CWG 2010
India seems to have pulled off the Commonwealth Games just in time & quite successfully at that, despite all the criticism about the leaking bathrooms and the broken bridges.
The intention is not to hurt the sentiments of any sports enthusiasts who finally have good tennis courts to play in.. But in a country where simple amenities like hospitals, schools are unavailable/too expensive for over 50% of the population; it is sheer extravagance that the government indulged in... needless to say that they also managed to fill their pockets in the process...
The other aspect, is what should have been the after effect of organizing an event... boost in tourism, and brand name called India.. However, all the people world over saw, was how the events were mismanaged... When the country invested in such a huge scale, some return is expected from the same... something that is not momentary... not just at the time of the event... something positive over and above the traffic jams & the excess police patrols on the streets of Delhi....
Neither could we control our own media, nor could we get them to focus on the more positive aspects of the same..... Neither did Kalmadi see any shame in siphoning national funds.... Nor could we extend the month of festivity and comfort for the foreigners a little longer to prove that we can be an amicable society to tourists from the west as well...
And this is where, once again, we have failed....
Sigh...
But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that, we lacked not in organization skill.
The flaw in the scheme of things is at 2 very basic levels.
Firstly, for a developing country like India (ya ya, I know, we hate to hear it... but we definitely are still in the league of developing nations... we have miles to go before we can call ourselves developed !!!), to have budgeted INR16.2 Billion for the event, and to have finally spent an obnoxious INR 115 Billion on sports facilities and related infrastructure.
The intention is not to hurt the sentiments of any sports enthusiasts who finally have good tennis courts to play in.. But in a country where simple amenities like hospitals, schools are unavailable/too expensive for over 50% of the population; it is sheer extravagance that the government indulged in... needless to say that they also managed to fill their pockets in the process...
The other aspect, is what should have been the after effect of organizing an event... boost in tourism, and brand name called India.. However, all the people world over saw, was how the events were mismanaged... When the country invested in such a huge scale, some return is expected from the same... something that is not momentary... not just at the time of the event... something positive over and above the traffic jams & the excess police patrols on the streets of Delhi....
Neither could we control our own media, nor could we get them to focus on the more positive aspects of the same..... Neither did Kalmadi see any shame in siphoning national funds.... Nor could we extend the month of festivity and comfort for the foreigners a little longer to prove that we can be an amicable society to tourists from the west as well...
And this is where, once again, we have failed....
Sigh...
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