The Delhi Commonwealth Games have brought home several valuable insights to the alert observers among which I count myself.
1.We Indians have a poor record of execution.
No need to amplify on this - it is pretty obvious what I mean. Notwithstanding the spam mail doing the rounds, allegedly originated by the venerable ex-president Dr. Kalam, I am inclined to think we cannot just be singing the praise of the things we have done well. If we are to be respected we we need to critically look at the things we don't do well and come up with ways to improve. I propose we make Mr Ram CHARAN our national coach and that all babus have to compulsorily attend his coaching sessions.
2.We have developed a thick skin and a short memory for corruption.
The way the news of the $80 toilet rolls glided off everyone's back is nothing short of scandalous. I deem that a greater pity than the cost of the rolls themselves. Our acceptance enables the corrupt to be open and brazen. We need to get angry. We need to be appalled. We need to demand andswers and action. The consequences of accepting / forgiving / forgetting behaviour are unimaginable. Perhaps we have already gone beyond the pale, judging by the lack of pretences and by the brazenness of the corrupt officialdom. I hope the commercial exhortation, "jaago India", finds a resonance amongs all Indians.
3.Nothing changes; it's business s usual now on.
Now that we have somehow conducted the games, courtesy the famous Indian jugaad, and bagged the second largest tally of medals, I expect we will all go back to our respective daily lives and all will be forgotten. Punishing Kalmadi & Co is not going to make a whit of a difference to my life or for that matter anyone else's. But study of human behaviour tells us that if you don't do that, there will be many more Kalmadis in future. Do we want that? Can we afford that? If we let this one slide, let me assure you that future Kalmadis will only get more brazen in their swindling. We must ask ourselves the question how did we get here in the first place: clearly in the past we have let things pass, mostly for reasons of political expediency. Ideally we should take a leaf from our Chinese neighbours: exemplary and punitive punishment. Chalo, spare the corrupt their lives; we should at least shame them such that they should wish they were dead.
There, I have said it: that we have many problems that we have to fix if we expect to be respected and be counted in the wider world. But that does not in any way diminish what I am about to say below:
4.The fourth point that emerges from the Delhi Games is the Western view of India. The glee with which the western media waded in with their headlines clearly demonstrates that they are unwilling to seat us at the same table, so to speak, and that they will clutch at anything and everything to justify their view. During the last one month the derision was ill-concealed; the schadenfreude was palpable. The inevitable comparisons with China were selective. It is axiomatic, in their world view, that India doesn't cut it.
What do we do about it? Bend over backwards and run a few more "royal express" trains to ferry them to our past glories?
Here's where we need to borrow from the Chinese play book. Mao was right: power does grow from the barrel of a gun. Grow the economy to a level where we don't need western favours; to where doing business with us, being nice to us is in their national interest. Make them come to us. Nothing speaks louder than a trillion dollars worth of Treasury bills. Let's get that trillion dollars. Look at the way China refuses to roll over for the West and there is pretty little the latter is able to do about it. Until we attain similar stature we will continue to be objects of ridicule at worst and of concealed derision at best.
Where does that fit in with the Delhi Games? Square in the middle. The Delhi Games must change the way we do things. Firstly we must swiftly deal with those guilty - there is plenty of blame to go round. No pussy-footing and political horse-trading as is our wont. The powers that be must put the national interests ahead of party, sectoral and familial interests and make an example of the corrupt ones. The rest of us have to stand up and raise our voices and not rest until that is done.
If we don't do it this time, we will have badly let down our children and their children and sacrificed their future at the altars of the great corrupt.
