Of late, India has a new hobby — reality shows and people wanting their 15 minutes of fame.
Whether it is Big Boss or Haqeekat ka Amna Aamna or some other inane TV show, washing your dirty linen in public has become a fashion.
And then you have people like the lady in red, Madhura Nagendra, who made Olympic security officials in London go red in the face for lack of proper security. Ms Nagendra also made India go red in shame. All for her 15 minutes of fame.
As you can see in the picture, a stunned Sushil Kumar is wondering just who is walking beside him.
And all her father, Mr K.L. Nagendra, had to say to this faux pas was: “My daughter has done nothing wrong and she has not broken any rules… She was part of the opening ceremony as a dancer and was later asked by someone in the organising committee to be part of India’s march-past.”
Asked by the organising committee? Why would they do that? And why would they issue an apology to India if they indeed do that? But, we can forgive Mr Nagendra’s reaction; a father will be defensive after all.
Madhura Nagendra’s FB fan page
But, what surprises me is the reaction of the younger generation from India, many of whom have started fan pages on Facebook. Sample some of the posts: “Isn’t she so cool? It takes a proud, unafraid ordinary girl in bright blue and red to make India shine,” says Madhavi Jha, 24. “Security breach aside, didn’t she just rock India’s show?” says Rahul Mishra, 27. “The lady has got guts and this is what we need in our people,” adds Harsh Kumar, 19.
Rocked the show? She stole the thunder from our athletes who has no state support, work and train in pathetic conditions and anyway are overshadowed by cricket in this country.
Guys wake up, grow up! We don’t need to do stupid things to get noticed. If you indeed want to get noticed achieve something.
Madhura’s Twitter supporters also rave on. As user Esther Rogers tweeted: “Thumbs up for walking beside the Indian Olympic Team … you got guts, LOL so funny!” Geetanjali Kaur tweeted: “Not sure if it’s wrong to secretly marvel at Madhura Honey’s confidence and guts.”
Others had a good laugh. Anjan, 22, tweeted, “People don’t know … actually Madhura Honey is Suresh Kalmadi in disguise.”
Another FB page that calls itself Madhura Nagendra’s “official” page.
This is a list of what her fans want:
- Make Madhura the face of Olympics in India.
- Make her the ambassador of Indian sport abroad.
- Make her the mascot of the Indian Olympic team.
- Felicitate her for her extraordinary and brave show of patriotism.
- Make her outfit the official Olympic uniform for India.
Are we serious? Are we a nation of crazy people? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or feel angry. All these responses on her appearance in the Olympics are really shocking and scary. Is this the way our youth aim to achieve fame? By making a fool of ourselves?
As for the security breach, it is unforgivable. If a similar incident had happened in India during the Commonwealth Games to the British contingent, would they be as understanding about this? I sometimes wonder whether mentally we are still being ruled by them.
But then forgive Madhura. She is not the only one. Poonam Pandey first came into the limelight because she vowed to strip if India won the Cricket World Cup. And an entire nation lined up to see what she would do. Bam! She came into the limelight. She had achieved what she wanted — a non-existent carrier model to a super celebrity.
And, before her we have had Rakhi Sawant, who on innumerable occasions tried to become more famous (read infamous), with her various comments and the famous Mika Kiss.
We go berserk over Mallika Sherawat and ‘Hollywood connections’ as she stands next to Hollywood stars and gets her pictures clicked. That’s not all; she even managed to get Antonio Banderas in trouble by dancing with him recently.
What is it that these women are looking for? Yes, you are on every news channel and newspaper. But where is the dignity in your actions? How proud are you making the country with your actions? What are you trying to achieve?
Late though, but I couldn’t resist writing this as I saw a heroic Mary Kom bowing out after putting up a brave fight in the boxing semifinals. But not before the 28-year-old, mother of two had assured us a bronze. That’s the way to earn fame.
Yes, out combined show has been dismal at London.Yes, as a nation of over a billion people we need to pull up our socks and do more. Yes, we need years of preparation before we churn out Michael Phelps or Usain Bolts. But to do that, we need to respect the sport first. We, as a nation, need to understand that there is much more beyond those 15 minutes of fame. It is our don’t-care attitude that has reduced our eight-time champion hockey team to a team who can’t win even a match today.
No use blaming them. No use blaming the system. Grow up, India.
