193. The PM and our Olympians
In the last couple of weeks, I came across 2 videos that were about the meeting of our PM, Mr Narendra Modi with our Olympians and Para Olympians. Surprisingly, I went through both the videos in full😊. I don’t spend much time in politicians interacting with sportspersons as almost all of them are mostly one-sided with the politician talking about himself and what he has done for the sportsperson and that being the single-most reason for the sportsperson doing good☹.
Usually, these interactions are only about the politicians clicking pictures with the sportspersons and furthering their own cause for staying the limelight for a longer period of time. I remember, when India won the cricket world cup in 1983, the cricketers were welcomed by our Prime Minister that time, Mrs Indira Gandhi at her house or some public place. The cricketers lined up and the PM spent a couple of seconds with each player and then moved on. Everyone had lunch and then dispersed.
Over the years, the same ritual continued whenever any sportsperson achieved an important award. Every politician lined up to wish them and ensured that they got clicked with the sportsperson.
After seeing the recent 2 videos, the link is provided below, I was simply in awe of our PM, Mr Modi. Both the videos are about an hour long, each. He interacts with every person who has come for the meeting. Even the sportsperson who have not won a medal, gets an audition with the PM. The athletes are seated around a small table or in a small oval shaped seating arrangement. Our PM talks to each one of them, remembering their details and their families’ details.
Before the sportspersons went for participating in the Olympics too, he had met them (some virtually and some in person). He had promised to do something for the Olympians when they came back, and he made sure he kept the promise (like eating ice cream with PV Sindhu etc). He also spoke to them when they won any medal in Olympics by calling them immediately after their event. I have not seen any of our erstwhile PM or President calling up any of our sportsperson earlier, ever.
Even though I knew that the term “Divyang” was used for referring to handicapped people, I didn’t know that its use was put into place only after Mr Modi became the PM. And it was quite touching to hear one of our para-Olympians mentioning about the same and how it motivated them to excel further.
The PM also enquired about the sportspersons families and had even spoken to some of them earlier on phone. A couple of para-Olympians also mentioned that their villagers were not that happy on them winning the Olympic medal. They were in fact, over the moon, hearing that the sportsperson was called to meet the PM!!
After their Olympic event, the winners are supposed to attend a meeting with the press. After one of our para-Olympians won his event, he was called to meet the press. His coach mentioned that our PM is going to call the athlete and could the meeting be arranged after 10 minutes or so. At this, the organizer told him to come up with a different excuse and not lie. He further said nowhere in the world such a thing happens. Apparently, another colleague of the organizer told him that India’s PM does call up his athletes after their winning the medal. The organizer was simply dumbstruck on hearing this😊.
Our PM poses for photos with all the athletes individually, signs autographs for them. He also remembers each of them by name. Even though he would have done some homework in remembering everyone’s name, the fact that he did remember, points to the respect that he had for every athlete.
Many athletes also presented gifts to the PM, like their javelin, badminton racquet, fencing sword etc. The PM told them that he would be auctioning them for a noble cause and whether they were ok with it. Of course, you can’t say no to the PM😊!! By the way, the auction has started from 17th Sept and will go on till 8th Oct. In case you want to buy any of them, this is where you should head to – https://pmmementos.gov.in/#/
Chopra’s gold medal winning Javelin has reached Rs 10 crore and PV Sindhu’s badminton racquet has reached Rs 2 crore 20 thousand😊!! All the best😊!!
The interactions with the PM are a must-see, in case you have not seen them.
His interaction with our Olympians here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ieTiHsbHLU
His interaction our Para-Olympians here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzgGZtlSi4U
Cheers till next time! 😊
Today’s Observation
Marriage is not a lottery, for in a lottery, you have a chance! 😊
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