Members of the Olympics Committee sitting in Tokyo, looked tiredly at each other, “Handling all the complaints makes me wonder whether it’s worth the trouble of actually having these games!” said the Chairman, as his secretary whispered in his ear, that an Indian delegation wanted to meet him. “What’s it this time?” he asked loudly, “We did include kabaddi, now what?”
“Our men are not winning enough medals!” said the leader of the delegation entering with his disgruntled group, “They are playing games we don’t play back home!”
“So, what do you play back home?” asked the Chairman looking at the other members mischievously.
“Democracy!” said the leader as his other colleagues shook their heads in approval, “It is a game we have perfected. We know how to..
“Protest!” said one of the members.
“Snoop on other’s telephonic calls!” said another.
“Put people in jail without any cause other than…”
“Sedition!”
“Or not being a nationalist!” said another.
“We want Democracy included as one of the events!” said the leader of the delegation, “It’s a game we have near perfected! Here’s a video, just play it on your giant screen!”
The video was played. The noise and ruckus was near that of an Olympic stadium in Tokyo, “It’s really a game!” shouted a committee member from Brazil, “I have seen it played in my own country!”
“What are they throwing?” asked the Chairman, his voice hardly heard with the din from the video.
“They are throwing the Speaker’s mike!”
“And there’s a bit of tearing of paper too!” said the member from Paraguay.
“That’s the speaker’s report on farmers!” said the leader of the delegation with a smile.
“And what’s that?” asked all the members as the game changed to show an old man inside a cage like room.
“That’s an old priest put in jail for inciting an uprising!”
“Hardly looks capable of doing something like that!” observed the member from the US.
“You may be right, he died recently!” said the leader of the delegation, “but other than members of his community, everybody else liked our game..”
“..of Democracy?” asked the Chairman incredulously.
“Yes,” said the leader of the delegation, “We have taken something you taught us to play, Indianized it and perfected it according to our high standards. Which is why we feel we can beat the world at it!”
“You make a powerful point!” said the Chairman thoughtfully, I will put it up next year in our committee meeting! Hey what’s that on the video? That’s me!”
“A clandestine meeting you had with a Geisha woman last night. No one knows yet, but will soon, unless you say yes to us right now!”
“How did you get it?” asked the Chairman weakly, signing the approval form.
“Democracy, with a touch of Pegasus!” laughed the leader, leading his delegation out..!
bobsbanter@gmail.com