When India won the bid to host commonwealth games 2010 , hundreds of echoes were heard that this event will make us 'proud' and earn us 'respect' on global platform. I had no idea what the words 'pride' and 'respect' mean. I went to my room and looked out for dictionary. I searched every nook for it, but couldn't find it. So I finally gave up and quietly waited for the games to arrive hoping that I might be able to decipher the words in their dynamic form, that is to say when the games will be round the corner and my entire country will be experiencing the so called feeling 'pride' and earning 'respect'.
Finally the games neared and I was quite eager that finally my curiosity shall be quenched. I picked up the newspaper and switched on the TV. My curiosity was no less than that of a kid waiting for a surprise gift on his birthday, rubbing hands, fidgeting legs and going to the window frequently to check if the gift has arrived. Finally my gift arrived and what came out was indeed a striking surprise for me. Just like the birthday kid staring at the gift with shock and awe, I watched the TV with an equal amount of, however, horror on my face. All I could see was authorities of organising committee, politicians and media people running amok, one after the other. Throwing loads of accusations on one another and trying to evade the one being thrown to them.
In India, a strikingly similar game is played, however with colors and water, during a festival in the month of march; we call it the Holi. A festival to rejoice the killing of an evil king by lord Vishnu, to celebrate the Rabi crop . Holi, unlike what most people misconcieve, is a festival played round the year in India. Pardon me for digressing from the topic but it might be informative to share about the year-round Holi played in India. Pick up any month of a calendar and you will find scores of instances of Holi being played with sanguinary colors, ranging from terror attacks, honour killings, road-train-and-air accidents, murders and gory group clashes. What follows these incidents is yet another type of Holi that more or less resembles the one being played before common wealth games. We nickname it as blame-game.
On one hand Kalmadi, when asked about the crippled channelising of cash, could be seen shivering like a sheep cornered by a pack of wolves, meanwhile Manishankar aiyar, on the other, would chuckle in front of camera like a pesky little goblin does, after playing a prank. Media is busy stripping everyone. The entire organising fraternity is running naked like vietnamese people struck by napalm. I have learnt, that it's not just the preparation of commonwealth games that stands in shambles, but the entire country as well.
Fed up of all these, I finally switched the TV off, and stretched back on my sofa and all of a sudden, as if by some divine intervention, I found the dictionary as if smiling at me from the table. I quickly seized it and fluttered the pages looking out for the meaning of pride, and here is what I found: "a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction that you get when you or people who are connected with you have done sth well or own sth that other people admire." Indeed I admire Kalmadi for such humungous money laundering. Indeed I praise the cash receipts for standing unquestioned when hiring rates of treadmills were cited as Rs. 9 Lakhs for 45 days. Indeed I praise the taxpayers of our country for not reacting to such unscrupolous waste and magical act of conjuring of the money they pay. Ironically they do get raved up by a 25 yr old pending decision on a Gas tragedy, although any plausible decision might vindicate the virtues of justice, however justice delayed is justice denied.
Finally i searched for 'respect' and realised that it's a vicarious form of 'pride'.
