Long awaited - London 2012.

The countdown to Olympics 2012 in London had begun almost over a year ago. Londoners as well as tourists took great pride in clicking a picture next to the countdown clock in Trafalgar square showing their enthusiasm and support… well! We did nothing different, every time we went to Trafalgar square, we did not fail to take a picture. Every subsequent picture meant that it was soon July 2012!

Satyam at Trafalgar square. 

Akshay counting 68 days for Olympics. 

As the time was coming closer, ‘Olympics’ was on everyone’s mouth, “hey! Have you managed to get a ticket to any events?”, “gosh! I can’t imagine what the traffic will be like during Olympics! Dunno how I will get to work!”, “have you heard of that new website that guides you to travel to work avoiding peak Olympics time, it’s called…. Plan your journey ahead.com … or something like that”, “did you know they are expecting a terrorist attack during Olympics? I have told my children not to volunteer for any events and all events can be watched at home.” …… wooooof!  There was excitement, fear, joy and enthusiasm. Before the Olympics started no Londoners knew what to expect…. May it be in terms of traffic or travel or safety concerns!

Satyam and I were a bit over-ambitious in applying for Opening ceremony and closing ceremony… clearly all I wanted from Olympics at that point was a glamour side of it and we kept telling ourselves. “I haven’t followed Olympics in the past”, “I don’t care a damn about that athletics, or swimming event, which is further divided into 200mtr, 400mts, triathlon… damn!!! It’s all the same…. IT IS SWIMMING! That’s all!” Frankly! We didn’t care about any event or bothered booking for any.

Finally it was July and we found ourselves trying to follow Olympic torch relay and showing participation in this once in a life time event.  I did see the torch relay not only in Tooting where I live but also in Kingston, where I work… apart from that I was lucky to be present at Waterloo when the torch was being carried through the river Thames. It all looked so grand, the vibe of London was so positive and all eyes stuck for THE DAY! We both were keenly waiting for opening ceremony to start, obviously on TV. Undoubtedly! It was a big success. Personally I had moments where I felt, “oh wow!” And times where I felt, “It’s getting a bit of a drag!” … All in all it was a great kick start to the event!

 Olympics 2012 torch relay- Tooting 

Olympics 2012 torch relay- Kingston upon Thames

Olympics 2012 torch relay-  Waterloo 

The Olympics fever by this point was viral. Every evening we would find ourselves coming at home and catching up with events. Not just on newspapers but on TV and internet.  Satyam would be on BBC website most of the time checking medal tally….. Needless to say, we were following Olympics so closely for the first times in our lives as it was taking place in London. Apart from home, the office could barely concentrate on work especially on days where team GB was in finals. BBC website was always running parallel to rest of the work.

Luckily, our friends Nija and Kunal had booked 4 tickets for Football bronze medal match and offered 2 tickets to us.  Ironically London 2012 – football bronze medal match was taking place in Cardiff. But we didn’t want to lose an opportunity to attend it, more so football is something Satyam has always been interested in. We thought we’d get opportunity to see some great international football team.

With due respect to Japan and Korea, much to our shock we had to watch them compete for bronze medal football match. The vibe at millennium stadium at Cardiff was awesome. Whole lot of cheering and slogans (we didn’t understand a word of it), but we just played along. It was a great match.

Cheering Korea for Bronze medal football.

Korea v Japan at Millennium stadium- Cardiff 

We were destined to watch rest of the Olympics from home, no luck with Paralympics tickets as well.  All in all it was a great summer, no matter how much of a trouble it was in tube in peak hours or the rest of it. It was all worth it! What more could you expect when Britain stood third with total of 65 medals - 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze. On the other hand, India did well as well! Best performance so far I believe! 6 medals - 2 silver and 4 bronze.

Towards the end of Paralympics we decided to pay a visit to Olympic park and see for our self where history was created. We were desperately trying to compensate for ourselves for not getting a ticket for any events in the park. With this day ticket that we purchased all you could do is visit the Olympics park and see all the event building from outside and of course see and eat in the world’s biggest McDonald…hhehhe!

Outside Olympics stadium 

Outside velodrome - Olympics park.

At the end of it all, for some days there was a vacuum in life and we had got used to following it with so much of enthusiasms and competitive spirit. It was great to be in London to see and feel this once in our lifetime event- And enjoy it with such zest.

Olympics had been such an inspiring event for people in London; I can see people back in mode of fitness and sports. I am sure the gym business increased post Olympics. The bicycle sales must have done well! The amounts of cyclists on the road is just insane. I am sure the influence of 12 medals has rubbed off!