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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.

The Plight of the PLIH – With Malice to None

In a city starved of medical space, this is more than neglect—it’s a humanitarian failure. Reviving PLIH is not optional; it’s an urgent moral responsibility.

Dear Mumbaikars,


The Parsi Lying-In Hospital (PLIH), situated within the precinct of Fort in Mumbai, has stood redundant, disused, and often misused, for the last three decades. Which, as reported in the media, is “criminal” in this healthcare-spacestarved city of Mumbai. The PLIH was established by a few well-meaning Parsees in the mid-1890s as a maternity hospital for Parsi ladies. It is reported that Firoze Gandhi, husband of our late PM, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was born in this hospital in 1912. In 1924, through an order of the High Court, the Founders handed over the fiduciary ownership of the hospital to the Bombay Parsi Panchayat. The Managing Committee continued to run the day-to-day affairs of the hospital. Understandably, as is the case with the Petit Parsi General Hospital, located off August Kranti Marg.


Owing to inadequate usage of the hospital making it an unviable healthcare facility, an application was filed in the Civil Court, Bombay, in 1973, and an order was passed wherein the hospital was made available for use by non-Parsi patients. The PLIH is hence a SECULAR hospital.


Later the Management Committee got themselves registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 and had the PLIH property entered in ScheduleI of their Trust Deed. We hence have two trusts the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, or BPP, and the PLIH Trust, claiming fiduciary ownership of the property. It is reported that the last patient was discharged in 1994, and the hospital thereafter, remains redundant, unused, and often misused for the last three decades. The duality in the fiduciary ownership,both by the BPP and the PLIH Trust, appears to be the cause célèbre of this tragic and criminal neglect.


My involvement in the resurrection of this secular healthcarefacility was a mere happenstance subsequent to my visit to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Aug 2022. It all started with my letter dated 15 Sep 2022, addressed to the Chairperson of BPP, suggesting that the unused PLIH be offered to the Tata Memorial Hospital (after consulting the Director, TMH).


Regrettably, this remains unanswered and unactioned, though I have personally come under a lot of flak from certain quarters of the community. Apparently, I have committed a sacrilege by suggesting that we hand over a “community jewel on a platter”. That notwithstanding, my efforts to resurrect this healthcare facility continue unabated. Who does it is inconsequential.


It is interesting to note that since this trust has been registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act- 1950, under Rule 41AA, it becomes incumbent on the part of the trust to set aside 10% of the beds for the underprivileged at subsidised rates and open the Indigent Fund of 2% of their turnover for free medical aid to the indigent citizens. Regrettably, owing to the unauthorised termination of the operations of the PLIH, this healthcare facility has been denied to the underprivileged and indigent members of our society.


In my efforts to get this hospital operational, I have contacted the Charity Commissioner with whom rests my protracted correspondence, in addition to my personal visits. I have requested him to initiate action under the relevant clause which gives the CC powers to appoint an administrator if he opines that the aims and objectives of the trust are not being met.


My correspondence also rests with the Collector, Mumbai, requesting him to initiate action against the concerned trustees, for misuse of leased land, as was recently done in the case of a college gymkhana. I have also addressed a letter to the Grievance Cell of the High Court of Bombay requesting the Chief Justice to consider my application as a suo motu PIL.


For your information and support in this humanitarian cause.

Jai Hind. Jai Maharashtra.


(The author is a retired Indian Navy officer.)

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