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2010 Commonwealth games

Why do we need Olympics? – Part 2

In Part 1 we saw the utility value. But, it is not merely numbers and money.

When we grew up the only mention of India in world media would occur in connection with a catastrophe (like fire, rail accident, boat collapse) or a weird thing (longest mustache, exotic rituals, animals in the roads). There would be nothing positive. Economists would derisively call our economy as one with a “Hindu rate of growth” – meaning it doesn’t move anywhere. My friends had this acronym for INDIA – It Never Develops In Anything. We were made to feel rotten about our education system, politics, technology, culture and so on.

But, suddenly things started changing in the 90s. It is not just Manmohan Singh’s economic plans, but something more. We got a chance to finally dream about something. Infosys, Wipro and other tech companies emerged in the scene and finally showed we can do something in technology. Infosys is no Microsoft and Nayarana Moorthy is no Sergey Brin. But, even that first step and a glittering enterprise was enough to kindle the ambitions of young minds. Millions of students started dreaming about becoming a computer engineer. They knew if they do enough hard work, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Within a decade we emerged from “hindu rate of growth” with horrible technological infrastructure to be a force to reckon with in the Silicon Valley. Indians are the most dominant “alien” group among the startup entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and Indian engineers hold some of the top positions of companies including Microsoft, Pepsi, Google and Citibank. Indian PhD students are one of most visible groups in Computer Science in US Universities, and in top European institutions like INSEAD.

How come we became a major force in technology, finance and business? We have a long way to go to become like US, but we have done a lot in a decade. What started out as a project to fix Y2K bugs is now a major national jewel. The main reason is we started to dream, got goals and believed in ourselves that we can do as good as anybody.

What we really need is a similar event for Indian sports. We need to instill dreams among millions of young minds of becoming an athlete and win gold. We need to give them hope that they can do it. We need to create an event that will shape their mindsets and bring glory to India. We want to become a permanent member of UN Security Council and Nuclear Weapons group. But, do we realize that those countries are not just powerful in their weapons and economy, but are also major sporting states to reckon with and who all have hosted an Olympics each. Being successful in sports doesn’t gurantee that we will be a great world power, but it will reinforce  India’s standings as a well-rounded power.

We have disproved naysayers various times. Our kids who were educated in shanties are now rubbing sholders with the those from Stanford and MIT, and our so called weak education system is not hindering their chances of climbing Wall Street and Silicon Valley’s ladders. And if we have enough determination and dream enough, we can be a real sporting power too.

Why do we need Olympics? – Part 1

Have not we got enough problems? Can’t the $10 billion needed for the games be used for other uses? Do we have world class athletes to make use of this opportunity? Can we pull it off?

All questions are valid and are hard to answer.

First the utility value:

a) Olympics can revitalize the tourism industry and bring billions in direct and indirect income

b) It will improve trade and investing, as foreign investors have historically shown more bias towards countries that have hosted an Olympics (since Olympics committee has hard filters, a country that has gotten through it must be a stable, strong economy).

c) Remember how many times Beijing and China appeared in the world media in the run up to the Olympics? Such positive media attention and presence in world conscience can be helpful in us establishing a world presence and make major business and political deals.

d) It can revitalize our infrastructure and force our bueracrats to clean things up.

e) It can revitalize India’s sports and give our athletes a chance to face the home crowd.

But utility just answers a part of the question. There is an answer far beyond money and power.

Continue to Part 2 >>>

1.1 billion people wait for Olympics

We have waited for  over a century while Americans and Europeans were shuttling the Olympic torch between them. But, this is the century of developing nations. Beijing had it in 2008, Rio in 2016 and we will have it in Delhi 2020.

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