Blazing a trail....well done; Attagirl!

The path to success is not a road you find but a trail you blaze.

- Robert Brault

A nation waited with bated breath just before midnight to see a little lass perform at a sport which no Indian thought his country will be competing at the global stage. Many a time, when I have seen Romanian and Russian gymnasts compete, I would always come back thinking that elasticity is somewhere embedded into their rubberized bodies. Rice-sambar and roti-dal can never make our bodies elastic, I thought. But, here she was, at an inch short of five feet, running in and performing a stunt in the flash of an eye.

I switched on the television after a long time to take home a gift, along with millions, for the I-day the next day. She was in the third position till the American came along. From the moment the American ran in, it was over. She did it the typical American way, fast and furious. I could not relate to her movement, not rhythmic the way the others demonstrated, but she was too fast and did catch the eye, most importantly, of the scorers.

An aside - The way the Russians and Romanians go about their gymnastic routine makes you feel that they are made for the stage. (In this case, the third position was won by a Swiss miss). It is poetic - the run up, the vault and the landing; it is almost like how birds of prey do it ...eagles and falcons perhaps? A falcon dives in at a speed around 300 km per hour to snatch its prey, but the way it goes about it is a sight to behold!  

Coming back, our little lass lost, by some points and, let's admit, to superior competition and thankfully not on contentious ruling. (Gymnastics has always been a sport where rulings are difficult to give. If I am right, the first and last time a perfect ten was achieved was in the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Romanian Nadia Comanenci created magic. The scoring system then changed to disallow perfect tens - when there is no perfection in life, a perfect score in sport would be subjective indeed.)

But Dipa, from Agartala, Tripura, has blazed a trail. She like some Indians, has managed to create interest in a sport hitherto looked upon as very un-Indian. She has age on her side and will not certainly return empty handed the next time. Here's hoping that the great Indian sports official does not play spoilsport.

Let us stand and applaud the little lass and take some inspiration from her. There are unexplored territories in life, which we can go, if only we think we can!

Bravo!