Commonwealth Games: Aren’t they fun?
The old, pure beauty of India
Trip … Happening still
If you type in “CWG” into the google search page, the list goes in this order: cwg 2010, cwg news, cwg tickets, cwg scam, cwg corruption… Seems like the news and drama surrounding the Common Wealth Games is drawing more attention than the games ever will, unless something crazier goes down on the side lines during the event, non-competition related. The opening is set for October 3rd, and the world is either amused or shocked at the level of incompetency and the added audacity of Indian politicians and their statements.
I am so thrilled people get to see what we see and hear every day, and just freeze in amazement that someone even dared to say such things. My favorite quote so far comes from the following incident: New Zealand authorities were concerned at the hygiene and cleanliness of the residential quarters of the athletes. They found stray dogs getting cozy in the beds meant for athletes and open standing water which seemed like sewage water, and asked about the “filthy uninhabitable living quarters for the delegates and athletes”. My man, Organizing Committee Secretary General for the Common Wealth Games, Lalit Bhanot, replied, “Standards in cleanliness and hygiene differ from one person to another, and what one thought was clean may not appear that clean to others. For us, it’s clean. Foreign countries have a different standard of cleanliness. It is difference in perception.”
The beautiful face of rural India
Excellent. Now we have gone and told the whole world that we are pigs. What they consider unbearable is actually nice and tidy for us. That is one way of looking at it. Then again, when asshole Lalit says “us”, he may even justify that as the majority of India, and forget to tell you that 45% of India lives below the World Bank’s poverty line of less than $1.25 per day, and over 60% are illiterate. Most of this is so for such a long time, although India as a country may be hopping and skipping along into wealth and consumerism, because shit heads like him are busy stealing and lying to the poor, convincing them that they should be thankful for what they have and that their lives are indeed better than the difficult one he has such as putting the CWG together. That children are not dying of bad drinking water or infections from pollution, but that God loves them so much, he decided to take them home early. Yeah, ok. Apparently the only people God doesn’t love, and maybe rightfully so, are politician’s family members, cause they sure seem to hang on here forever!
Please, if you your jaw has dropped and you think I am making this all up, welcome to my world, read the news, pick up your heart and listen to the next fun tale.
On Monday, September 20th, a canopy erected at the stadium fell, injuring two police officers. No issue there. We are never too upset about Indians dying. We got plenty more where they came from, so it was quickly covered up. Then on Tuesday, a 95 meter long bridge connecting a car park to the stadium collapsed, critically injuring four workers. The condition of “some others” are stable, said the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who could not be bothered with the exact number of people injured. Wonderful. More people in power who care less. That’s the motto for new India.
And here is the next best quote from Sheila Dikshit, the Chief Minister of New Delhi itself, trying to convince the world that the athletes would have been safe anyways: “The over bridge was for spectators, not for athletes. We will make alternate arrangements. I would like to tell you that these minor hitches and glitches do come around.” Sure. No worries. So now you care about the athletes, but should the spectators die watching some action, and become the action themselves, no big deal because your promise is only towards the athletes and their health, not the spectators. Anything else you would like to share with us, Ma’am, before we go running to buy the tickets?
On Wednesday, a day after the footbridge collapse, a false ceiling at the newly constructed weightlifting stadium caved in, so as to not leave a dull day this week. No one was injured. All stupid comments seem to have already been made so I have nothing to laugh at today.
See the man in the mirror?
To top it all off, terrorism concerns and the lack of security concerns are so high, Malaysia and Australia are sending their own security teams. Australia has officially announced that their travel advisory declared India a high alert zone, and has noted that there have been 14 terrorist attacks in Delhi since 2000. Many more countries have told their athletes that the decision of whether or not they should go to the games is solely theirs. Several athletes have already announced their withdrawal from the games, some countries have postponed their arrival date, but have not eliminated the possibility of withdrawal if things are not rectified fast. What exactly is fast? That which took over a few years to build must be done better in a few days? Ok. Got it. No problem. Oh yes. Ten days is plenty more than we need.
If I write you a list of comic incidents so far, will you promise to think of me when you laugh? Here goes:
Most sporting venues, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (track and field) and the swimming complex was not ready by the August 1 deadline.
At the table tennis facility, a false ceiling collapsed.
*At the weightlifting site, new vinyl flooring is already peeling.
*The brand new shooting range was inaugurated in May, but embankments have collapsed.
*Trial weightlifting and swimming events had to be canceled, because the sites were not ready.
*The swimming stadium was inaugurated a few days back, but got flooded.
*There are reports of water seepage in the boxing stadium.
*The bidding process for catering was canceled, and will now be hurried through (read higher costs and less choice!).
*At Khan Market, brand new granite pavements were too slippery and have been dug up again!
*Subways at Connaught Place cannot be finished on time, and will be boarded up.
*Not even a third of the 34 towers ITDC had to furnish in the Games Village are complete. Incidentally, their excuse is “inadequate labor force.”
I say all this not because I am anti-Indian but because I am exasperated that there is no starting point to fix a problem, not one honest man on the government payroll. If there is and he speaks up, he will lose his job, or worse, threatened into extinction. There is no way that a sensible person can believe that the same country that has built acres and acres of IT sectors with such high standards can’t build the CWG grounds well, especially because it is the highest costing CWG games in history, higher than even Melbourne in 2006. The cost of labor is cheaper by far than any western country, and at 1.3 billion people, labor is available since 45% make less than $1.25 a day. So where is all the money? Why isn’t the job acceptable? Why is the world laughing at us? I was so ashamed of George Bush when he stood on that Navy ship in full military garn and declared the war a “success” and “over”, that had a bumper sticker on my car that said, “There is an idiot missing in a village in Texas.” Now, I have to print one that says, “There is a village of idiots ruling the land of India. May Mahatma Gandhi not wince in his grave”.
By the way, India’s winning bid motto was New Frontiers and Friendships.
