Sunday, October 17, 2010

CWG 2010 - Hum to aise hain Bhaiyya!

We Indians thrive on masala. Spice is in our DNA and drama Ekta Kapoor style is our staple diet. Nothing proves this cliché like the recently concluded XIX Common Wealth Games.

It really was a representation of quintessential Indian way of things. First we take up a grand ambitious project in hand – a sport event which, in all honesty, not many care about. The rampant corruption which is trademark of Indian bureaucratic politics and red tape becomes the star of the show with Mr. Kalmadi playing the part to a T. And since it is a sport event, we need to have an anthem, right? So we give the job to Mr. A. R Rahman, just the right person to do it,  one would imagine. And Rahman "sir" comes up with a sorry excuse for a CWG anthem with stale lyrics (India bula liya – what kind of Hindi is that!). Like we all know, no Indian drama is complete without divine intervention. This drama had the great Indian monsoon doing that bit, only this time instead of helping, it created further chaos. The Indian Army comes to the rescue for doing a thankless job. After all isn’t protecting Desh ki aan what the high defense budget for? The games start in grand style, thanks to trusted veterans Mr Shyam Benegal, Mr. Javed Akhtar and Mr. Prasoon Joshi. That is not a surprise at all because we, as a nation, are better artists than sportspersons. Delhi gets a makeover like an Indian bride inaccessible to the very people dear to her – the aam aadmi of the city. A Rs. 40 crore big helium balloon flies high for one day. Kind of stuff, fat Indian weddings are known for! We are the emotional, sentimental people. And DD commentary does not fail us dishing out crap like “Khiladiyon ko zindagi ki hassi mil gayi”! The closing ceremony was a collective sigh of relief with lame Bollywood performances and lamer “thank-God-the-games-are-over” kind of vote of thanks!

And in the middle of all this drama, the Indian athletes hit hard and run harder, without complaining and without cribbing. In an atmosphere where they get treated like this, they play for samman, pride, for there are no monetary rewards, hardly any fame, just a medal for which they sweat day in and day out. While the standard of competition in CWG is not something to swear by, Indian sport still tries to breathe for life, in spite of everything our nation of a billion does to bring it down.

Whether or not any good CWG 2010 has done for athletic sports in India remains to be seen. Indian athletics will face sterner competition in Asian Games this November where traditionally, we have not had many reasons to cheer. It would give a better assessment, or honest insight, of where we stand in face of genuine competition. But I sincerely hope there are more who take up sports as a career and not a means to a career in Railways and sport quota government jobs. And I hope we see more frequent display of determination, grit, encouragement and support like this in the coming times!


And against all odds I hope that the corrupt get punished! Maybe that is too much to ask for, for if that happens, would we still be what we are – all forgiving Indians?

4 comments:

Amit said...

Ask a delhite what CWG meant to them
Just a nightmare that started the day Delhi won the bid for CWG 2010....a job that would have taken the beurocrats and politicians of biggest democracy some good 7-8 years without corruption....they tried to complete in 3-4 years with almost 15,000 crore rupees to be washed away by the rain god and making it evident that only 30% of the actual amount being spent.

only good thing is Metro reaching to almost all parts of delhi

but as i India we say.....theek hai..abhi to time hai....ho jayega

and all is well that ends well

Varsha said...

Welcome back blogger :) I was waiting for you to write something since a long time.. nice post.

I saw the video, absolutely mind blowing.. :)

Megha said...

well said Anusha! jitna in politicians se nafrat hoti hai unki shameless statements sunke, utna hi apne sportspersons pe garv hota hai..agreed, the competition might not have been as severe as we might face in the Asian games, but not a lot of sportspersons would face the kind of hurdles ours do..so i salute them all who took India to 2nd position in the tally with more than a 100 medals to the country's credit...

Anusha said...

@ Amit ji

I hope at least some of the makeover Delhi saw in the last few days remains..Then all the pains Delhites took would be worthwhile...

@ Varsha

This video gives me goose bumps every time I watch it! awesome ekdum!

@ Megha

Absolutely..

Our athletes, specially the girls were amazing..Rising and shining against all odds! They deserve much more than what they get!