Abashed greeting

It has been a few weeks since the Beijing Olympics got over, but for some people, the euphoria over India's performance at the Games goes on. Granted, it is the first time that India had won more than 2 medals in the Olympics, but the level of celebrations seems to be a bit overboard at most times. Of course I was keyed up enough to hand out sweets at work on hearing that Bindra had clinched India's first individual gold, I did feel wretched when Saina lost to Yulianti, I did cheer when Sushil Kumar rode his luck for the bronze, as when Vijender got through to the semi-final and I felt sorry for Akhil - the last especially because I had grandly predicted gold for him. And I certainly respect the hard work and single minded focus that our sporstpersons have, and continue to, put in.

But as a collective, the chest-thumping that has gone on about 3 medals is slightly disconcerting. Especially after having seen the berserk behaviour of Indian cricket fans who go to either extreme depending on the team's performance, I shudder to think of what would happen if India were to bring home, say, 30 medals from London 2012. Would the energy be dissipated across the 30 medal winners? Would the celebrations be ten times as riotous? And what would happen if 2016 sees us drop back to 5 medals? The mind boggles.

Maybe the people behind this congratulatory message were also assailed by similar thoughts, which could be one reason why they have chosen to 'singular'ly congratulate the medal winners!