Hope the end of the Olympics would help Britain's regeneration, as IOC President, Dr. Jacques Rogge wished. If that happens I hope that British Goans, and those who have temporarily transported themselves into the country on whatever ground, also reap the fruits of its success. I saw a photo in the online edition of one of the British papers which shows two volunteers, one of them named Elton D'Souza who, I presume to be a Goan (maybe a son of a East African Goan or a "new Goan" or, as the resident expert put it, a PPP). No gold medal for predicting who the "expert" is. In the spirit of the Olympics, no squabbling over this, please.
It was good to see the Bhangra dancers and the dhol players take centre stage at the closing ceremony. It's a tribute to the Sikh presence in London, or rather in England. Whenever London hosts the next Olympics we can hope to have Goans dancing the manddo or the fugddi on stage. The next generation of Goans, especially sons and daughters of PPPs who by then would be grown up and become "niz" or "pez" Goenkars, and may represent Great Britain, just as Sonia Fernandes did for New Zealand. I will leave out Goans in Canadian hockey team and also in some East African teams and one Goan in the Mexican team. Also leaving out Goans who ran in the Olympics for India and for other countries. At this Olympics, the British Opposition leader said that the Olympics were a "leftie" thing and also made a subtle hint at its "multicultural" flavour. What does he think of Mohammed Farah creating history by winning a double in 5,000m and 10,000m? And mind you, Farah is as British as they come, having come into the country from his native Somalia at the age of nine. Great Britain (yeah, four countries rolled into one for the Olympics, as it has been for years) did well in the medals tally. One paper carried the cost of each medal in terms of the money spent on the athletes on each discipline. For hockey, it said it cost hockey 15,013,200 pounds per medal, in this case for the bronze.. Total sports funding was 264,143,753 pounds. The hosting of the Olympics cost £9.3bn, which crtics say was just to much to blow in a depressed economy. The Olympic venue has transformed East London and it would remain to be seen if the area gains in terms of economic benefits in the long term. Compare it to the money India spends on its athletes. So, there is no crying shame that India came with four bronze medals. My only shock is that hockey team fared very badly. Indian hockey seems to have lost ground and there seems little hope on the horizon. Seeing them lose match after match, even one or two which they dominated and looked set for a win, they failed. It would need a Himalayan effort -- and money -- to bring Indian hockey back on the pedestal. Countries with no hockey legacy has progressed. I couldn't bear to see India go down to South Africa, a country that has taken to hockey very recently. I won't be surprised if the Indian team if beaten by the women finalists, The Netherlands and Argentina, particularly by the latter who, despite playing a good match, lost a heartbreaking final to the Dutch girls. Is it shocking that Indian hockey team has been missing Goans for the last many years? The Anglo-Indians were once the backbone of the Indian team and later Goans and Sikhs. There are a couple of Sikhs but Goans have gone fishing! However, these Goans were "Bombay Goans", with the exceptifon of one Kolkata Goan, Dr. Vece Paes who represented India at the 1972 Munich Olympics. (I forget now, but I think he was a substitute and didn't get a chance to play as the centreback position was taken by Ajit Pal Singh). India won the bronze, losing to Pakistan by two goals to nil. Watching the closing ceremony on TV, I was happy not only to see Indians being recognized through their performance on stage but also one of India's greatest contribution to Britain's cultural history -- the finest rock musician Freddie Mercury. He sang from his grave with his famed band Queen -- one of my favourites. Happy to hear him sing some verses from his immortal song, Bohemian Rhapsody, that was carried on by the other members to its finish. It is a a fact now that Bhangra is as much part of the British music scene as pop is. It was also heartening to hear another of my favourites singer -- John Lennon who too sang from his grave on a huge TV screen. His greatest song of all times, Imagine, touched my heartstrings and it was well relayed by the dumb and deaf kids in their sign language and looking majestic in their T-shirts bearing the words IMAGINE. The theme of the closing ceremony was unique -- honouring London as a "newspaper city". It was as classy as was the opening ceremony. British pride was on display on both occasions and, to top it all, British did well in the field. Securing third is a worthy achievement and a great consolation to the organizers and the government for taking on the Games and give the British people something to shout about.f Just some "stray thoughts" from another Toronto Goan, though not belonging to the "underworld" network (ha, ha). Eugene Correia