Nerve Endings Firing Away

Over the past month, new media has been inundated with the progress of the Olympic Torch relay and the hot water it has been getting into. As Jon Stewart eruditely remarked, Tibet protesters are hell bent upon interrupting the relay and extinguishing the torch as it doing so will instantly free Tibet. But I can understand why Tibetans are jumping on this opportunity to highlight their plight. Apart from Richard Gere, no one has really given a crap about Tibet in recent times and Dalai Lama is treated more like a spiritual guru preaching non-violence than as a representative for Tibet. He makes no effort to be seen as such either and even seems to accept Tibet’s occupation by China. The only thing that perhaps the human rights movement needs for Tibet is humane treatment of the Tibetans and a kind ear to their grievances. But perhaps this is too much for China who seem hell bent upon doing the exact opposite and going to the extent of bashing in the skulls of Buddhist monks. Anyway, the China-Tibet issue can be debated endlessly but that is not the point of this post.

The primary reason Tibetans and other pro-Tibet protesters have woken up to the cause of their struggle is the inordinate attention given to a flaming torch that purports to stand for peace and friendship. The irony, eh? The Olympics have been hailed as the greatest show on Earth where politics (should) takes a back seat and pure sporting talent (should) reigns supreme. It is the ultimate stage where countries like Ukraine, Iran, Kenya, Bahamas can find themselves in a spot of glory instead of incessant revolutions and violence back home. But the Olympics hardly have been devoid of political games and statements starting from Hitler in 1936 who used them in trying to prove Aryan supremacy and we are well aware of the black salute in 1968, massacre in 1972, boycotts in 1980 & 1984. So has the torch relay helped any?

The Olympic torch relay was incidentally started during the Berlin Olympics but the international relay of transporting it all over the world before it reached the host country was done first only in 2004 for the Athens Olympics. I had preferred it when it flew straight from Olympia to the host country. It made sense when the torch traveled through the country that was hosting the Olympics since it is considered a matter of national achievement to host the Games. Why the heck would you take the torch to other places is beyond me. Check out the entire route and imagine the cost and horrors of logistics. I’m not even offering the ‘Feed Haiti for a year’ argument but the carbon footprint and costs involved are enormous. And even after spending all that moolah and taking on the logistical nightmare, the Olympic Torch hardly has achieved its objective of spreading the spirits of Olympics embodying peace and brotherhood around the world. In fact, it has done the opposite. China is experiencing the worst PR disaster in its Suppress Tibet campaign and now London is rethinking doing this global relay [image source]. Any host country worth its salt in problems would. Even if India hosts the Olympics (I know, yeah right), you would have Kashmiri separatists protesting on the streets of Timbuktu. Why bother other countries with your internal conflicts and expect them to stifle those protesters, like China expects everyone to?

This brings me to India where the torch relay is expected to begin on April 17th. Considering the attention it already has and will garner over the next week, you would think Indians are more concerned about running with the Olympic Torch rather than in the Olympics itself. There has been plenty of talk and discussion about celebrities who have chosen to run with the torch and those who have refused to. We have had Indian celebrities running with the torch in foreign countries too. I’m sure these people are not equating running with the torch as some of national glory. Going by the publicity and demand to carry the torch, you would imagine that it is some kinda high honor. You would imagine Sachin Tendulkar has achieved almost everything that an Indian sportsperson could in his career (except winning the World Cup) and he has the love and admiration of millions perhaps more than any sportsperson in the world. So I was surprised when he calls up Suresh Kalamadi, President of the Indian Olympic Association (what exactly does he do given our recent performances?) and offers to carry the torch. He is neither under contract from Coca-Cola and nor does he need any additional fame or attention. By opting to take on a controversy-ridden torch, perhaps he needs a new PR agent who will tell him not to make such dumb moves. Cricket is not even part of the Olympics so technically, he isn’t even responsible for spreading the Olympic love. On a related note, Chetan wondered why bloggers did not make a fuss when Tendulkar invited himself to the Olympic Torch party. Yup, why not? He certainly deserved a little amount of ridicule for being so needy.

Also, India might be the only country where non-sportspersons are carrying the torch and the IOC is pimping out political favors by offering the torch to young undeserving politicians. And finally, don’t we look kinda pathetic making such a fuss about the Olympic torch when we will be coming home from Beijing with a measly bronze (that would be a high achievement in itself)? Our hockey team, once a unbeatable force at the Olympics hasn’t even qualified this time around. So why do we worry about who carries the torch?

What would be my solution for the ideal torch relay if we have to have it for symbolic reasons? Light the torch in the parabolic mirror at Olympia and carry it to the host country in a linear path. If the Olympics are in London then you carry it only through countries that fall along the way. Of course, you can meander a little but for heaven’s sake, don’t fly it to the United States and then fly back to Europe. The U.S. has hosted quite a few Games and won’t mind if you give it a miss. You cannot fly the torch unless you encounter an impassable barrier like the English Channel. If you are calling it the torch relay better do it right. You wouldn’t give the medal to the marathoner who ran the first mile and then took a taxi to the last mile.

Better still, light the torch in Olympia and fly it directly to the host country and let them roam around the countryside with it at their expense. We all have television and we’ll be content watching it from our couch. Especially since the public is now banned from witnessing the torch relay in Pakistan for security reasons (invited guests will ‘experience the torch’ within a stadium). And idiots in Kolkota have banned the Tibet rally although eleven other stupid rallies will go on the same day thus paving the way for the ‘Glory to Communism’ torch. I’m sure, the WB Communists would respect the spirit of the Olympic Torch when the Olympics are hosted by the United States, right? So there you have it, the Olympic torch spreading peace and love in Pakistan and Kolkota. Just like Goebbels would have liked it in way back in 1936 when he first thought of the idea.