CWG needs to be promoted as a people’s event
The upcoming Commonwealth Games mean a lot of things for a lot of people, especially in Delhi. Unfortunately, most of the talk about these big games that India is busy organising, centres around not how to enjoy the event but how to, somehow, get through it.
The hyper security talk, the traffic disruptions it is expected to cause, the amount of mandays lost in constant construction activity, and the tedious lead-up to these Games has left a negativity among people, most of whom are busy planning what they need to do for those 15 days that the foreign delegates would be descending on the Capital.
As we have learnt by experience, almost always in our tumultuous democracy, chaos precedes every big event. The Commonwealth Games are no different and if we are candid enough to admit, apparent, all-round chaos and confusion, delays and question marks on every aspect will continue to dog us, till the ribbon for the Games is cut.
But another, more becoming truth is that all this chaos, all this speculation, all these doubts fade away once the event starts. Everything then falls into place like clockwork and, if I am correct, all the screaming headlines on perceived and real organisational blues will fade away in memory and in the present, overtaken as they will be by plaudits about the show and how the Government finally succeeded in making it a world class event despite all the glitches.
That’s what India has been, and will be, all about. It may sound irretrievably anarchic to the goras but Indians will be Indians, especially when they are in India. Simply put, Fennel & Co need to relax. It will happen and happen beautifully once it happens!
In living memory, one can’t remember any big event or project not being preceded by niggling doubts or intense criticism. Perhaps, the only exception to this has been Sreedharan’s Delhi Metro Rail Project which has worked not only like a dream where time frames, excellence, hi-tech insertions and costs are concerned, but has been that singular project in modern times that has become a role model in how to execute something so big, so complicated and so potentially disruptional for a mega city already reeling under shortage of road space and resultant traffic jams.
Returning to the Games, however, there is one big glitch that needs to be rectified. As mentioned above, all talk around the Games in common drawing rooms has been about how to avoid the problems that will be implanted for Delhi’ites during the span of the Games.
Most people one knows have already planned a 15-day holiday to a place away from Delhi at that time. As there has been talk that schools would be suspended for a fortnight for the smooth conduct of the Games, families can, indeed, troop out.
The sad part of this is that the Games will not come to India for many years after this and the Indian Government needs to devise ways to make the common gentry inclusive in these Games. They need to herd into the stadia and fill up the stands, not talk about how to get away.
If at all schools are suspended for the Games’ duration, the Government should tie up with the school authorities to make it mandatory to send the children for these Games visits. A certain area of the stands should be allocated to them free of cost. Our children have not seen too many live events except cricket, so a multi-sport event will be quite a positive eye-opener for not just them but their parents too. At a time when India has just about started happening in international sports, its future generations need to be part of the gaming evolution in the country.
It was a stunningly happy sight to see the stands of the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium spilling over with hockey fans, cheering India towards an impossible mission. The unanimous view now is that the Hockey World Cup was the best showcase the dying sport could have gotten. And, remember, that too was preceded by organisational abjectness, including the players declaring a mutiny, Hockey India not being able to hold elections and the FIH threatening to withdraw the event from India itself. Nothing of that sort, of course, happened and the World Cup happened like a well-oiled channel.
In short, the Delhi Government, besides taking care of the infrastructural boost the Games need, need to plan out a detailed trajectory on how to infuse confidence among its citizenry that the Games are theirs and only theirs and that they need to be a part of them at every level.
Published March 21, 2010, Sunday Pioneer; http://www.dailypioneer.com/243465/CWG-needs-to-be-promoted-as-a-people’s-event.html
The hyper security talk, the traffic disruptions it is expected to cause, the amount of mandays lost in constant construction activity, and the tedious lead-up to these Games has left a negativity among people, most of whom are busy planning what they need to do for those 15 days that the foreign delegates would be descending on the Capital.
As we have learnt by experience, almost always in our tumultuous democracy, chaos precedes every big event. The Commonwealth Games are no different and if we are candid enough to admit, apparent, all-round chaos and confusion, delays and question marks on every aspect will continue to dog us, till the ribbon for the Games is cut.
But another, more becoming truth is that all this chaos, all this speculation, all these doubts fade away once the event starts. Everything then falls into place like clockwork and, if I am correct, all the screaming headlines on perceived and real organisational blues will fade away in memory and in the present, overtaken as they will be by plaudits about the show and how the Government finally succeeded in making it a world class event despite all the glitches.
That’s what India has been, and will be, all about. It may sound irretrievably anarchic to the goras but Indians will be Indians, especially when they are in India. Simply put, Fennel & Co need to relax. It will happen and happen beautifully once it happens!
In living memory, one can’t remember any big event or project not being preceded by niggling doubts or intense criticism. Perhaps, the only exception to this has been Sreedharan’s Delhi Metro Rail Project which has worked not only like a dream where time frames, excellence, hi-tech insertions and costs are concerned, but has been that singular project in modern times that has become a role model in how to execute something so big, so complicated and so potentially disruptional for a mega city already reeling under shortage of road space and resultant traffic jams.
Returning to the Games, however, there is one big glitch that needs to be rectified. As mentioned above, all talk around the Games in common drawing rooms has been about how to avoid the problems that will be implanted for Delhi’ites during the span of the Games.
Most people one knows have already planned a 15-day holiday to a place away from Delhi at that time. As there has been talk that schools would be suspended for a fortnight for the smooth conduct of the Games, families can, indeed, troop out.
The sad part of this is that the Games will not come to India for many years after this and the Indian Government needs to devise ways to make the common gentry inclusive in these Games. They need to herd into the stadia and fill up the stands, not talk about how to get away.
If at all schools are suspended for the Games’ duration, the Government should tie up with the school authorities to make it mandatory to send the children for these Games visits. A certain area of the stands should be allocated to them free of cost. Our children have not seen too many live events except cricket, so a multi-sport event will be quite a positive eye-opener for not just them but their parents too. At a time when India has just about started happening in international sports, its future generations need to be part of the gaming evolution in the country.
It was a stunningly happy sight to see the stands of the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium spilling over with hockey fans, cheering India towards an impossible mission. The unanimous view now is that the Hockey World Cup was the best showcase the dying sport could have gotten. And, remember, that too was preceded by organisational abjectness, including the players declaring a mutiny, Hockey India not being able to hold elections and the FIH threatening to withdraw the event from India itself. Nothing of that sort, of course, happened and the World Cup happened like a well-oiled channel.
In short, the Delhi Government, besides taking care of the infrastructural boost the Games need, need to plan out a detailed trajectory on how to infuse confidence among its citizenry that the Games are theirs and only theirs and that they need to be a part of them at every level.
Published March 21, 2010, Sunday Pioneer; http://www.dailypioneer.com/243465/CWG-needs-to-be-promoted-as-a-people’s-event.html
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