It is several years since it was officially known that Delhi will be hosting the Games. And yet there is a mad scramble to finish the arrangements in time - and that too after a major stink was raised in the world media about the pathetic conditions of the infrastructure. The living quarters of the athletes was reportedly a mess - to say nothing about the actual venues.
They'll fix it. That, I'm pretty sure about. There's too much at stake for them not to. But it is sad that measures are being taken to fix things only after things came to such a pass. It only means that supervision and monitoring of the contractors was poor which can only mean that the bureaucrats were in cahoots with the organizers and the contractors. Millions, probably billions of rupees must have been siphoned off. Middlemen must have laughed all the way to the bank. Politicians and bureaucrats must have become crorepatis overnight at the expense of the nation.
I happened to go through some websites of some prominent world newspapers (Sydney Morning Herald, BBC, The Dawn etc). The way scorn was heaped on India and the Indian way of cobbling together an event of this magnitude was shameful. No matter what is done to salvage the Games from here on in, the damage is done. Here was a good opportunity for us to demonstrate to the world that we stand second to none in hosting mega events. Of late, India has captured the imagination of the First World like never before. The Games could have driven home the point that India has truly arrived. But that is not to be. We have actually gone back a few years. The costliest Games ever may well turn out to be the shabbiest.
But the incorrigible optimist that I am, I can only hope that this country is one step closer now to realizing that corruption is eating away at the vitals of the nation. Maybe we have learnt our lesson.
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