Playing Games from the Common's Wealth....

Chaotic, that is the word which comes to my mind after reading those reports about the CWG over the past few days. The management is in disarray. Infrastructure is lagging, the preparation is too. Whether the games are going to be conducted if this haphazardness continues is still an important question. It is the quick buck which matters irrespective whether it comes at a heavy price of the nation losing face in front of the international sports community.

Shoddy and doctored deals and reports with the cash transactions indicating a highly inflated purchasing price and then the chairman of the organizing committee fakes a few emails and does a crude cut-paste in his defence of this unethical dealing and lo, behold, we have a new scam to enjoy during the morning tea and talk about during those ever important group discussions in colleges, at work or elsewhere!

I suppose Mani Shankar Aiyar’s wish of the games being unsuccessful is on its way to fulfillment.

But it is highly outrageous if the ruling party’s minister goes on record to state that the games should be a failure and he will be disappointed if they don’t! Still, there is no action against him. It is though quite logical that if he is let away even when he commits the audacious crime of erasing Veer Savarkar’s poems from the walls of Andaman Jail he would certainly be let off with something as minor as this statement then!!

A person of his low acumen and intellect would never understand Savarkar and his love for the nation and even 10 Aiyar’s down the line might never grasp Savarkar’s ideology and vision.

I see a sad future to the CWG in this nation if the government refuses to punish the perpetrators of these fraudulent dealings in time right from the chairman to all those involved. They have unearthed evidence and it should be acted upon in true measure if the sports future in the country is to be protected and the sportsmen here are to be encouraged in their respective sports.

The tax payers are being robbed here. So, what are me and you going to do? Try and rob this money out of someone else while cursing the system or do something about it positively?

“We must not become the system we oppose.”

Desmond Tutu

What about taking this to heart and setting up a different, ideal and ethical system? It has no sense at all if we go on to become like these corrupt officials and drain the nation of its progress. There is an urgent need for many of us to come together and oppose the flow of the so called ‘real’ world. I don’t think we can affect the above described scenario right know in measurable terms but then there is another beautiful quote for it –

“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl but make sure you are moving towards your goal.”

Anonymous

I believe we can only crawl at this juncture in time, but there will be a day when we fly and make significant changes if the foundation is built in these passing moments. A nice story comes to my mind regarding corruption and its roots. There might not be a direct relation into the tale with respect to the CWG mess but it is worth learning from.

In some kingdom long ago, corruption was rampant and the honest king was worried about it and how to handle it. He used to remove a corrupt official from his post if caught as a solution but the problem never halted here. His wise wazir pointed it out that this will not work and there has to be a more forceful action to strike fear in the hearts of such criminals. Corruption is to be struck at the roots with effective laws which check it and strict punishments. An example has to be made of such persons to deter others from following the route and meeting the same fate. Then only can corruption be fought and defeated. The king asked him to prove his point and the wazir set about his task to prove it to the king that a corrupt person stays corrupt no matter where he is and he invents power if not found to satisfy his greed. The wazir went down to the river and started placing sticks vertically along the river pretending as if some important work was in progress. The citizens nearby grew apprehensive about this and started imagining all kinds of situations where they would be affected by this ‘imaginary’ project. So, they offered the wazir some payment to halt this work. After repeated denials and increasing amount offered the wazir accepted and brought this money as proof to the king.

In this story, corruption succeeded as its victims contributed to the act. This goes to show that victims of corruption are of far greater importance in the whole process. Had there been no co-operation from the victims the unethical act would not have succeeded. The same applies in life too. No matter where the corrupt officials are placed or transferred to, they will find a way to extort and satisfy their greed. They only way to fight it is by refusing to co-operate with them on this count. It needs great resolve, courage, sacrifice and patience but then it has to be done for the sake of the nation’s growth. Such blood sucking officials flourish as we feed their greed to get our jobs done out of turn and as a cheap and easier measure. If this has to stop somewhere, the process has to start from us. By refusing co-operation we are actually contributing in our own small way to the steady growth of the nation.

Jai Hind!