Olympics: The greatest Event of Humanity

Olympics are no doubt the greatest sporting event on the planet. I am big fan of Olympics and I love watching them. In the Olympic events the whole world participates unlike other sports such as baseball or football or even hockey where handful of teams from different regions play against each other and call it a world cup or world series representing just a fraction of some regions, not exactly the whole world. I can never figure out why they call it a world series when a single nation's teams are competing against each other rather than other continents or countries.

Olympics in its true spirits is a world sporting event where the best athletes or teams compete and come out as world champions in a factual sense. Olympics represent pride, sportsmanship, competitiveness and friendship, as the finest unite and come under one roof to perform their best. Here every inch or even a nanosecond can cost them a second place or maybe even the last place. Olympics represent unity and peace. This is the only place you will see Israel walking with Palestine, South and North Korea under one roof or Iran hugging arch rival Iraq. Every nations true worth is measured by the number of medals won by their countrymen or women. In Olympics it doesn’t matter if a country is superior in warheads, economy and social status everything is equal at the same level until you see the finish line, where the real superior emerges often called the “winner”.

The Olympics teaches us that we must love, respect and believe in each other. It makes us believe that we can be one “global nation” or a global citizen rather than an American, or a black or a backward caste, inhibiting some of the wasteful notions which divides us. It shows us the real power of women, that women are no less than men and can be as competitive or even better than men in any sport. Here, there is only one language the language of winning, there is only one culture the culture of competition. Olympics also is mix of art, crafts, music and celebrations where people have an opportunity to enjoy, sing and dance together hand in hand shaking a leg to the tunes of friendship and love in togetherness.

It also teaches us some great skills like discipline, time management, team spirit, hard work, focus and good assertiveness. It teaches us to fail and then to improve upon our failures until we get that gold in our laps.

Olympics makes you realize that it is possible to live united as “One World” where there are no boundaries, no religions, no gender inequalities and no politics and where everything is a fair play. We need that kind of world now, if we can live 15 days united like this under one roof and still be happy we can live 150 years or maybe 1500 years.

Since birth we are told that we belong to this country, this religion and a superior caste, we buy our black children black dolls, we tell them that we are the best religion and must hate people who practices another one. In schools we are always taught about boundaries in geography, wars in history and that woman are inferior in biology. When we grow old we learn about greed in business we are taught to bribe since birth. We are trained to kill; we treat someone not born in our country as different. But we are never taught about "world unity"

In Olympics you can see people have similar traits everyone who fails cries, everyone who wins grins, every person has the same habits, similar reactions or emotions. But when we see outside the World of the Olympics we think them as different, we are not ready to accept them and accuse people having a western culture or orthodox eastern habits and seclude them as foreigners.

Olympics is not only a sporting event, it’s a great medium to commune unity. I wait for it every 2 years. Recently the winter Olympics were held in Vancouver. Although, I don’t play any sports that were held in the sporting event, I loved watching it. I learned about several strange countries, saw people with unusual names. I saw Wayne Gretzky carry a torch in the rain and drive down the street in the back of a Silverado. I felt bad for the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili who died while practicing. I was upset when USA lost to Canada in the most nail biting finish, even though I am not a fan of Ice hockey. Olympics always gives me a character of oneness.

Canada did full justice hosting the games, they were a good host. They performed well in the games and came out winning 14 Golds, the maximum by a country. The city is beautiful. The venues were modern. The transportation was efficient. But this wasn’t about logistics. In the end it’s the people that power the movement mattered the most. The Canadian's pushed these games back from the brink of disaster and right off into history. They managed well the opening ceremony wasn’t as extravagant as the one in Beijing in 2008, but the winter Olympics ceremony was awesome I have never seen such a laser and lights show.

The United States set a new record for the highest total of medals won at a single Olympic Winter Games with 37. It has the maximum number of athletes sent by any country competing in almost all events. US pretty much dominated the games. The Chinese and Koreans emerged and gave tough fights although they are not popular in winter sports.

The Olympic torch has gone dark and games have ended but I am not done yet, I still have to tell you about the events and the people which made these winter Olympics a memorable event so watch out for more soon………

The inscrutable American’s - A Journey and all That..........

The inscrutable American’s is not a hate tale of conspiracy against America or a biography of a lost soul in an unfamiliar territory. It’s a story of a hilarious outtake on an Indian's experiences in the US.

It’s a journey which every Indian must have taken as a student and can relate to some of the cultural shocks that the character experiences. This book will have you in splits and wits. An interesting read which will make you think about some of your personal experiences as an alien student in this strange foreign land of dreams.

Although, it was written in 1991 at the time when India was a third world country and some of the descriptions seems to be really outdated for today’s times when India is modern, emerging and at the forefront of the world (I just read today India is going to be 3rd Largest economy by 2020). Unlike 1991 if someone comes today from India, there not much of a difference in living standards. Anurag Mathur, the writer has done an amazing job of describing the journey of Gopal physically, mentally and emotionally over a period of one year. A journey which can be described with the old-cliché, a journey of self-discovery, realization, acceptance and separation. The humor, the Indian English and the author's depiction of Gopal is what makes this book an excellent read and I am sure you won’t put it down as every next page is more intriguing read then the previous one. I couldn't stop laughing at the Gopalisms, which are direct translation from his native language to English.

This book although fiction raises some good points and propels with a lot of issues and gives us the prospective of both the good and the bad of America. It talks about the cultural and ethnic values of India and how a person who has never stepped out of his protective surroundings finds it hard to shed those values and mix them with the unfriendly western culture. It talks about the social acceptance of new people, cultures and even food. It shows us what goes on in the mind of a new immigrant alien and that people are alike everywhere it’s just the skin color that separates them.

The book starts off being funny & witty, then later moves into more serious issues. The book I feel can be divided into three parts. The first part deals with Gopal's amazement in his introduction to the great land. The way he discovers new things and concedes that America indeed is a strange world. He talks about the differences between two worlds unknown to each other. This part is mostly funny and will definitely get you to grin or chuckle multiple times. I laughed till the tears rolled out. This part will get you hooked to the book.

The second part deals with the stark realities of living in USA and it even makes one realize that America has a dark side too and is not all that rosy as presented to the rest of the world. This is the body of the book. This part talks about new discoveries, the racial discrimination, the liberation of mind, the fear to change, the fear of acceptance in an alien society, the educational system, the issues with staying away from meat, his introduction to bars, beers & cigarettes, and his introduction to women sometimes in strange ways, his perception of the Americanism and people around him, his bondage with Randy, Gloria, Sue and Anne and off course his mannerisms which gradually changes and starts becoming more Americanized.

And the last part the end where he has to part with his friends, the education and return to India to manage his old business, the boring life according to him which has been pre-set and arranged for him and back to interdependence rather than independence he discovered here in the US. This part is really touching and gives you a sulking feeling.

I feel the author has shown a great depth in writing the book and each character has made an impact on Gopal’s life. All the characters complement each other very well, especially the characters of Randy & Gopal. The other characters of Gopal’s cousins in the USA, the dean & his wife, his landlady Gloria, his crushes Anne & Sue, Randy parents, the white guy with leaflets, the African-American student 'peacock', the other Indian student Anand who calls our hero as 'Goh-Pal' are all different, funny and you can easily relate to them as one of your friends you made in the US.

This is a recommended read, you can relate to parts in the book maybe some and all that........