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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same...

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same narrative unfolded on a cricket field, the reaction would have been dramatically different. In cricket, even defeat often becomes a story of heroism. A hard-fought loss by the Indian team can dominate television debates, fill newspaper columns and trend across social media for days. A player who narrowly misses a milestone is still hailed for his fighting spirit. The nation rallies around its cricketers not only in victory but also in defeat. The narrative quickly shifts from the result to the effort -- the resilience shown, the fight put up, the promise of future triumph. This emotional investment is one of the reasons cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity in India. It has built a culture where players become household names and their performances, good or bad, become part of the national conversation. Badminton Fights Contrast that with what happens in sports like badminton. Reaching the final of the All England Championships is a monumental achievement. The tournament is widely considered badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in prestige and tradition. Only the very best players manage to reach its final stages, and doing it twice speaks volumes about Lakshya Sen’s ability and consistency. Yet the reaction in India remained largely subdued. There were congratulatory posts, some headlines acknowledging the effort and brief discussions among badminton enthusiasts. But the level of national engagement never quite matched the magnitude of the achievement. In a cricketing context, reaching such a stage would have triggered days of celebration and analysis. In badminton, it often becomes just another sports update. Long Wait India’s wait for an All England champion continues. The last Indian to win the title was Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Before him, Prakash Padukone had scripted history in 1980. These victories remain among the most significant milestones in Indian badminton. And yet, unlike cricketing triumphs that are frequently revisited and celebrated, such achievements rarely stay in the mainstream sporting conversation for long. Lakshya Sen’s journey to the final should ideally have been viewed as a continuation of that legacy, a reminder that India still possesses the talent to challenge the world’s best in badminton. Instead, it risks fading quickly from public memory. Visibility Gap The difference ultimately comes down to visibility and cultural investment. Cricket in India is not merely a sport; it is an ecosystem built over decades through media attention, sponsorship, and mass emotional attachment. Individual sports, on the other hand, often rely on momentary bursts of recognition, usually during Olympic years or when a medal is won. But consistent performers like Lakshya Sen rarely receive the sustained spotlight that their achievements deserve. This disparity can also influence the next generation. Young athletes are naturally drawn to sports where success brings recognition, financial stability and national fame. When one sport monopolises the spotlight, others struggle to build similar appeal. Beyond Result Lakshya Sen may have finished runner-up again, but his performance at the All England Championship is a reminder that India continues to produce world-class athletes in disciplines beyond cricket. The real issue is not that cricket receives immense attention -- it deserves the admiration it gets. The concern is that athletes from other sports often do not receive comparable appreciation for achievements that are equally significant in their own arenas. If India aspires to become a truly global sporting nation, its applause must grow broader. Sporting pride cannot remain confined to one field. Because somewhere on a badminton court, an athlete like Lakshya Sen is fighting just as hard for the country’s colours as any cricketer on a packed stadium pitch. The only difference is how loudly the nation chooses to cheer.

Brawls rock Lilavati Hospital

Trustee, staffers engage in public slanging matches

Mumbai:  The prestigious Lilavati Hospital in Bandra west, much in the slimelight for various reasons, witnessed at least three public brawls peppered with choicest abuses and near-fisticuffs among a Permanent Trustee and certain staffers, sources said.

 

The showdowns took place in October 2024, January and February 2025 that willy-nilly exposed some scams inside the hallowed portals of the hospital – ranging from corruption to sexist behaviour, besides the alleged spectre of ‘black magic’ that was admitted by the authorities there in March 2025 – raising many questions of the murky goings-on.

 

One incident concerned a Permanent Trustee Rajiv Kishor Mehta, son of the Trustees Kishor Mehta (who died in May 2024) and Charu Mehta, besides being son-in-law of diamantaire and erstwhile Bollywood's moneybags mogul, Bharat Shah.

 

Rajiv Kishor Mehta claimed that a Vice-President and Head of Purchase Shubham Bardhan – said to be loyal to another Permanent Trustee Rajesh Kishor Mehta (twin brother of Rajiv Kishor Mehta) entrusted with the critical supply chain management - was appointed as a co-signatory with any Trustee in Dec. 2024, but without a formal Board Resolution.

 

Rajiv described Bardhan with unsavoury words like - ‘uncouth, uncultured, rodent, amateur, robber, alcoholic, mental patient having a split personality disorder and sex-predator’ - who physically prevented him from inspecting the hospital’s 12th floor on Feb. 1, where deluxe suites are planned.

 

When Rajiv asked to examine the materials department where medical and other supplies were carelessly stored, Bardhan’s team asked him to take prior permission of his twin-brother (Rajesh Kishor Mehta). As he waited there, Bardhan plus his staffers and some security guards barged towards him menacingly.

 

Though Rajiv beat a retreat, he shot off a stinker to the COO Dr. Niraj Uttamani and all the Trustees, demanded security for self as Bardhan would have pushed him from the 12th floor that day, probe and suspension of Bardhan, and action by a sexual harassment panel for his alleged sexual exploitation of women staffers.

 

The hospital’s Guest Relations Department chief Mayuri Kulkarni recounted two other instances of January 2025 and October 2024, hinting at questionable intentions by Bardhan to some female staffers. (both letters viewed by The Perfect Voice).

 

Bardhan threw his designation and the matter reached the COO Dr. Uttamani and Permanent Trustee Rajiv, where Kulkarni narrated how she and other women were insulted, humiliated as their modesty was hurt in a public forum.

With the latest revelations, some ex-Trustees and officials in the know want the Charity Commissioner, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and other concerned agencies to intervene. 

 

Permanent Trustee exposes ‘commission-scam’

Lilavati Hospital’s Permanent Trustee Rajiv Kishor Mehta unwittingly laid bare an alleged ‘commission scam’ involving Bardhan and implicating twin-brother and Permanent Trustee Rajesh Kishor Mehta.

 

Rajiv accused Bardhan of openly demanding and pocketing commissions from external manufacturers, suppliers and vendors which was giving a bad image to the hospital. Going further, he contended that the VP (Bardhan) of Lilavati Hospital was the only one in Mumbai seeing such cuts, and those who failed to pay up were struck off the hospital list.

 

“I have personally received complaints about him asking money under-the-table by various pharmaceutical companies, equipment companies and surgical suppliers. One vendor even admitted to this in front of Dr. Uttamani, Gauti Bhatia, Peter D’Souza and myself. The man (Bardhan) is a complete blot to the 3 decades of reputation built by our founding fathers,” said Rajiv.

 

Besides threatening the suppliers of discontinuing their business with Lilavati Hospital, Rajiv said that Bardhan regularly summons young female employees of many departments to his room ‘for reasons best known to him’, or how he greeted them as ‘Hello, Beautiful ladies!’, barges into their rooms, made highly sexist and perverse remarks at them, and at least two harassed women wanted to quit their jobs.

 

“This man Shubham is a characterless, greedy and the worst employee in the history of Lilavati Hospital. I need complete protection from him as he may cause grievous harm to me and my family members and many of the ladies working in our erstwhile hospital,” said Rajiv Kishor Mehta.

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