As I see it, there is nothing common about the much hyped and publicized Commonwealth Games that have finally kicked off in Delhi yesterday. The Commonwealth Games, if anything has only done good for our 'uncommon' bureaucrats and organizers of the games. The Commonwealth Games might well be called the 'Come on Wealth Games'!
The common man has not been involved in the Games in any way. Yes, the common man in Delhi has been inconvenienced with all the debris and dengue around. Yes, he has had to deal with hours of grueling traffic in the heat after a hard day at work while Kalmadi and Co. got a free passage on Delhi's roads.
Yes, the common man was involved as he in some way always is. He was involved through the tax he paid to get a pothole free road, an adequate water supply, a better public transport system and 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity; instead, he got a plethora of shame, disgust and mismanagement. He was involved through helplessly looking on at one media report after another which emphasized how his hard earned money had been manipulated to fill some already deep pockets. He was involved like he always is; as a mere spectator.
And which common man are we talking about here? 42% of the country still lives in abject poverty who wake up every morning not knowing whether they will get the two meals they need to survive. This means that around 50 crore people in the country suffer from problems of basic nutrition, lack of proper education, a lack of proper existence basically! Does anyone of them care if even the Olympics comes to India? I think their next meal is a more important issue for them!
And, these 42% are the people who have been accorded the Below Poverty Line Status. There must be at least 20% of others who live in just slightly better conditions who would certainly have other pressing issues plaguing their existence. They would rather have some water in their taps than a beautiful stadium they can look at rotting after ten days in the eye.
It is a different issue that the Commonwealth Games should have never come to India. It did seven years ago and, we just about managed to get the world class facilities we promised, finished two days before the event started. That too after having toilet paper rolls that cost Rs. 4,000 and the Games costing four times the estimate! It was estimated to cost Rs.767 crore and it was eventually more than Rs.3000 crore. I assume half of that going into the pockets of Kalmadi and Co.
Yet, after all this shame, mockery and disgrace, the Commonwealth Games did start off with a bang. Yes, it was a great ceremony and Facebook, Twitter etc. were filled with proud Indians! But, what most people forgot was that the gigantic balloon that was at the center of the spectacle was purchased at three times its cost. Also, what everyone forgot was that a whopping Rs. 150 crore was pumped into three hours of showcasing an illusionary image to the world. Some people thought it was the representation of the common man; it was a mere mockery of the common man!
The point behind all this is not whether or not to support the Games but the point is about the failure of public memory in our country. We forgive and forget too soon. The Commonwealth mess will be forgotten shrouded in the haziness of one committee after another which will be formed until we make a bid for the Olympic Games in maybe 2020. Then, the whole circus will repeat all over again!
There is a thin line between having the mindset of being an optimist and utterly ignorant. I feel most of us are being utterly ignorant as we are at most times. We are so blinded by the 8% GDP growth and a sudden shift in focus to being the third most influential economy in the world that we have forgotten what our priorities should be. Sadly, even the Government has! It just spends 3% of its GDP in poverty alleviation and of that 3% only 5% in employment generation. There are much better uses that this Rs. 3000 crore could have been put to.
The Commonwealth Games have not been good for India's image or for the country itself and no matter what happens in the next ten days that will not change; not in my eyes at least. I am not a proud Indian when it comes to the Commonwealth Games and I strongly feel there should be an absolute boycott of the Games venues by the public in the next ten days.
