Baadal pe paaon hai
Posted on: August 13, 2024
This article is written by Raja, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Another Summer Olympics comes along. Once again, Indians have their hopes raised.
And once again, most of these are dashed.
Indians take out their frustration on a few athletes/players — and get back to their normal lives in a few days. Every four years – rinse, repeat.
I’ve been seeing this routine since 1976.
(I have vague memories of Munich Olympics 1972 too — the names Olga Korbut and Mark Spitz left an imprint on my young mind at the time — but I do not remember much else.)
But by Montreal 1976, I was in a much better position to follow the Olympics, albeit only by reading the newspaper, or by listening to radio.
While Montreal was lit up by the performances of Alberto Juantorena and Nadia Comaneci (from what I vividly remember), it was a terrible show for the Indian contingent — we did not win even a single medal. Not even in hockey, where we were the reigning World Champions.
I distinctly remember the cover of the Illustrated Weekly of India, screaming “800 million — and not a bronze!”
Looking back now, maybe, for my young mind then, that was not such a bad thing. It set very realistic expectations for me for future Olympic results for India. 😊
Ok, that was said in jest — the truth is, we have come a long way since.
Many might raise their eyebrows — and I’ll admit that, prima facie, it might not appear so. After all, in 48 years since Montreal, if all we have to show is 1 Silver and 5 Bronze medals, how can we claim to have progressed?
Let me put it this way.
From the heartbreak of PT Usha missing out on a medal by a hundredth of a second in Los Angeles 1984, to today’s heartbreak of many participants finishing 4th, the message I’m taking is a positive one — “We have SO many medal aspirants today. We don’t need to pin our hopes on just one PT Usha, like we did in 1984. Each of these 4th -placed cases could’ve been a bronze.”
So, looking at where I’m coming from (1976), I feel we have come a long way.
Without doubt, much of it has to do with a mindset change.
In the 1970s, we were a much poorer nation. Sports was possibly last on our list of priorities. We had little, or no support, for our athletes. Whatever the likes of T.C Yohannan, Sriram Singh and Shivnath Singh achieved in long jump, middle-distance, and marathon respectively, was certainly DESPITE the system.
Indian athletes of that era (and earlier) will always have a special place in my heart.
Today, we are in a completely different, far more comfortable, situation. We’re economically much better off, we can afford to invest a lot more in sports. We can build state-of-the-art infra, hire the best of trainers and other support staff for our athletes. We can send them for international events and training.
As a result, we also see far more confident Indian athletes today, ready to take on the world’s best. I’m very happy to see this change in the overall Indian sports capability level.
And yet…
And yet, I have one wish.
I wish we did more at the GRASSROOTS level. Which is why, I said “change” above, not “evolution”.
I don’t think we have truly EVOLVED as a sporting nation. Just getting more medals at the Olympics doesn’t mean evolution. It means a few Indian athletes are doing better today at the highest level than other Indian athletes in the past could do.
But evolution?
For me, evolution in sports in India will come when we have transformed our country such that we truly embrace a sporting culture, right from childhood.
From that sporting culture, I’d like to see THOUSANDS of young high-quality sportspersons emerge from across the country, in various sports.
From that pool, after a series of graded competitions, will emerge those who are near-battle-ready for the Olympics.
They will be then given special attention, and everything else they need to compete at the highest level. This grassroots-based transformation would be my preferred way to see India evolve into a true sporting nation.
Medals will then follow as a result of a sporting culture – like we see in Australia, or in many Western countries. From childhood, they develop a sporting culture in their population.
Of course it’s easier said than done. A lot of things need to be put in place.
It requires significant investment.
But if you look at it, in a way, we have already done some of this with cricket.
Today, thanks to the IPL, we have many aspiring youngsters in cricket. With dreams of landing an IPL contract, and having financial security. Even without an IPL contract, cricket today is a fairly viable career option if you play at a certain level.
Most importantly, there is reasonable cricket infrastructure at the grassroots level which aspiring youngsters can have access to.
We need the same for other sports because (thankfully) not everyone is interested in making a career only in cricket.
That’s the other thing we need to bear in mind. The sport needs to be a viable career option. Many sports in India today are not. Unless you really make it big by winning at the highest level, you end up sacrificing a lot of your life, with no financial security at all.
It shouldn’t be so — after all, for every athlete who does win a medal at the international level, there will be many working just as hard, but not quite making the cut. Unless the sport is a viable career option even for them, there wouldn’t be an incentive for many to get into it. Passion is all great — but financial incentives make the pursuit a lot more worthwhile.
In this respect, maybe it would help to get the private sector involved. Maybe have a franchise-based Indian Swimming League, Indian Gymnastic League and so on. Have our own franchise-based Indian Athletics League, where a franchise takes different athletes under its belt and competes with other franchises for Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Even state-based leagues, like Kerala Swimming League, Maharashtra Gymnastics League, Haryana Wrestling League etc.
Am just throwing random ideas out there – am sure there are many ways of going about this. My underlying intent is that thousands of youngsters must emerge from this process.
I’m pretty sure in a country of 1.5 billion, we have the capability to throw up a few thousands at least who will excel at a sport.
There’s no shortage of youth in the country — the question is how to leverage them best. Sports is definitely one way.
The mantra could be : Scout, Nurture, Train, Reward.
Only some of them will go on to represent the nation, but all of them will feel recognised and rewarded. They will also inspire others to take up the sport — this way we will be building the next generation of sportspersons.
Not just a handful, but in thousands. We will then slowly, but surely, transform into a sporting nation.
Learn from cricket. We are today one of the best in the world in cricket. We could aspire to be the best in other sports too.
I am sure there’s many a Bumrah waiting to be discovered in other sports. It is high time we start the process of unearthing them.
—
Ok, so these were just random thoughts I wanted to share here since this is Olympics season.
And in keeping with the mood of the moment, today’s song is also related to sports.
It is from Chak De India (2007) – one of the movies that must be inspiring for sportspersons, and I think a film in which Shah Rukh Khan has given one of his best performances.
The song is “socha kahaan tha”, often known as “baadal pe paon hai”.
Apart from the catchy, upbeat tune by Salim Sulaiman, and wonderful rendition by Hema Sardesai, what I like about this song is that it presents the wondrous world of international sport from a sportsperson’s point of view.
We are shown how elated Indian sportspersons (hockey players in this case), travelling to an international destination to take part in top-level sports competition, feel.
It is only natural – each one of them has worked really really hard to get to this level. Made a lot of sacrifices. Many from rural India, carrying not only their own dreams and that of their families, but also the dreams of 1.5 billion Indians.
This is why I feel we should not be too harsh on our athletes.
For starters, they don’t get the type of money cricketers get – but the effort they have to put in to excel in their field is no less. Besides, they are competing against the world’s best. Against athletes who have, from their early age, the very best of facilities.
Indian athletes might have an excellent support system once they are at Olympic level, but till then it’s a real struggle for them. Whereas international athletes from developed countries have this support level right from school and university. So whatever our athletes achieve is against the odds.
Which is why I am always supportive of our athletes, even if they don’t win a medal. As long as they give in their very best effort, I can’t really fault them.
I encourage each one – though I have a special place in my heart for field hockey. 😊
Please do listen to this wonderful song. Am sure you will enjoy not just the song, but the vibe as well.
Song-Baadal pe paaon hai (Chak De India)(2007) Singer-Hema Sardesai, Lyrics-Jaideep Sahni, MD-Salim Suleman
Lyrics
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
Socha kahaan thha
Ye jo ye jo ho gaya
Maana kahaan tha
ye lo ye lo ho gaya
chutki koi kaato na hain hum toh hosh mein
kadmon ko thhaamo ye hain udte josh mein
udte josh mein
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
aasmaan ka swaad hai
muddaton ke baad hai
sehma dil dhak-dhak karey
din hai ya ye raat hai
haaye tu meherbaan kyun ho gaya
bakhuda kya baat hai
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
Ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho
Ho ho ho ho ho
Chal padey hain humsafar
Ajnabi toh hai dagar
Lagta humko magar
Kuchh kar denge hum agar
Khwaab mein jo dikha par tha chhupa bas jaayega wo nagar
Re re re re re
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
baadal pe paaon hai
ya chhoota gaaon hai
ab toh bhai chal padi
apni ye naav hai
ye ye ye ye ye
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 15, 2024 at 1:46 pm
welcome back to this contributor who excels in walking down memory-lane.
if I may add my thoughts to why a nation of “800 million — and not a bronze!” back then and “1.5 billion Indians” now could also because Indian families still follow the “study well for a better job & better tomorrow; khel-kood ke liye toh saari umr padi hain” mentality. It is always cheer for the neighbors’ child , Humara bachcha toh job karega ji.
I must admit that I also fell into the above category of “cheering for my friend’s son” who participated in the recent cricket world cup as a member of the USA team. I went around boasting about how his mother was my classmate etc.
what I am trying to say is that only financial security will not bring the necessary medals, grassroot-thinking should also change.
till then three-cheers for the medal winners at the recent Olympics
BTW, saw all the medal winners in the VIP enclosure this morning as the PM addressed the nation on its 78th Independence Day
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL INDIANS
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