There he is. Popping up once again at another winter Olympics – the lone Indian representative for luge at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This is the fourth time that Shiva “the destroyer” is representing India at the winter Olympics, and this time apparently has a good chance  of finishing strong.What is really sad to read is the local Indian-Canadian community in Vancouver pitched in to help the 3-member Indian Olympic team to get their uniforms. It is kind of sad and a telling comment that in a nation of over a billion people Shiva Keshavan continues to struggle to raise money to participate in the winter Olympics. Yes, he did receive some financial assistance from the Indian government last year and a group of lawyers this year but that is not sufficient. He needs more financial assistance?I wrote about Shiva 12 years ago, when I first discovered he was the lone Indian participant at the Nagano Olympic Games. Not only was he the lone rep from India, but he was also the youngest person to compete in luge. I was intrigued to put it mildly. Luge and an Indian, how could that be? This is a statistical outlier I thought. How did he ever get into this game? What prompted him? How does he continue to practice? Had Shiva heard of the Jamaican bobsledding team during the Calgary Olympic event? There were zillions of questions that went through my mind. (Melvin Durai captures his disbelief when he first heard of Shiva. Read about it here.)From what I can gather this is how Shiva’s interest in luge started. Fourteen years ago, the International Luge Federation (ILF) went looking for luge participants from tropical places, and a couple of these invitations found their way into Shiva’s school -Lawrence Schooll at Sanawar in Himachal Pradesh. Yeah, this is the alma mater of Bollywood actor Sanjay (or is it Sunjay Dutt?), and Air Marshall KC Cariapa. Shiva and his brother participated in a two-week luge camp that the ILF organized in India around this time.When the camp finished, Shiva was firmly hooked to his wooden and fiberglass luge board. There was no looking back and within a couple of years he was at Nagano, where he finished 28th out of 34 contestants. He went on to participate at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, followed by Turn in 2006 and now at Vancouver, Canada. Shiva finished 25th at Turin.Training and participating at international sports events has not been a smooth ride for Shiva. To purse his dreams of hurtling down the icy luge tracks he has had to struggle to find sponsors and funds to participate at various events.  India is still a pretty much one-sport country: cricket as Shiva pointed out in a recent interview. Is Bollywood listening? Here is a good storyline and maybe someone can make a movie and create awareness.Maybe someone from Bollywood can help raise money for him?Hats off to Shiva for showing persistence and dedication in pursuing his love for the sport. Shiva deserves a big round of applause for pursuing his dreams, and for being one among a billion. I wish we had more Shivas in the world who dare to dream, and work towards making their dream a reality.Related Link: Shiva on facebook.