The murky side of the Games!

Thank God the Prime Minister wasted no time in ordering a thorough probe into the shenanigans of the Commonwealth Games. Despite the doubts generated in peoples' minds by the hysterical media as to whether the games would be held at all, the latter went off with a bang! Indeed the Games brought immense and much-deserved laurels to our silent, unseen and highly-ignored sportspersons from all over India. The athletes excelled and out-did themselves in the various disciplines, so much so that they reeled in a record haul of medals!

All these super achievements were almost rendered non-starters by the, I would say, Indian way of doing things i.e. with little imagination, no competence, zero professionalism, a high degree of ego-clashes and, of course, the pan-Indian and innate epidemic of corruption. Please pardon me if my views offend you in any way. I am not at all a cynic by nature. But decades of life in the corporate world and co-habitation with our other fellow-citizens through everyday or business experiences, have convinced me that corruption is more widespresd than we perhaps believe. This makes bungling shamateurs of a whole lot of us. And that is why I am happy that a detailed probe has ben instituted. My only prayer to God is that let the investigators not be corrupt too!

I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I am eagerly waiting to see who will be the popular scapegoat for the whole exercise - for, a scapegoat will be there for sure! Mr. Kalmadi has emerged as the favourite! Let me clarify before my good friends pounce on me! Suresh Kalmadi cannot be a scapegoat in the real sense because he himself is steeped in this controversy. However, in so far that he is being pushed forward to take the rap on behalf of all others does make him a scapegoat of sorts...or the American "fall-guy" if you so prefer.

This is my point. Let not the probe forget to examine the roles of the earstwhile Union Sports Minister, the current Union Sports Minister, the Union Urban Development Minister ( who was entrusted the responsibility to co-ordinate and oversee the preparations for the Games), the Cabinet Secretary, the bureaucracy of the concerned ministries, the numerous government departments responsible for the infrastructure, the civic agencies, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and ,of course, the State government itself!

Let not only the Organizing Committee be left to bear the blame for the rampant inefficiency and corruption attributed to the XIX Commonwealth Games because all of them were equally involved in the task. So, the truth - and nothing but the truth - must be unearthed.

May we, the nation, live in hope for retribution and just desserts for ALL the culprits, whoever they may turn out to be?