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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.

Monsoon Malaise

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Few things are as predictable as Mumbai’s monsoon: torrential rains, clogged roads, submerged railway tracks, harried commuters. Year after year, Mumbai, Pune and other parts in Maharashtra face a familiar deluge of water - and a deluge of excuses. As the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues warnings, the state’s infrastructure wilts under pressure, unable to cope with the annual onslaught. The problem is not the accuracy or inaccuracy of these forecasts (often the butt of jokes), but the chronic inadequacy of the state’s infrastructure.

Despite Maharashtra being one of India’s wealthiest states, its urban planning and preparedness for heavy rains remain woefully inadequate. Mumbai, the financial capital, is an emblem of this paradox. The city’s drainage system, much of it built during the British era, is designed to handle 25mm of rain per hour. This might have sufficed in 1860, but it is pitifully inadequate for the reality of the 2020s, where storms can dump more than 100mm of rain in just a few hours.

In Pune, rapid urbanization has outstripped its drainage systems, causing flash floods during the monsoon. Once known for its pleasant weather, the city now faces severe waterlogging with any heavy rain, worsened by roads that quickly morph into lunar craters at the first instance of heavy showers.

A critical flaw in Maharashtra’s monsoon preparedness lies not just in infrastructure but in communication. While the state government leans heavily on IMD forecasts, it rarely takes proactive steps to directly inform the public about impending torrential rains. The reliance on the IMD’s bulletins alone - often buried in technical jargon - leaves citizens unaware of real-time conditions and disruptions.

This communication gap has dire consequences. Commuters in Mumbai, dependent on the city’s overstretched public transport system, often find themselves stranded as trains are cancelled, buses are rerouted, and streets turn into rivers.

The city’s famed suburban rail network grinds to a halt, leaving thousands scrambling for alternative routes with little advance notice.Instead of waiting for IMD alerts, the Maharashtra administration could adopt a more dynamic, real-time communication system using apps, SMS alerts, and social media to keep commuters informed of road closures, train delays, and areas to avoid.

A centralized, citizen-centric system, akin to those used in other flood-prone cities globally, could alleviate much of the chaos that grips Mumbai during the monsoon, helping people adjust their plans before the city is submerged.

Without a strategic overhaul of its urban infrastructure, the state will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of monsoon mismanagement. Maharashtra cannot control the skies, but it can control how prepared it is to face the rains that fall from them.

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