Going beyond Glucon-D

Fatigue is a fact of life for most professionals. More so for those in high stress, energy-intensive, jobs.

That description applies to rediff.com. And the realisation prompted the company, quite a while ago, to install a fully-equipped gym in-house, and hire a trainer.

The staff here use, to the max, both facilities -- the gym, and the trainer.

For instance, this is what the two of us do -- first thing in the morning, half a sachet of Myoplex, the nutrition shake, blended with milk and a couple of bananas into a thick shake. In just about an hour from that time, we are in office, in the gym, working out with the trainer.

In course of the workout, we typically consume a one-litre bottle three quarters filled with fruit juice, a couple of scoops of glucose, and topped up with water.

Immediately after the workout, we consume another half sachet of Myoplex blended in low fat milk. Followed by a protein-rich breakfast, half an hour later. A handful of dry fruits now and again. A calibrated diet. And, morning noon and night, vitamin, calcium and magnesium supplements in tablet/capsule form.

Try it sometime. Monitor the difference it makes to your energy levels, to your ability to work at top pace through 10, 12-hour working days. And then think about this statement: 'The physio gives the players some powder mixed with water and immediately their energy levels increase.'

There are two things wrong with that statement: one, it reveals a certain ignorance about developments in health and nutrition science. There was a time when diet supplements began and ended with Glucon D. That is no longer true. And two, it is equally revealing of a certain crab-like mindset: If I can't be the king, then let me pull the king down.

As far as the recent magazine article alleging widespread use of drugs within the Indian team is concerned, there seems to be a stalemate of sorts: Anshuman Gaekwad now says he has been misquoted and will sue the magazine; the magazine says merely that it will stand by its story.

So, effectively, the story stands for now. And therefore, deserves a few questions being asked.

Firstly -- if the story is indeed true, and if Gaekwad during his tenure as national coach was aware that the team's physiotherapist was giving the Indian players steroids and other banned substances, why then did he not take action?

The coach is supposed to be responsible for the wellbeing of the players, and is expected -- no, mandated -- to keep an eye on them and ensure that they don't do things they are not supposed to.

Isn't it strange, then, that official after official gets qualms of conscience a year or more after they have quit, or been sacked from, the posts they've been holding? Whether it is match-fixing, or now drug abuse, how come our coaches and other officials never seem to open their mouths when they are actually holding positions of responsibility?

Would it therefore be fair -- assuming Gaekwad has been correctly quoted -- to charge him with complete abdication of responsibility during his tenure as coach?

Secondly -- is there a bit of cynical manipulation in the story itself, and how it has been crafted?

Read the story, and nowhere do you find any specifics. Nowhere does anyone say, X player uses Y drug.

What there is, is supposition. Dravid seems more muscular, ergo he must be taking something. Agarkar has bulked up, so maybe he is not exactly on the level. And so on.

Errr... how about Hritikh Roshan? He is on record as saying that before his debut movie, he wanted to put on muscle and heft and therefore worked out intensively with a personal trainer, and with Salman Khan. Does it follow that those massive biceps, acquired in a short space of time, had to have been the result of nefarious practise? Or is it possible to acquire muscle and heft simply by working out in the gym?

To get back to the story in question -- and to the point about cynical manipulation. Suppose someone were to do a story about say journalist X, who seems to have incredible amounts of energy. Is up at 6, works out for an hour and move, then works a good 12 hour day, and is still so active that he can then go out and party.

Adjacent to that, you print a nice, impressive table. Wherein you say, for Editors, drugs X, Y, Z have these effects; for Reporters, drug A lets you stay on your feet for hours, drug B keeps you alert when you have to write fast to deadline, drug C ensures that you don't feel the after effects of lack of sleep, and so on.

When you put the two side by side -- a story suggesting that the journalist in question is on drugs, and the list of drugs that have various effects -- the subliminal connection is made by the reader. Examine the piece in its entirety, though, and nowhere is there anything to suggest the poor chappie is taking any of that stuff.

And that in turn raises a question -- is it fair practise to rake up such contentious issues, without any kind of proper documentation?

In passing, several players -- Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath to name a few -- have all played in the county circuit in England. And -- as is the practise there -- repeatedly been tested.

Strange, isn't it, how we don't ever seem to be satisfied with a settled cricket team? And how, if a crisis does not exist, we go out of our way to create one?

And then write more reams about why the Indian team is not performing, and how it is under so much pressure?

RELATED READING:

'Indians don't take steroids' -- The Andrew Leipus interview

Drugs in Sport -- The Rediff Site Tour

The Myoplex site

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