Great words from great man of deeds

This piece is about the passion and patriotism of Leander Paes and the infectious effect it has on the people who have the opportunity and good fortune to either interact with him or even just listen to him talk about his patriotism and what it means to him.

Two weeks ago, Olympic Gold Quest made a presentation at the TIE Summit in Mumbai where the theme was Enterprising India. Leander, who recently joined the initiative started by Prakash Padukone and myself and which is headed by Viren Rasquinha, a former captain of the Indian Olympic Hockey team, was emotional and forthright.

His short five-minute talk, which commenced with a tear in his eye when he spoke of his patriotism and ended with a tear in 4000 eyes of the audience when he articulated that the reason of his patriotism was the public itself, was greeted with a standing ovation.

But what eventually got a lump in my throat was when Manish Vohra, a young man literally ran up on stage and handed over a cheque for Rs 7777 and in a candid 30-second talk told us all how he earned very little but after hearing Leander speak he would earn lots of money and give 90% of his earnings to Olympic Gold Quest.

This started an avalanche of further commitments including TIE itself committing a handsome amount and one of its key members Kanwal Rekhi, committing a total of Rs51 lakh over the next three years. Olympic Gold Quest, a not for profit foundation raises money from Indians across the world and funds India’s top athletes, who have the potential to win an Olympic Gold medal. Amongst the athletes supported are Gagan Narang, Marykom, Saina Nehwal and the PT Usha School of Athletics.

What was heartening for me was to realise that true emotion for a cause and genuine patriotism as exhibited by Leander are infectious. So, infectious is a great word for us and we hope that Leander continues to bring laurels, Grand Slam titles and Olympic medals for India and along the way continues to instil his emotion and passion into the people of India.

Thank you Leander — for your Grand Slams, for your Olympic bronze at Atlanta, for your Davis Cup performances — but most significantly for being able to instil that same emotion and patriotism into the people of our country.