you can count on mausi sheila dikshit to do the unusual have you ever heard of anybody kissing the olympic torch no well put that down as a first then i do hope ms dikshit did not singe her tongue and i dont have to bite my own with the hoopla in athens just a few weeks away i was pretty sure id catch the fever when i landed in the brand new airport a few days ago the very voluble minder escorting my family pointed to all the amazing developments in the car park and beyond we have to show the world our best face she burbled the same afternoon a distinctlydisgruntled cabbie grumbled what real good will all this do for us he had just finished bitching about a state of the art stadium roof that is being billed as the priciest dome on earthonce the games are over taxes will go up and we the people of greece will have to foot the bill for all this socalled progress he was anti the eu and with good reason life has become far more expensive now i dont like the new currency the euro does not match our economy i wondered whether it would be a good idea to invite him as an expert on p chidambarams panel since i liked his downtobasics approach we raced past futuristic stadia some complete others not even half way there hastilyplanted trees along sweeping motorways looked like sad amputated limbs locals seemed far from enthused traffic in athens is always awful during the olympics it will become chaotic prices of everything will shoot up and whats worse well have to smile through it all since the world will be watching the more i heard the funnier it sounded because it was so darned familiar i could as well have been in india sitting in on sunil dutts special committee or overhearing suresh kalmadis team members whingeing surveying the magnificent city of athens from the acropolis i began to feel a little like brad pitt in troy unlike the yummy american actor who plays achilles i wasnt wearing a sequined leather skirt i leave that to gorgeous hollywood hunks with great legs but was feeling sufficiently moved by the startling beauty of the ruins athens has its parthenon good for athens but we in india have a dozen or more equally overwhelming treasures what have we done with them very little showcasing heritage in a modern context and converting history into commerce is something we require to take a crash course in and i strongly recommend learning from the greeks for instance we drove up up and up an arduous mountain road