Celebrating 70 Years of Freedom

This August 15th, 2016, India saw its 70th year of Independence Day. What makes it so special is the evolution we are about to witness from now and the true meaning of Freedom that is finally giving its results! Slow… But Steady? We shall question ourselves later.

The World has witnessed our Celebrations through the empowerment of our sportswomen. Yes- I’m not just talking about Women Empowerment, I’m talking about “Sportswomen Empowerment”. Just when we had Dipa Karmakar making history minutes after our celebrations by standing 4th in the world in Women’s Vault, Gymnastics, we had Poorna Malavath- A Young Mountaineer unveil our Indian National Flag high up on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro (The Tallest Mountain of Africa at an Altitude of 5895 meters) on August 15th. What makes it so special is she released the poster of an upcoming blockbuster movie based on her own life- About a 13-year-old tribal girl’s journey of becoming the youngest person in the world to summit the Mt. Everest. The Movie is named after her – “Poorna” and is directed by Rahul Bose. So we will have new versions of inspiring Biopics on Sportswomen to show the world. These are the women who break stereotypes and inspire women to grow.

3 days after the Independence Day, we saw a woman from Haryana make her place to the Bronze Medal at Olympics- the First medal at Olympics this year giving a fitting reply to all the critics.

Coming from a region of India known for its high Female Foeticide, We’re glad that Sakshi Malik not only managed to be born but also endured the toughest physical combat at the Olympics to win a Bronze in Wrestling – This girl is a true survivor! And then a day later we have our very own Sindhu create history by giving a tough challenge to the world #1 Carolina in Badminton to win the Silver!
Women are now a driving force for any Nation’s development. And to create such women, we need to go beyond women Empowerment and talk about Sportswomen Empowerment.

These are the people who inspire normal women to push their limits. Like Desmond TuTu said “If we are going to see real development in the world, then our best investment is WOMEN”, will we see more firms and individuals coming forward to invest in our Sportswomen and raise the bar higher for the nation to make way for rapid developments? We hope so. And I will echo the words of Abhinav Bindra who won Gold for us in Beijing Olympics – “Each Medal costs the UK 5.5 Million Pounds. That’s the sort of investment needed. Lets not expect much until we put systems in place at home.”

Can we hope the Governments to increase our investments in sports at least now? The Huge audience at the Pullela Gopichand badminton Academy who cheered for Sindhu stands testimony to the fact that Sport can bring all people together breaking the huge differences we created in terms of Sex, Religion, and caste in our system.

It’s one of the main reasons why developed Nations invest so much on Sports.

Imagine if a few Sportswomen could accomplish a task so huge and remotely impossible for our politicians, what miracles we can do in creating many such sportswomen! And I will pray that the career of our sportswomen continues to grow and we will maintain our fighting spirit until we see such a system in place. This is the “Sportswomen Empowerment”- A result of 70 years into Independence – Slow… But Steady? Let us questions ourselves later.

For Now, Let us celebrate the 70 Years of our Freedom! For only we carry the Nations Flag so passionately next to our Defense Sector.

Neil-The Mountaineer