The "Uncommon" Common Wealth Games

The burning topic of discussion, as of today in the country , rotates neither around religion (has manged to bury the expected charged emotional outburst over the yet to be declared Ayodhya verdict), nor around cricket (people have started missing their daily doses of the Champions League cricket) nor is it to do with the naaxalite menace (the home ministry must be heaving a sigh of relief)....

So what is it that has kept the attention of more than a billion people riveted and engaged in the last of couple of weeks (dare I say a couple of months)... Well the common thread that has bound the country is the "uncommon" Delhi Common Wealth Games 2010...

In what was supposed to be an event which will improve and enhance the face value of the country (in a way what the World cup football did to South Africa or the Beijing Olympics to China) the Delhi Common Wealth Games has failed to come anywhere close to such milestones and has really went on and did the reverse...sullying whatever  the current image the country has abroad..

Sadly, the fact remains is that the entire game from the beginning is marred with controversy starting from the alleged bribing of Commonwealth nations to hand over the bid to India to the delay in work, corruption in building the stadia, the games villages, the sub standard work, bridges collapsing, et al et al..

Enough dissection has been done by media (both print and visual media) on the miasms behind such fiasco..

I will however try to list down a few which in my opinion are the root cause of such a sad state of affair that we are witnessing today:

1. Traditionally in India, sports federations are handled by politicians rather than sports persons (which is just the reverse in other countries which has taken various games to the next level with clean administration and planing). The politicians are as much to blame as the sports persons. While the politicians rollick in the loot, the sports person abstain taking a high moral ground of we-are-better-than-them -and will-not-stoop-to- -indulge-with - them attitude (is it not true for everything else which is rotten in our country starting from politics to the rotting grains of the PDS system). Having handed over the reigns of power for administration to politicians, I think we do not , least the sport persons, stand any high moral ground to dismiss them
2. While the country bays for the blood of Suresh Kalmadi, I think its Mani Shnaker Aiyar who should be made accountable. Among other things, to satisfy his ego and to get even with Kalmadi ,he delayed the project by 2 years which escalated the cost. Besides all the  malaise, that he is pointing out so eloquently on T.V shows today, could have been addressed by him when he was the sports minister. True, Kalmadi is also not among the Innocent and the sinless.. But we should also make Aiyar accountable and question his responsibilities when he appears for T.V shows with a smirk on his face and I-told-you-so attitude
3. The Congress party (this includes the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi) which could actually boasts itself as the most democratic party where differing voices may emerge and on top of that no action being taken to clear the mess because of these differences in opinion and subsequent inaction
4. Lastly as a nation its our chlata hey attitude which is to be blamed for the mess that we are in. The jugadu approach (to patch together something at the eleventh hour so that thing can somehow be managed) and the common motto which says that aaj kare so kal, kal kare so parson,, itni bhi jaldi kya hey yaaro jab jina hey abhi barson...(Which roughly translates in to "What you have to do today can be differed to tomorrow and the day after. We have nothing to fear as there is a long life in which all work can be done")

 Without adding on to the huge amount of cribbing and anger related to the Common Wealth Games fiasco, I will just end the post with an experience of mine...

One of my relative was a national level player in a state and after his retirement when he showed his keenness to enter in the administration of the game he loved, there was stiff resistance from the power to be which consisted mostly of politicians... but because of the good faith that he enjoyed in the games fraternity, he somehow made it to the association... I have marked very closely since then of his journey... of how he struggled equally with politician and sports persons in ensuring some credibility and standard for the game and the state association... While other members (mostly politicos) were busy getting their favoured player (s) in the final squad by various unscrupulous means, this relative of mine even denied his son a chance to play for the home city (let alone the state) because he (the son) could not clear the qualifiers... While others were busy providing false Sports certificates to people for admission in to colleges, educational institutions and jobs (in return for a kickback ofcourse); his son struggled to make it to a good college and studied in a lesser known college...

However, his struggle has borne fruit today and his honesty and dedication have slowly pushed the netas and babus out from the state association... I see him old and harried with age... But just the mention of the game of his love, and his eyes sparkle with such intensity that it is a pleasure to see his happiness and joy...As if this very moment (and nay the sport of his love) actually justifies his very existence...

There is no dearth of such passionate and dedicated sports persons in the country today... The only question is - are they willing to stand up and make themselves counted?

Till that time we will have to do with watching in frustration  pot bellied politicians giving imbecile statements/explanation  on media on how and why they failed to organise an event of national pride while wasting Rs. 17,000 crore of tax payers' money and 7 precious year of time...