The hottest topic ever... How could I have not blogged on it? So the games preparation is pretty much as screwed up as practically possible... There are bridges falling, canopies collapsing, false ceiling tiles crashing, beds giving way from under your bums, dogs availing the hospitality of the games village, what all and what not. Crazy. Unbecoming. And frightening. Till now the worst we had heard was the wrong national anthem being played. This has redefined all that was known to go bad. But what I actually intend to address and answer are two basic questions.
First one is moral. As a responsible citizen that I claim myself to be, should I blast open whatever happens that is derogatory to my pride as an Indian? Or should I ignore all that and keep goody goody stuff in the front of my mind and presume that all will be well through the hifi jugaad technology and spread the joy of the games? Well, I think patriotism is tough love. Unless we point out what is wrong in us, how do we go ahead? I would rather face the shame that is very real than indulge in blissful ignorance, 'All iz well' types. If the preparations are bad, so be it. I will hate it and feel ashamed about it.
Which brings me to the second question, which makes more sense to me and my life. Where did we go so wrong that when the pot boiled over, there was no way to plug anything? I feel there are two reasons. Firstly, we are so used to things happening wrongly that we sincerely believe that something or the other WILL be wrong. And we ll fix it at the last moment. Jugaad. We need to learn that the times are gone when it could work. Today's projects are not delivered like that. Second reason is management philosophy. We have all seen that in complex projects, privatization alone works. The public sector machinery is neither agile enough not equipped well to handle them, because the best talent is no longer there.
So far as my blog title goes, no, I don't think that shame is the name of the game. The damage to Indian pride is irreparable but can be compensated if games go well. But the lessons from the debacle are, in my opinion, too valuable to be forgotten. Best of Luck to the games. They need it a lot.
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This is just a manifestation of a basic nature of most of us Indians..we are always of the opinion that everything will magically work out in the last minute. This includes school kids, college students and even most "professionals". We are proud of our last minute achievements. Why then should the CWG committee be any different. Its a much more fundamental problem than just corruption or unprofessional ism.
ReplyDeleteAs for people who think that pointing out mistakes is unpatriotic- they are the hypocrites. We are not doing ourselves any favors by not recognizing or admitting our faults. How then are we to become better, and avoid recurring mistakes?