With under 40 days to go for the biggest extravagant sporting event in this country, The Commonwealth Games. India has already lost it, going by the series of revelations & campaigning by the media, it seems more of a curse than a matter of pride. Everything from paper rolls to colossal stadias has come under the ire of media. If you go by the media every second person in this country is a rapist, a corrupt, a thief, a goon, a murderer in short a Criminal. My problem is not with their revelations about the inadequacies in the run up to the commonwealth games, my problem is with their timing for such a campaign. Almost the world will descend upon our national capital to be a part of history, will those guest (athiti) take away those paper rolls, chairs & umbrellas with them as a memory of games?? No, what they will take back is the warmth of Indian hospitality which the world has been indoctrinated since decades, they will take back the gesture of an ordinary Delhite to make space in their homes when all the hotels are packed. But sadly, the environment around doesn’t look like it will ever happen that way, The ordinary delhite following the series of negative campaigning by the media has started to disassociate himself from the games, I am not supporting Kalmadi & his team, if anybody guilty they should face the ramifications of their actions but only after we have wished our guests a nostalgic good bye. The Media needs to understand that this is the moment India was waiting for years, this is the moment where the world will see us through the prism of our ability & stature, It is this time that we cannot do away or shy away from the games because a handful of the people have used it for their benefit, Its time we all put our shoulders together & stage the best ever Commonwealth Games in the history of sports. And how can India do that??, we Indians do not need world class Infrastructure or ostentatious grandeur. What we need is to just be our self, and rally around in numbers supporting our games. Why can’t a Normal Delhite in his capacity buy tickets & sheer for Saina Nehwal when she bears the Indian Flag at the games, Can an ordinary delhite not support Gagan Narang at the shooting ranges, and why not an ordinary Indian along with his family think of a week holiday to Delhi to be a part of the National festival. Remember only stadiums & glassy roads won’t make it the best ever, we all have to contribute with media taking the baton in its own hand, Common we don’t want to hear the Lacks & Crores being looted, that is not something new, after few days nobody will give it a Damn whether it was 10 or 1000 Crores, what we want to hear is “Mehman aa rahe hai, Swagat kijiye”. This is Our Commonwealth Games & it’s high time the Media & we all realize that!
