Commonwealth Games: India Whining

Gaurav BatlaAssociate Vice President (Global Payments and Cash Management)
HSBC Bank

First things first, I think the games should not have been organised in the first place. There is absolutely no explanation (financial, political, social or otherwise) for India to host CWG or any sort of an international sporting event altogether. Neither am I talking about the delay nor the corruption. Neither the International Shame that has been bestowed upon us by the dog poo in the apartment Nor the falling Foot Over Bridges. I am just asking a simple question about Priorities. Why did we have to organise these Games?

If we are trying to promote a 'sporting' culture and 'healthy living' then can anybody tell me how many Delhiites have actually visited Indira Gandhi, National, Jawahar Lal or any other stadium in the past 10 years? If you want people to take up sports, then build small sports complexes all over the city, where people can play with their families, kids can take tennis/swimming lessons and we may have a healthier/sportier generation to follow.

If we wanted to 'show the world' that we had the caliber to pull off a 'Beijing'. Who are we trying to show off to? The commonwealth nations are British ex-colonies most of which (economics wise) do not have anything to boast of anyways. Only Canada and UK have a GDP higher than us. What would it serve to host events for countries to show off our prowess to, who anyways are struggling for their economic existence? If you have money to spend, then send that money to the African nations where people are fighting AIDS and actually need that money to save those lives.

If we wanted to build better infrastructure for the urban city dwellers, then did we have to organise this 'show off' for 15 days and spend billions earned by the tax payer (especially when majority of tax receipts comes not from the builders/contractors/businessmen who don't file their tax returns but from a freaking salaried guy who gets his salary in his bank account and the Tax is already deducted at source, lest he indulges in any tax evasion)? Why not make things better for THAT guy? As a representative of THAT guy and being an 'urban delhiite', I care more about 15 mins reduction in my travel time to work and back without any traffic jams rather than a freaking stadium eating up energy in those floodlights which will be used for 15 days. When the whole locality is sitting in dark, because THEIR electricity has been provided to that stadium nearby, which they will never be able to even enter if they wanted to.

Let's get real guys. The fact is: we are laggards in almost every sport in the world. The only game we play or are 'really' bothered about is cricket. A game that is played by 10 nations in the world, 5 of them in South Asia where more than 60%(I guess) population lives in rural areas. How many of us would actually know who won the maximum number of golds in last CWG or who is the world champion in Discuss Throw, Shotput, Long Jump, High Jump, Badminton, Archery etc.

There is no shame, but just that we are not bothered about these sports (as of yet). So what do we do? Do we just ignore the people who play these games in India? Absolutely not! But have we organized CWG for THEM or in belief, that people will start participating in these games, once they have seen these sports themselves in stadiums? I don't think so. Give the hockey team players the money that is promised to them, so that the millions of children who were thinking of joining the game, do not turn away thinking 'Khana kahaan se khaunga?' If you actually care about these sports/sports persons then give the bloody money to the sports authorities/bodies for training/coaches/nutrition and build up a redressal mechanism so that you have means to 'know' if the money is actually reaching them.

Also, for all those who are thinking that the delay has been caused due to babugiri or red tapism. Think again. If we sleep for 4 years after the games are allotted to us and start working at the 11th hour, as I see it, I believe its all intentional. The delay was not caused because we are lazy, but because we wanted it to get delayed. Panic infuses a sense of 'Lets just get it done at ANY cost'. When you stop bothering about the price, you just want to get it done. May be that can explain the high prices at which materials/equipment was sourced. But hey, I don't even want to talk about the corruption in this post. Even if you forget the corruption/international shame due to delays etc for one bit, where does it make sense to build these stadiums in the first place.

For the 'urban' types who are singing song of 'Infrastructural Developments' DUE to CWG. I ask this. What if the CWG was not to be organised in Delhi. Would the government waited till the olympics to provide us with the Delhi Metro or the flyovers or better roads or better lighting etc etc. Are these happening only because CWG are being organised in Delhi? If your answer is no, then why organise it? If you are nodding, then its a shameful situation that we need to have an international gaming events and the 'sharam' that tourists will come and see our city as being dirty, so let's clean up and build some roads.

We are a country where 60% population doesn't have proper access to food, electricity, water, irrigation, roads, transport and infrastructure and we decide to spend all of 30,000 Crores on building stadiums and purchasing toilet paper for Rs 4000 per roll... What boost is this money going to give to the rural development in the country. How are these games going to change anything for the farmers/labourers committing suicides everyday? How are these going to do anything for anybody I dont understand?

For those, who are sharing pretty pictures of the 'world class stadiums' built for the CWG because we should concentrate on 'the positive' and rubbish the 'negativity' spread by the Indian media, I have a question. Why the hell media shouldn't? Isn't this what the media is for? Its not a makeup artist who would hide your acne through thick layers of make up. Its their job to show what's hidden? Who would have known of this corruption, if the media hadn't shown? Would the PM had intervened if it was reported that its all 'hunky dory' and India is 'shining'.
For those who have this 'chalo yaar, ho gaya jo hona tha, ab kam se kam duniya ko toh apna gandh na dikhao' attitude and are 'proud' of the fact that we are hosting the games. I think this is why we suffer. If a kid steals and the mom-dad hide him, he will do it again. I hope the 'kids' running our government bodies learn their lesson through this negative publicity and think thousand times before organising olympics in the next 100 years.

http://www.facebook.com/gauravbatla

What the country needs!

Tushar Kohli

A Fellow Jhel-er

What this country needs is a sporting renaissance not a sporting extravaganza which does nothing to alleviate the root cause of public dismay and apathy. Patriotism has long been an alibi for blatant corruption and unabashed loot of taxpayers' money.

I pray with fervour for a mass failure of the so called Games which the country never needed in the first place.

May the mud and slime of embarrassment splash across the face of the incumbent administration and guilty be brought to the book. I am not being a cynic but a realist. Misplaced patriotism romanticises the whole issue and covers up the guilty.

I request others to see things as they really are 8% GDP growth or 5 crore Rehman creation does nothing to fix the plague. Politicians know how to drown the cries of the common folk through the national anthem and most eat from their hands as the bigot media moves on to the next story.

Ii feel rose tinted glasses is the last thing India needs and by the looks of it INDIA seems to wear it every time a national issue gains precedence.

Where are the records of the 1 lakh crore worth of black money which Pranav Mukherjee promised to bring to light? Why do we suffer from amnesia when the country gets raped by goons in khadi. It is not about BJP or Congress or Left or Right wing ideologies.

Its about the system that is rotten beyond repair. The moral fabric of the country is in ruins. I am offering the flip side of the coin expressing my apprehensions through a different perspective without targeting India and my brethren.

China took a decade long sabbatical from international sports to hone its sports infrastructure and the result was its huge golds tally and its podium finish at Beijing. The games and the euphoria around it is a product of the feel good factor gimmick that politicians use to distract the common man when the basic sporting culture is reeling due to bureaucratic bottlenecks and nepotism.

Manipur, Kashmir, Naxalism, Floods, Drought, Hunger and Inflation is what needs immediate attention not pompous celebration of loot by the incorrigibly corrupt.

Though I mean no disrespect to the athletes and all the volunteers and hard working individuals and wish them luck for what they worked for but still I completely condemn the farcical CWG which does nothing to strengthen the sporting DNA of the country but appears to be an appeasing endevour of a govt with misplaced priorities.

It is akin to Mayawati's show of grandeur of maniacal dimensions. Ii pray that may God give insight to the common man, the middle class which bears the brunt of narcissistic agendas everytime middlemen use national pride as their excuse. Remember my brothers 'Patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrels'

As i write this i feel my national pride exit my system like sand through fingers. We need statesmen, real administrators, countless more Shridharans [The Metro Man] to salvage whats left of the nation. I pray that happens sooner than later.

JAI HIND!

Tushar Kohli on facebook

हो गया रंगारंग कार्यक्रम

रंगारंग कार्यक्रम शुरु हो गये हैं.. सारे नेता आज भव्य समारोह देख कर खुश हो गये, कार्यक्रम खत्म होने के बाद अपनी एसी लगी गाडियों मे बैठ कर अपने घर को चले जायेंगे, कुछ और लोग १००० रुपये या इस से ज्यादा की टिकट ले कर रंगारंग कार्यक्रम देखने आये होंगे, वो भी समारोह मी भव्यता देख कर ए.आर.रहमान का गाना गाते घर को चल देंगे. खिलाडी भी अपने अपने टावरो मे सोने चले जायेंगे.. इन सब से दूर एक आम आदमी अपने छोटे किराये के घर मे बैठा या फिर किसी छोटे से कमरे मे बैठा सोच रहा होगा कि अगले १२ दिन तक क्या होगा? आफिस जाने के लिये क्या योजना बनाई जाये कि बॉस की डॉट ना पडे, या देर से पहुंचने के कारण पगार ना कट जाये, उसका ध्यान अपने जीवन के खेल से नही हट पायेगा. १२ दिन बाद वो फिर से अपने दैनिक जीवन की उसी पुरानी व्यथा मे वापस लौट जायेगा जब उसे फिर से ब्लू लाइन की बस मिलनी शुरु हो जायेगी, जब उसे सडक पार करने के लिये कोई पुलिस वाला गरियायेगा नही, जब उसका प्रति दिन का आने जाने का बस का किराया फिर से १० या २० रुपये तक हो जायेगा.. उसे खेल खत्म होने से राहत मिलेगी.. और उधर एक दूसरा वर्ग  अंग्रेजी मे भारत की शान का गुणगान करता नजर आयेगा.. और उस भव्यता मे ही खो जायेगा जो उसे ३ अक्टूबर की शाम को देखने को मिली.

उसे आलू टमाटर के महंगा हो जाने से फर्क नही पडता. उसे बस ना मिलने से भी कोई चिंता नही सताती है, उसके घर का सामान मॉल से आता है.. जहां पहला वाला वर्ग घुसते हुए भी डरता है.
खेलो ने आम आदमी के जीवन मे बहुत बडा हस्तक्षेप किया है, उसके नियमित से जीवन मे बहुत सारे परिवर्तन हो गये हैं, और उसके बाद भी उसके लिये किसी के मन मे कोई संवेदना नही है. लोगो ने उसे दबा कर और उस से वसूल कर इकट्ठा किये पैसो का गुब्बारा उडाया है, कहीं पर पेड पौधे लगा दिये हैं और कहीं पर कांडोम मशीन लगा दी गयी है. आम आदमी अर्थ शास्त्र नही जानता. जब उसकी गली का दुकानदार उसे महंगा सामान देता है और पूछने पर कह्ता है कि पीछे से ही माल महंगा आ रहा है तो वो समझ नही पाता कि आखिर कहां पर आ कर सामान महंगा हो जात है. वो मुद्रा स्फीति , ग्रोथ रेट जैसे शब्द नही समझता. उसे समझने के लिये उसने एक अर्थ शास्त्री को चुन रखा है जिसे प्रधान मंत्री बनाया गया है. लेकिन उसने भी महंगाई से ज्यादा खेलो को पूरा करने के लिये हस्तक्षेप किया.
और जब आम आदमी ने  महंगाई की वजह से बंद किया था तो उसे बहुत सारा डाटा दिखा दिया गया कि उसकी  वजह से देश का कितना नुकसान हुआ, बालको की पढाई पर फर्क पडा, आफिस जाने वाले समय पर आफिस नही पहुंच सके, स्कूलो मे बच्चे नही पहुंच सके, सडक पर हम लोगो ने दंगा किया, पब्लिक प्रोपर्टी का नुकसान किया, जिसने उसका  साथ दिया उसका मजाक उडाया कि वो धूप मे गिर पडा था.. आज उस बात को कुछ महिने बीत गये हैं, जो सब कुछ करने का आरोप उसके ऊपर लगाया गया  पिछले कुछ दिनो मे वो सब सरकारी तंत्र ने किया और निर्लज्जता की सीमा तोड कर किया, और अभी अगले १३ दिन तक और करेगा. आज फिर से सडके बंद हैं फिर से स्कूल बंद हैं, फिर से लोगो को आने जाने के लिये बसे नही मिल रही हैं, फिर से बालको की पढाई का नुकसान हो रहा है, फिर से सरकारी आदमी सडक पर दंगा कर रहे हैं और २००० रुपये वसूल रहे हैं, लोगो को घरो से निकाल कर भगा दिया है लेकिन ये सब करने के बाद भी देश भक्ति का लेमनचूस भी आम आदमी को ही  दिया जा रहा है कि इसे मुंह मे डाल कर चुप चाप इस सरकारी भ्रष्टता को देखो और मुस्कुराओ..
जो प्रबंध कुशलता खेलो के आयोजन मे दिखाई जानी चाहिये थी वो अब विरोध के स्वर को दबाने के लिये दिखाई जा रही है. पहले खेलो के आयोजन का समर्थन पाने के लिये उसे देश भक्ति से जोड दिया गया, और समर्थन ना करने वालो को देश द्रोही जैसे शब्द भी सुना दिये गये. जब उस से काम नही चला तो फिर बेटी की शादी जैसा भावुक शब्द जोड कर समर्थन की आस पाने का प्रयास किया..
मीडिया को भी चकाचौंध से आकर्षित कर लिया गया है, सारे अखबारो ने  सरकारी भौंपू बन कर अपना तानपुरा बजाना शुरु कर दिया है. और पूरा विश्वास है कि अगले १३ दिन तक वो अपने सुरो मे कोई बदलाव नही करेगा.. और ये सभी सडको पर, टीवी पर, समाचारो पर, अखबारो मे हर जगह शोर मचा मचा कर कहेंगे कि भारत ने बहुत बडा काम कर दिया, एक खेल का आयोजन कर लिया. लेकिन झोपडी मे बैठे उस गरीब और मध्यम वर्ग की आवाज उस शोर मे दब कर कहीं दम तोड देगी, उसकी आवाज के साथ उसकी आशायें भी दम तोड देंगी कि कोई उसके साथ है, उसे यही लगता है कि वो अकेला है और दुनिया उस जैसे लोगो कि नही सुनती वो सिर्फ उस से वसूलती है और फिर उसे वसूल कर बडे बडे फंक्शन कराती है जिसको देखने के लिये टिकट लेना उसके बूते से बाहर की बात है. उसे सिर्फ देना है, और सहना है.. इसके अतिरिक्त उसका कोई अधिकार अब नही बचा है..