A Pat on the Back

The glitches-free CWG in Delhi and the positive mood which now prevails makes one wonder if the woes of the Games preparations were real or imagined. There were indeed problems and mess was far from being an imagined one. Several city projects are still unfinished. Planning was certainly not inspiring confidence amongst us. Corruption charges are yet to proved 'wrong'. May be the media overdrive made our authorities get their act together and finally pull off a successful and memorable CWG. Or they were ready but the bad press in the run up to the Games was a mere PR or marketing communication disaster which now pundits have to analyze and learn their lessons from. The truth lies somewhere in between. May be we were ready on some counts but were measuring badly on others. There are questions and there will be answers. For a while, India (not only Delhi) can bask in the glory of medals our sportspersons have bagged in the competitions. The last ditch efforts paid off and we again emerged as good crisis managers and damage controllers, if not good planners and administrators. Now, see overleaf for a list of Olympic aspirations and keep debating on if we can....!!!!

Mantriji

He walks past you with a half smile on face and with mobile phone slightly pressed to the ear. He enters the lift and looks at you as if to say 'Hello' to you. He is one of all of us travelling in the lift, hurrying to reach office in a morning hour. No 'khadi' kurtas or Nehru jackets. No Gandhi topi. No assistants or sidekicks. No secretaries or gun-wielding commandos in attendance. His car does not blare loud noice of siren. He holds the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister of India, the world's largest democracy. He need not force down your neck any ideology. He does not need to be a rabble rouser. He does not care what he should do to win any election or woo voters. He is Nandan Nilekani.

He is in lift today. Tomorrow, you may well find him climbing up the stairs to reach his third floor office in New Delhi. Is this a coming of age for India? May be. Let's pray, it is indeed..!

ALL IZ WELL ?

2nd October (birth anniversary of the Mahatma) had a calming influence on the anxious city which was god send considering that the following day the much-maligned Games were to be inaugurated with fanfare. The Games, the preparations of which will go down in history as a case study in poor management and misgovernance, have begun finally. It is generally observed and felt that India does well in crisis like situation. The rains vanished in Delhi and things started looking up under the moderate October sun. Hate them or love them, the Games were there to be there at any cost. Management pundits may call this 'effectiveness': getting things done. Do not ask how and at what cost. Do not ask how efficiently the tax payers' monenies were spent. Do not ask how many hours our labourers could sleep in a day. Do not ask how may abuses rolled down the tongues of our embarrased and worried officials and ministers to get the Village cleaned up. The 'effectiveness' means that you were ready on the evening of October 3 to welcome the world and diffuse the feeling amongst the citizens of Delhi that ALL IZ WELL.

I recall having read something about the handling of Mumbai floods being rated higher than the handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We don't have planners in India, we have crisis managers, fire fighters and damage controllers. Smoke does billow out but it's not a conflagration that you run into eventually.

TAILPIECE

Delhi 2010 are supposed to be 'green games'. I do not know how and why. An event of this scale is bound to guzzle much more fuel and energy than activities of the normal times, no matter how nicely you dress up your city with jute sculptures. Being green can't be just a fad or PR statement.