sports because of the feeling one goes through traditionally while tracking a non cricket sport in this 1 sport religion country of ours. Though maybe entirely unintended, it is the brilliance of these lines so beautifully written by Mr.Sampooran Singh Kalra that probably helped define the feelings of an Indian badminton fan to the fullest. Lonely pursuit all day and night to keep track of scores, watch the matches, When obliged with coverage / working live stream links i.e, trying to analyse and make a meaningful assessment, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the game - All of this largely ...Akela !
The advent and popularity of social media, ushered in a new dawn of sports viewing and living the passion. Geography, timezone, coverage , all are a lot more immaterial now. Irrespective of the time of the day, there is someone out there following the sport with equal vigour and analysing the game threadbare to help give one the joy of company! Probably the great man that he is, Gulzar knew this well ahead, and hence wrote a modified version of the same song to match this as well .....Do Deewaane Sheher Mein ... :)
Viewer aside, another reason this song becomes relevant is the main characters in this saga of our sport's love, the ones right in the thick of action, Our heroes - The members of the national badminton team.
For long, very long in fact, the badminton crazy fan in India was resigned to the fact of being happy with the odd solo success. Hunting in packs on a sports field, least of all a badminton court, was something that Indians for sure never managed well. A brilliant win by 1 of our champs would necessarily be negated by a logic defying loss by another. A win against best in the world on day 1 could easily be followed by a loss against someone who wouldn't hold a chance given another day. Similarly, our quota of success in doubles was more than taken up by our friends playing the outdoor court racquet sport. The poor cousins playing doubles in the indoor court racquet sport would be left to win d lower rung events at best.
The winds of change are blowing thick and fast now and its quite evident to witness. The difference in the viewer perception to the matches makes the changes very apparent. Loads of positivity in the air about player performances irrespective of the result. People actually sit up today to take notice of the talent on display with a strong inner belief that results will come tomorrow, if not today. And for sure the results are coming as well, some beyond expectations of even the ardent optimist among the fans. With the talent in display the average Indian sports fan has begun to enjoy the game beyond the pressures of winning / losing and the same is also rubbing off on the players.
Strategically as well, there's been a lot that's fit in perfectly for India. New coaches, existing mentors ably supported by past players have built an ecosystem of excellence that's largely unheard of in Indian sport. If one were to one go through the annals of Indian sport, it would be a tough challenge to come up with instances where kids as young as 16 are thrown into the cauldron and made to compete against the best in the world. While it's tough recognising a kid with a world beater talent and its tougher being able to be develop it at the right time under the tutelage of the right people, But the toughest is to give the kid the highest level exposure at this young an age and yet supported to make him thrive. Indian sports are replete with examples where whizkids have been lost due to one or all of the above not happening. This is changing in Indian badminton today. We appear to have successfully done a 'Çhodd aaye hum woh galiyaan' on those days of self-doubt and low expectations.
The badminton ecosystem today represents a cooker. Not one filled with pressure, but one that's simmering with array of talents made up of the multiple ingredients waiting to explode onto the global scene. It has already blown multiple whistles thanks to the people on the top, but the real story of our dominance would be when the cooker bursts and fills the sport at all if its levels and disciplines with its colour and aroma. The world sure is starting to get the taste off late, more so this week, but the real taste of the pudding will come when the highest levels of the sport are bagged. For this to happen, the efforts to stay on the long winding road to success needs to be constantly maintained ! To borrow from the great man again -
In umr se lambi sadako ko, Manzil tak pahunchte dekha nahin
Bas daudte phirte rehete hain, Humne to theherte dekha nahin .......
