The Olympics opening ceremony, masterminded by Oscar-winning Slumdog director Danny Boyle, may have been very British, quirky too, and thoroughly enjoyable as a theatrical spectacle, but it also had an unwanted extraneous element. The Indian squad was left fuming at a gatecrasher who walked along with flag-bearer Sushil Kumar as if she were part of the national contingent.
The mystery woman in red shirt and jeans, standing out in striking contrast to the team in yellow and blue, was later identified by this newspaper as Bengaluru’s Madhura Nagendra, now studying in England. Each team may have had only 15 seconds of fame in a parade of 204 national squads: this too was marred for India by someone unabashedly stealing the limelight. While it later transpired she was an opening extravaganza cast member, she still had no business straying on to the track with our athletes, and piqued Indian officials must now insist on an explanation from the organisers on how that faux pas happened. One also wonders why no one in authority in the Indian squad thought fit to question her presence at the start of the march past and take immediate steps.
It would be appropriate for India’s Olympic contingent to institute an internal inquiry to explore her links to see how she could get so close to a solemn Olympic ceremony. It’s a mystery how such a slovenly incident managed to affect only the Indian team. Is it a curse or is it our lackadaisical attitude that is responsible?