Lots in the name game

Tessa Sanderson, former British Olympic gold medal javelin champion, was in Mumbai recently

Lots in the name game

Tessa Sanderson, former British Olympic gold medal javelin champion, was in Mumbai recently. Sanderson was here at a glitzy launch of an India international sports summit to take place in 2010 in sync with the bullish sentiment about Indian sports.

An Internet search revealed that there is a housing estate named after Sanderson in her adopted home town of Wednesfield, in the United Kingdom. As India goes full steam ahead, building sporting ethos in the country, I think it could do with emulating the Sanderson naming.

We have stands in stadiums named after sportspersons but why not have streets, train stations, even public transport named after our famous sporting heroes? In more humorous vein, why not name Mumbai's most pot-holed street after India's star athlete P T Usha? Mumbaikars in their cars certainly fly over those potholes like P T Usha flew over those hurdles.

A second-class Virar fast train compartment can be named after India's Olympic and world bronze medal winning boxer, Vijender Singh. Commuters need to punch, bob and weave their way into the compartment at rush hour time. Those who lose the bout are out, out, out.

Mumbai's BEST bus fleet can have one bus named after Sushil Kumar, bronze medal winning wrestler at the Olympics. An older bus could be named after Dara Singh. As for the wrestling bit, that gains credence in seasons like the monsoon. Commuters grapple with others, an umbrella that does not close, a slipper than comes off and haul office bags as they seek to enter the bus. There is gold for those who manage to wrestle to the front of the bus. The referee is the conductor, clicking his stapler.u00a0

Olympic gold medal shooter Abhinav Bindra can have a Bollywood studio named after him, because of all that shooting, while world billiards champion Pankaj Advani may just have the Maharashtra Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) building dedicated to him. This is because of the perennial MTNL refrain 'You are in cue... oops queue' (aapan raangeth aahat).

India's chess ace Viswanathan Anand can have a disco named after him. After all, the champ knows all the grooviest 'moves'. So, all those political parties fighting over naming the city's streets, airports and stations after their leaders can quietly back off. These are the city's new hotspo(r )ts.

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