AFVOA Newletters of Year 2005

Page 40 of 75 11. Remember that in the old days there was only one type of canvas shoe (white or brown “keds”), which we had to make do for all sports and running. We were none the worse for it. Today the media, big business and the ad-world tells us that you have to have a particular type of shoe for a particular game. Jesse Owens’ long jump record set in 1935 on “keds” could be broken only 25 years later by an athlete using more sophisticated shoes! There was only one type of wooden racquet for tennis. No aluminium, steel, titanium or carbon fibre shaft. Yet Ken Rosewall or Lew Hoad were no less power tennis players than today’s histrionic breed of players who even have psychological training to steel their nerves but lose nonetheless to lesser mortals! 12. Coming to coaching, today we must engage a foreign coach for our pathetic cricket team at a cost of about $175,000 plus the usual 5-star perks. Whereas, the magic of Tendulkar’s batting or Dhyan Chand’s wizardry with the stick or Milkha Singh’s running, were learnt in the by-lanes of Mumbai, the fields of Jhansi and the playfield near the “langar” at Bolarum respectively. No audio-video lessons, no expensive togs or gear, no special coaches!! But today’s generation cannot digest this fact - that more than all the accessories and so-called assists, it is the hard work and the will to excel that matters most . 13. Some would say that we are not moving with the times if we do not acknowledge that togs, gear and coaching do help in improving performance. We do not deny that these help in fine-tuning one’s performance, once a basic level is reached. But to think that every child or adult cannot take part in activities without these pre-requisites is a recent mind-set which is erroneous. In spite of all this brouhaha of coaches, sports gear and the like, how many champions have we thrown up in the World arena? 14. Turning next, to the first point of our becoming ‘softer’. This is noticeably true , notwithstanding the fact that we have gyms at every comer of the town. We know of loaded gentry who boast of spending an hour each day at the gym. Most of them, will stay in the confines of a fully air-conditioned house or office without as much as even feeling the sunshine or the breeze, after which they will gorge themselves with junk food, only to exercise at the A/C gym trying to remove the flab! With the stress and strain of meeting targets, most of them bum out before they are forty while their spouses in their separate chauffeur-driven cars go to boutiques and beauty parlours, spending the remaining time at kitty parties and card sessions. Most couples are diabetic and have heart problems to add to their woes. The opulent lifestyles are in effect making us softer than the previous generations, who could withstand the rigours of austere living, sans luxuries. 15. What is worrisome to us veterans is that this new type of life-style should not be allowed to percolate beyond a point among our forces, especially in the field. Nowadays there are increased allocations in the budget of a scale, unheard of in the past. Such increased allotments should be used judiciously for improving our fighting capabilities and not for expensive baubles. Many will argue that technology can compensate as a force multiplier. But our ability to assimilate this technology is important. We must realize that today the average roadside mechanic cannot even diagnose a minor fault in a Euro-II or Euro-III car as he has no clue or the wherewithal to do so. One has to go to a computer equipped workshop for that particular make or model. No general purpose workshop can handle such problems. So technology cannot compensate for the physical and mental competence of a very high order among our officers and men. 16. I sign off now, with the above thoughts and hope and pray that our fighting forces will not fall a prey to the external influences prevalent in our society but continue to retain our separate wholesome identity.