Dr. Sawraj Singh

TWO very significant recent developments show that we may be approaching the very end of the Western domination. In Beijing Olympics, China has clearly showed that not only an Asian country can win more gold medals than any other country in the World but it also it can out spend any Western country as well as can present unparalleled spectacular shows. Jaqeous Rogge, the chairman of the International Olympics committee called these Olympics “exceptional”.
China spent 43 billion dollars, about three times the money spent on the Athens Olympics. The British have already announced that they can not spend more than 9.3 pounds on the 2012 Olympics that is about one third of what China spent on the Beijing Olympics. It is estimated that more ten 4 billion people watched these Olympics on the television. The number of people who watched the Olympics on the internet was thirty times more than the people who watched the Athens Olympics on the internet.
Many participants as well as visitors felt that the Chinese managed these Olympics extremely well and they were very helpful and polite. There were more than one hundred thousand volunteers helping the people. The Chinese had very difficult time choosing these volunteers from 1.2 million people who applied to become volunteers. These were all highly qualified people who were fluent in English.
At the same time when China was conducting this glorious Olympics, Russians gave one of the biggest blows to the Western domination. Georgia, one of the closest Western allies, was defeated by the Russians. This is not a defeat of Georgia but of the dominant West.
The West is blaming Russia for violating the International law. Was not the same West that helped Kosovo to declare independence from Serbia, even going against the mandate of the United Nations? Today when the Russians have paid it back with the same coin in Ossetia and Abkkezia, the Western criticism sounds hypocritical and the west is pursuing double standards.
When Russia was going through severe economic hardships and wanted help from the West, instead of helping it the West humiliated and taunted Russia. When Russia installed missiles in Cuba then the U.S. was very upset because the missiles were close to the borders but when the Russians are objecting to the installation of the American missiles in Poland, close to their border then America feels that Russia has no right to object.
Russia has said that it will 100% launch a nuclear attack on Poland if it goes ahead with the installations of the American missiles. However, President Bush and Condoleeza Rice tell us that the Russians do not mean that. What makes them so sure of that? What if Russia really lives up to its threat? Will America launch a nuclear attack on Russia? Russia is not Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The Japanese did not have a nuclear capability to retaliate but the Russians have more nuclear heads then America has. Are we forgetting the concept of M.A.D.? (Mutual Armed Destruction).
What is more important, Western arrogance or the survival of the planet and mankind? After all, out of many thousand centuries we only had two centuries of Western domination. I feel people of the World can happily live in a World that is neither dominated by the West nor by the East. A multi polar World where there is no domination by any one power center is the best solution.
[Sawraj Singh, M.D. FICS is Chairman Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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How they prepare to win the medal

SUSHIL Kumar made history after winning the medal in wrestling at Beijing Olympics. Celebrations started to began at Satpal's akhada in Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi, the moment Sushil won the medal. Before going to participate in game at Beijing no one was hoping for a medal.
If we have some glimpses of the everyday lives of the country's second medallist at the Games shows, then we can see how he had to battle a lot more than his opponents in Beijing. Squeezed into tiny rooms at the stadium's residential facility, with rats, cockroaches and cobwebs for company, the conditions are not really conducive to breed a champion. But for these men, it's just a way of life.
The condition of the room is very bad. It looks dark despite the light outside, and with barely any space to walk between the beds, the room gives the impression of being much smaller than it is. The shelf at the back has a number of trunks thrown together, taking up precious space, but it's all they have to spare for their belongings.
Sumit, one of the wrestlers who bunks in the same room as Sushil, proudly points out his now famous colleague's mattress among nine others in the small room. "See, this is where he sleeps. In the summer he sleeps this side, but in winter he moves to the other mattress. We have to manage with just these two coolers, so he moves to be more comfortable," he says.
"With this medal, we hope our needs are better looked after than before. Here, there are 20 people to a room with two people to a bed. Not all rooms have coolers like ours, and we have to share the space with rats and other animals. Here, there's room for everybody," laughs Arvind, another inmate cheerfully resigned to the conditions.
For their food and lodging, they pay a sum of Rs 1000-1500, depending on the size of the room. "This is how we've been living. We have to make do with what we have. It's very tough, but what choice do we have?" says Sumit, before adding: "Perhaps now that Sushil had got a medal, more money will come into the sport. We have brought it to the attention of the authorities many times but it hasn't made a difference, so we carry on."
Coach Virender Kumar acknowledges things are tough. "Sushil also had the same difficulties, but he had said he'll win a medal and he did. Here at the stadium, there are wrestlers from all over the country who are living in these conditions, and I hope they are all inspired by what he has done. Wrestlers don't get jobs, so many are unwilling to take it up seriously, but now things will be different," he says.
As Sushil has won the medal at Beijing, all of them are hoping for the improvement of the game by getting more facilities from the authorities.

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