Get ready to cheer, Olympics are here!

Smiley_Olympics

Let truth be now known
With passion I shall cheer
Not just for India alone
But for SPORT, that is clear!

Yes, I know I am going to cheer for every sport the same way I cheered when watching the Carabao Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool, every sportsperson who is out there in London, ready to give his or her best. For, according to me, the Olympics are a way to show us all that we need to always give our best. To be able to perform at the maximum level possible, these athletes probably invested their time training with the help of advanced equipment, such as the one on this store.

However, there are some sports enthusiasts that try to enjoy watching their favorite sports games on television, and sometimes they bet on reliable NCAAB picks to enjoy themselves and, luckily, have extra cash.

We had a rather interesting discussion on the dinner table just a couple of hours back. I announced, rather grandly, ‘I am going to cheer for everyone in these Olympics.’

‘Great!’ said Specky, my wife, ‘and how do you plan to do that?’ Then without waiting for me to answer, she just paused for that crucial moment and went on, ‘Is it going to be an overdose of the telly?’

‘Errr… no,’ I sputtered, because the truth is that this was exactly what was in my mind, but I had the mental alacrity to add, ‘it should be something grander than just couch cheering!’

‘I appreciate that,’ said Specky, ‘but the mystery is how you are going to cheer.’ The smile on her face was, as usual, a mysterious one and I knew she already had some sort of answer which might be difficult to refuse or counter, so I said, ‘We’re waiting for your solution to this cheering mystery.’

‘What do sports people do?’ she asked.

‘What sort of question is that,’ I answered testily, ‘obviously they run, jump, swim, row or whatever it is that they are good at.’

‘Good,’ she said, ‘the keyword here is that they do whatever they are good at. I think the best way to cheer all the splendid sporting during these Olympics is to do what you do best. In fact, do it better to give it a special Olympian flavour.’

I was silent for a while and let this complex idea sink in before saying, ‘Obviously, excessive TV watching isn’t going to help anyone give his best.’

‘Well, that can always be a part of the day, of course. But the best tribute to these Olympians will be to give more than our best. The icing on this is that giving more than our best may actually become a habit,’ she said.

‘Hmmm… maybe I’ll start with a few small rhymes.’

‘That will be exciting,’ said she excitedly. She always loves it whenever I sit down to pen a poem.

So the next thing I did was to write a few four liners. I began this article with one of them, and the rest are:

No dither, no talks
In boxing you just box!
No wonder, I believe
In boxing, India rocks!

—

In pace there is grace
And running is a pleasure
Besides, the 100 meter race
Of resilience, is a measure!

—

I’d love to cheer a swimmer
From India, but I know
Before we have a winner
We have a long distance to go!

I will try to write more long and short poems during these days… and even I am quite excited about this as I haven’t yet written any poetry that was connected to sports. A new experience is always welcome.

The Olympics 2012 fever in London_clicked by Pushkin Passey_01

The Olympics 2012 fever in London_clicked by Pushkin Passey_02

Arvind Passey
27 July 2012

Featured image credit: Smiley_Olympics Other images clicked by my son, Pushkin Passey.