Sports Day Analysis

Hairsplitting over the Sports Day events

Naseem Khan distributes jelly lozenges from a trip to Goa

We are not yet done and dusted with the Sports Day (see post of March 3). The awards presentation is due this Saturday and Kiran Prakash is being persuaded to compere the show. Siba Prasad Maitra and Pushpa Gupta are having to pay the price for winning the maximum number of awards and they would be giving us a treat coinciding with the presentation ceremony. Dr Muhammad Farooq (Banoo Apa’s husband) has kindly consented to be our chief guest on the occasion.
So much for officialese.
What is not are murmurs of discontent, much of which is of course, in lighter vein. Bijoy Gupta, for instance, maintains that the composition of winners would have changed had Karun Sharma and Geeta Latte taken part. Shekhawat does not miss an opportunity teasing people for “dropping the lemon” during the Spoon Race. Nahid Khan demanded that in future, more time should be given to contestants to practice.
Then there were the expected jibes on 'who pushed whom and when' or the sagacious suggestion of winners having to compulsorily withdraw from competition “once he or she has won in a contest”. (“I fully agree,” droned Maitra in mock seriousness.) Many just cannot get over how “Yellow Uncle” and “Purple Aunty” (as the little judges put it) stole the show.
Bhaswati Bose has a problem with the trophies being given away to the winners. Herself a medal winner (for securing third place in Musical Chairs), she wants everyone to get medals. “Imagine Nahid Khan walking away with a massive cup for threading the needle when all her life she has been threading needles 50 times a day,” she exclaimed. “And Dilip (Babani) was himself shocked beyond belief when his balloon was the first to burst on his face. He did not even have to try hard!”
Banoo Apa has coined a nice name for the trophies without actually seeing them: 'Amitabh Bachchan Cup'!!!