Dronacharya Award

வருடா வருடம் இந்திய அரசாங்கம் விளையாட்டுத் துறையில் பயிற்ச்சியாளர்களாக பணி செய்பவர்களில் இருந்து ஒருவரை தலை சிறந்த 'கோச்' என்று தேர்ந்து எடுத்து 'Dronacharya Award ' அளிக்கிறது. ஒரு விளையாட்டு வீரரின் வெற்றிக்கு முக்கிய காரணமாக இருக்கும், பெரும்பாலும் unsung hero வாகவே பின் புலத்திலேயே இருக்கும் ஒரு துறையினரை வெளி உலகிற்கு அடையாளம் காட்டுவது என்பது போற்றப்பட வேண்டிய செயல்தான்.

A player today is propped up by a host of support staff- personal dietician, doctor, physiotherapist, masseuse,gym instructor, yoga guru for managing stress,analyst for dissecting every strike and stance.In a game like tennis, you have a coach for clay court and another for grass court-different for different versions of the game in cricket too. Does a mohawk cut lend an aerodynamic edge? Does a spandex full body suit help your strokes under water? These are not tete-e tete between fashionistas but heated arguments on unfair means to an end in the sporting arena.

So with so much attention to details, a player is all sorted you think, don't you? Far from it..Why then the ear- biting and head- butting? Why use performance enhancing drugs and why the sledging? All is fair in love and war, but for heaven's sake, this is sports, damn it! Clearly something is amiss or wanting in the players' psyche. And by the way, if you've arrived late,abuse is the new aggression in the world of competitive sports.

Whose job then is it to tutor the pupil, winning and losing are two sides of the same coin? That there is as much honour and hurrah in fair play as in a podium finish? To instil such sportsmanship in a player, a coach himself has to be a cut above. It won't cut ice, if his own credentials are suspect.

The glass ceiling existed even in Dwaapara Yug, or so it seems. Drona was acharya to  Kauravas and Pandavas for military arts. Wasn't he guilty of favouring Arjun over everybody else? Maybe Arjun was more devout and hence the bias..A guru was bound by ethics to teach any deserving student. But Drona rejected and humiliated Karn on the grounds that he was not a kshatriya by birth. He ought to have felt proud as a 'மானசீக குரு ' at Ekalavya's prowess in archery. Instead, he let his 'ராஜ விஸ்வாசம் ' get the better of him. And what he demanded as 'guru dakshina' from Ekalavya-just to eliminate threat to Arjun's supremacy- reeks of foul play. abuse of power, exploitation, manipulation and what not...

Coming back to the present, when the need of the hour is an acharya of exemplary ethics and code of conduct ( guru saakshaat para brahma, remember?) how par for course is the award bearing the name of this 'Droh-Acharya?