Pity Usha

As far as I remember, this name always had a place reserved in my General knowledge book. From fifth to twelfth standard (yes I had Physical education as a subject), I read about her in one form of question or the other. Identify the picture of the famous athlete; name the first Indian women to reach the finals of Olympics; who is known as the India’s golden girl and many more questions with a similar answer which is ‘P.T. Usha’. She is one of those Indian athletes who has garnered the maximum number of medals, won innumerable accolades and brought laurels to the nation making the Indians proud.

Out of boredom, I turned the television on and while switching through the channels, I found P.T. Usha crying uncontrollably on a news channel and suddenly I was inquisitive about the cause. It was really disheartening to discover that she wasn’t given proper accommodation in Bhopal where she had gone for the National Open Athletic Championship. First she was marooned at the airport and then she wasn’t even provided a separate room. The lady had to wait till 2:30 in the morning before she was given a private lodge. The irony is that she was ill-treated by the people of the same country that once conferred her most prestigious awards like Padma Shri and the Arjuna Award.

I wonder had the ignorance been the same if it was Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar and not P.T. Usha. The Regional Centre of Sports Authority of India surely had her picture framed but didn’t care a tad to comfort her. She spent her entire career serving the country and this truly isn’t the reward she deserved.

She is one prized possession our country has which is meant to be treasured but the kind of deportment she got was pitiable.