[Reader-list] A Gold medal with Hints of Red

[Aarti Sethi]

ah but Lawrence in a country where the story of Panna Bai is taught to every
class five student as a great paen of love and devotion what can one
expect....

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 6:19 PM, Lawrence Liang <lawrence at altlawforum.org>wrote:

> Hi All
>
> In the midst of all the celebration of India's first gold medal, here is a
> piece by Vijaya Pushkarna on Bindra's initial target practice aka William
> Tell, who at least put his own son on the line
>
> Lawrence
>
>
>
>
>
> http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&sectionName=COVER%20STORY&programId=1073755753&BV_ID=@@@&contentId=4386948
>
> Bang, on target    -
>
>  *From shooting balloons placed on his maid's head to winning the Olympic
> Gold…, the making of Bindra The Champ
> By Vijaya Pushkarna/Chandigarh
> Photo:Arun Sreedhar*
> A common sight in the Dehradun farmhouse of the Bindras was of a boy in
> shorts walking, running or cycling around, with a gun in hand, taking aim
> at
> birds, and lining up empty bottles for target practice. Abhinav Bindra's
> fancy for the gun began when he was barely three.
> One day his father, Dr Apjit Singh Bindra, was shocked to find his
> children's maid-Abhinav has a sister, Divya-drenched in red liquid from
> head
> to toe. He later learnt that Abhinav had been doing target practice with
> balloons filled with red-coloured water placed on the maid's head. The maid
> said he had been doing it for months.
> "Has he ever hurt you?" Bindra asked her. Just once, she said. That was
> when
> five-year-old Abhinav missed the target balloon and the pellet from his air
> gun hit the maid on her right cheekbone. Bindra, a food
> technologist-cum-businessman, decided to make a non-human target for his
> son. He assembled bamboos in a square formation, suspended a target in its
> centre and placed it in the backyard. It was Abhinav's first shooting
> range.
>
>
> When the Bindras moved into a rented house in Chandigarh, Bindra converted
> the lawn in the backyard into a full-fledged shooting range. "He started
> out
> in the backyard. See where he has come today," gushed Abhinav's mother,
> Bubli.
> Bindra is a proud man. "My Singh is king. The gods have been extremely kind
> to us," he said, as he popped open a champagne bottle at his palatial
> house,
> 20 km from Chandigarh, to celebrate his son's Olympic gold win in the 10m
> air rifle event in Beijing on August 11.
>
> Abhinav's Olympic gold was planned and, in a way, executed at home-for,
> hidden among the trees near the house and away from the view of visitors is
> a shooting range made to Olympics specifications. Next to it is a fitness
> centre. "At 9 a.m., Abhinav would go to the range and return for lunch. At
> 2.30 p.m., he would go again and return after four hours. I presume he
> would
> be going to the health centre from the range," said Surjit Singh Nalwa,
> Abhinav's maternal uncle. When Nalwa flew in four months ago and discussed
> shooting with his nephew, Abhinav said, "I would like my performance to
> speak. I am not going to talk about shooting now."
>
> Abhinav's paternal aunt Dolly Lamba used to address him 'champ' after he
> won
> his first gold at a shooting event in Rohtak. When she used the same
> endearment a few weeks ago, Abhinav said, "Kahaan bua, main to abhi champ
> bana hi nahin (No, I have not become a champion yet)."
>
> Finally, his gun did the talking. After winning the Olympic gold, he called
> up his parents. The cell phone passed from one family member to the other,
> each getting just half a minute. Dolly did not get to talk and sent him an
> sms: "U've bcom the champ of champions."
>
> When Abhinav went for the Athens Olympics, where he missed the gold, his
> family used to call him up and ask him to come for photo sessions with them
> and friends. "This time, we did not go to Beijing or call him or encourage
> him to keep his cell phone with him. We realised in Athens that we and
> these
> gadgets were a distraction," said Bindra, who has been Abhinav's manager,
> motivator and financer. "This time he went like an army man on a mission.
> It
> had to be only Abhinav and the target-Olympic gold."
>
> Bindra nurtured Abhinav's talent. A son's passion became his father's
> dream.
> "Cricket, tennis and golf are fashionable and lucrative sports. But in
> developed countries, you spot talent and train the sportsman. That is what
> I
> did," he said proudly. His son, at 17, was the youngest sportsman in the
> Sydney Olympics, and Australia released a postage stamp with Abhinav's face
> on it.
>
> Despite Bindra's wealth and contacts, making an Olympic gold medallist of
> the boy was not easy. Amid his hectic schedules, he set aside two hours
> every day for Abhinav's shooting and for planning his travel. "Nowadays,
> transferring money is easy. But when Abhinav was coming up, it was a
> problem. There were issues with the income tax department, who wanted to
> know why thousands of dollars were being spent on him," he said. "Shooting
> is an expensive sport. Abhinav's first gun, a Feinwerkbau, cost around Rs 4
> lakh in 1997. Another problem was availability. We imported the guns and
> had
> hassles getting licences."
>
> About 10 years ago, Bindra's business was not doing very well. Animal
> rights
> activist Maneka Gandhi and the Hindu Mahasabha were demanding the closure
> of
> his Rs 300-crore meat-processing factory. Entangled in court cases, Bindra
> closed the unit for a couple of years, but he did not let Abhinav's
> training
> suffer. That was when a group of citizens of Chandigarh stepped in to
> encourage Abhinav. Advocate M.L. Sareen, income tax expert Chaman Sharma,
> businessman Amarjit Sethi and photographer Tejee formed the Abhinav Bindra
> Trust. "We did not provide financial support. We tried to change the
> Chandigarh administration's mindset with regard to licences, import duties
> and such things. We wanted this boy to move up to world-class shooting and
> the administration to realise that it was an international sport," said
> Sareen.
>
> Another person receiving congratulatory calls is Abhinav's coach Col. J.S.
> Dhillon. On July 13, 1995, Abhinav and his father visited Dhillon. Bindra
> wanted him to "teach Abhinav to shoot properly, as he is all over with his
> gun." The colonel asked what level of training he wanted. "What is the
> highest level of training?" Bindra asked. The Olympics. "We will aim for
> the
> Olympic gold," Bindra told his son and Dhillon.
>
> Then colonel said Abhinav would need German rifles, which were not
> available
> in India. Ten days later, Abhinav came with the Feinwerkbau 300 junior
> model
> rifle. "Abhinav could not carry the regular rifle. He was a little boy. He
> never missed a day and always came five minutes early. He used to come in a
> Mercedes with his driver and a servant. Born into luxury, lived in AC
> rooms,
> never seen flies and mosquitoes, but he was happy to sweat it out,
> literally," said Dhillon, adding that Abhinav never complained about
> wearing
> leather trousers and leather jacket in hot weather. The family got the
> makeshift range in the rented house air conditioned only before the Sydney
> Olympics. "Children from affluent homes cannot sweat it out. But here was
> young Abhinav, standing long hours, even for four hours, holding the
> rifle,"
> said Dhillon.
>
> Bindra sent his son to a Colorado BBA school only because the city had an
> acclaimed training centre for shooting. Abhinav underwent commando training
> course in Germany and mental training regimen in South Africa. So was it
> training abroad that got him the Olympic gold? Said Bindra: "It is not
> national versus international training. It is thanks to God, the
> sportsman's
> own talent, and regimented training."
>
> Abhinav owes his composure to his mother, who gave him emotional support.
> The focus, aggressive pursuit of a goal, and the hardworking nature may
> have
> been acquired from his father. "He would come home disappointed when a bird
> he was chasing flew off. I would tell him there will be many more, and he
> would go off with his gun," said Bubli. Missing the medal in Athens was the
> lowest point in his career. "He would say he missed the chance of a
> lifetime. I would tell him that if he had got anything at all in Athens, it
> would have been a bronze. I kept telling him, 'You are destined to win a
> gold'," Bubli said. Abhinav was always the quiet, reserved, polite and shy
> type. Long spells of training left him with little time for friends. He was
> Mr Chocolate at a school competition, said Abhinav's classmate Deepinder
> Kaushal. Often, shooting would take him away from classes. "But Harold
> Carvar, principal of St Stephen's School in Chandigarh, made sure that he
> could pursue the sport. He even arranged for a special board exam as
> Abhinav
> was abroad during the ICSE exams," Bubli said.
>
> For Bindra, the joy goes beyond the medal. "A new chapter has started for
> India. Indians focus on cricket and golf. Now they know other forms of
> sports, too, can bring India glory," he told a dignitary who had called to
> congratulate him. The family is waiting for the return of their shooting
> star, to celebrate.
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