Can the Men's Hockey Team Turn 'Fiction into Reality'?

Even in such polarised times, we will see the country come together to support their men's hockey team.

Tokyo Olympics: The Indian men's hockey team will play against Belgium in the semi-final on 2 August, Tuesday

Image: PTI

On 3 August, Tuesday morning, we can expect a billion Indian eyes glued to the television, prayers and superstitions being followed in many Indian households and hope in every Indian heart. It's a day when even the night owls wouldn't mind altering their schedule to be a part of history. This is one time the country will come together, even if it is just for an hour, to support their men's hockey team, which will be a part of an Olympic semi-final after 49-long-years.

All those born after 1980, when the Indian team last won a gold medal in hockey at the Moscow Olympics, have just grown up listening to stories and the heroics of the teams past from their fathers or grandfathers, never witnessed it.

The reality of that gold medal and past dominance remains a 'fiction' to Millenials, who are often left full of questions: Really? Did it happen? What happened after that? Why are we where we are now? Questions often met with no or unsatisfactory answers. Who and where is the next Dhyan Chand?

Now, after 49 years, another opportunity has arisen to answer all those questions. All they have is 60 minutes. It won't be easy. The pressure will be nothing like the ones the 11 young men have ever encountered. If successful, it will revive the excitement for what was once a national passion of India. If successful, it will encourage young boys and girls, the current Generation Z and Generation Alpha, to pick-up a different sports equipment, often gathering cobwebs in the dingy back shelves of sports stores. If successful, it will truly prove once again that hockey indeed is an emotion, just like it used to be in yesteryears. If successful, it would turn that 'fiction', our elders so fondly narrated, into a 'reality' and help us Millenials find and understand some of those long-lost answers.