I think we, Indians have been ’unnecessarily’ disturbed from our dreams by the ‘unwanted child’ brought by Kalmadi to our country. We were living in the cozy comforts of our air conditioned houses, traveling around in air conditioned limousines, closing the glass panes of the car and getting out of the car just inside our gates and running around in malls, eating pizzas and watching cinemas in multiplexes, wearing designers dresses. We reluctantly welcomed it since we were under the impression that this ‘Baby’ would allow us to show case India to the world as a booming , youthful and a powerful economic power which was standing on the thresh hold of becoming a super power next to China. We thought our rate in the world would sore to the sky high. But as we were drawn nearer to the games, to our unbelievable shock we found the ‘ child’ brought by Kalmadi was disturbing our dreams as it was weeping and crying with it’s mouth wide open.
The whole world looked at India with shock and surprise. Even those who had no interest wanted to see what actually went wrong since this very Kalmadi had spurned the offer of expertise when offered. He flicked the offers aside contemptuously, despite the fact that the last time India arranged such a gigantic event was the Asian Games in 1982. No, thank you, we Indians are far too clever to need any help. It was true. mark the words WE INDIANS. He was right then. But this person who had a long term plan to protect the seat of power never allowed any one to come near the games with the fear that they might hijack / kidnap it from him. It was his child. Like a much pampered child it started dirtying all around and the result, we Indians have been exposed as one foreign newspaper yelled “ India’s dirty big mess exposed to the publicâ€
The foreign media literally swarmed on the country with their cameras to show to the world that India is still the poorest country, though it has made great strides in certain fields. One paper went to the extend of comparing India to the mortality rate of southern Sahara!! They wanted to show how the benefits of booming economy has not reached the rural poor. One daily quoted the UN report which said that “it was a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet,” One report said how the poor defecate in public. We should hold our head down in shame But CWG tried to project it as though it is our culture. Other wise Lalith Bhanot would not have made this comment. Speaking about the cleanliness concerns raised by Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell about the Games village, OC General Secretary Lalith Bhanot said, “See everyone has a different standard of cleanliness. The rooms of the Games village are clean according to you and me, but they ( foreigners) have some other standard of cleanliness†( Do you believe it- yes, do believe your eyes)
We Indians still are under the impression that we are a shining nation and that we can do anything which other developed countries do. We have never made our rural poor to know the values of hygiene or cleanliness nor we have made them to eat nutritious food and better food intake. It is a pity that we still think that we can do what China did. But we forget for a moment that to do what other countries did we should have discipline, dedication and sincerity. We should not be selfish. Yes, self development is good but not at the cost of the nation. Kalmadi and his cronies forgot the most important player in the CWG. That is the common man. They forgot that they were squandering away the money paid by the citizens as tax to this nation so that India could show case itself as a powerful nation. But what we got in return for the trust placed by us on these organizations is shame and brick bats. Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer former Sports Minister and who is known for his forthright remarks said those who are patronising the Games can only be evil. They cannot be God. Thousands of crores are being spent on circuses like these while the common children are being deprived of basic facilities to play,†Our Agricultural Minister who is also the President of Indternational Cricket Committee said that CWG is a joke.
Time has not yet come for us Indians to show case India through sports. Lot of sacrifices are required. Now we are exposed to foreign media and we have shown them we are still far away from the goal of becoming the Super Power. Mr. Obama can now go to sleep happily that Bangalore or India is not a threat to his country. We have no infrastructure to be a super power. The world which had only seen the Slumdog Millionnaire now must have come to know that we cannot become rich overnight unless we win a lottery. They will now know that Slumdog Millionnaire is a true Indian story. Foreign press is now showing India in poor light. And all these developments are taking place because of Kalmadi and his cronies. God help us!!!
But facts remain that India is still a poor nation in spite of the great strides made on the industrial front. This is the real India and let us now concentrate to bring up this real India and make it a show case for the world by developing our infrastructure not only around CWG village but all over the country in villages, cities and towns. Let us take the message of cleanliness everywhere and make people aware of leading a clean and healthy life. Cleanliness and health if go hand in hand, lot of money will be saved for education, health services, transportation, communication. Anything you name, we need here in this country. Not the CWG. .