Praying Commonwealth Games Fail.. Miserably!
Commonwealth Games in Delhi, 2010 were billed to be the moment of pride for India, and certainly Delhi. But as the games drew closer, it was apparent that we may end up with egg on our face. And that is how it is turning out to be.
Too many bribes and inaction later, we have come to a point that the truth is in front of us – that we weren’t ready for the event. The stadia are in bad shape, the village for housing the athletes has been found to have bad toilets and now the South African contingent found a snake waiting to welcome them in their room. We needn’t have taken the image of being snake charmers so very seriously! Really.. its ok to let go of moments to reiterate the most cliched of stereotype of us Indians abroad. On another thought, I find it amusing that a snake actually made its way through the hustle and bustle of Delhi, without harm. If he made it that far, he really deserved to be there. Hope, our athletes could show such tenacity!
Honestly, I really want the Games to fail.. as in be a flop .. and MISERABLE one at that. I want the egg to be thrown so much that we can’t hide our face anywhere. No, I am not anti-India. I am patriotic and that is precisely why I want the games to fail.
We have become a nation of morally, mentally, and intellectually dead people. It is an affront on “life” to call India a live nation. It is time we declare ourselves formally dead. We can’t do any better. Other than utter failure of the games, I cannot find any other way to shake ourselves up to life again.
We have become too easy on our failures and complete inaction. We let go the worst of corruption and shameful behaviour from our politicians and the unscrupulous without a word. For us, it has become a justifiable behavior. It doesn’t bother us that most of food rots in the godowns.. it doesn’t matter to us that despite such bumper harvests majority of our countrymen, women and kids sleep hungry… it doesn’t matter to us that so many, indeed millions, don’t have a life worth living, while a few have millions stashed in foreign accounts.
That such things happen is bad enough. That we tolerate and turn a blind eye is the lowest in terms of living that we Indians can go to.
Unless we are shamed beyond space to hide, we will not wake up. There is no justification for where we are today.
I still remember a poem by Prasoon Joshi after 26/11 (cited below), where he refused to come go back to normal as Mumbai-ites are famous for. He did not want us to cover up and go back to our lives.. but make some tough decisions. But the sad things is.. we didn’t.
If the Commonwealth Games go by even “Ok”, we might go back to “normal” (however abnormal it may for a human life). But, I really don’t want anyone to go back to business as usual. I want to nation’s ego and its psyche to be injured and hurt so badly that we have no other option but to change the nation’s destiny.
India has never had any revolution. We have never had any coup. We just keep moving on. No change, no radical improvements and no deilberate action. Whatever happens, we just keep moving along in our wretched existence. For centuries, poor and the down-trodden have lived below subsistence, but we keep moving along. For years children die without food and without care.. but we keep moving on.
Until when will a perverse sense of history help us? Why should Chandragupta Maurya, Bhaskar, Sushruta or Chanakya have anything to do with us? People of such high caliber and revolutionary existence would have – rightly so – completely disowned us. Our current generation has absolutely no right to even say that such souls belonged to us.
No one of any value could associate with us. No one. Until we pick our sorry selves up and take a stand. Enough is Enough!! We need to make a deliberate decision to live!
इस बार नहीं
इस बार जब वोह छोटी सी बच्ची मेरे पास अपनी खरोंच ले कर आएगी
मैं उसे फू फू कर नहीं बहलाऊँगा
पनपने दूँगा उसकी टीस को
इस बार नहीं
इस बार जब मैं चेहरों पर दर्द लिखा देखूँगा
नहीं गाऊँगा गीत पीड़ा भुला देने वाले
दर्द को रिसने दूँगा,उतरने दूँगा अन्दर गहरे
इस बार नहीं
इस बार मैं न मरहम लगाऊँगा
न ही उठाऊँगा रुई के फाहे
और न ही कहूँगा कि तुम आंखें बंद करलो, गर्दन उधर कर लो मैं दवा लगाता हूँ
देखने दूँगा सबको हम सबको खुले नंगे घाव
इस बार नहीं> इस बार जब उलझने देखूँगा, छटपटाहट देखूँगा
नहीं दौडूंगा उलझी डोर लपेटने> उलझने दूँगा जब तक उलझ सके
इस बार नहीं> इस बार कर्म का हवाला दे कर नहीं उठाऊँगा औजार
नहीं करूंगा फिर से एक नयी शुरुआत> नहीं बनूँगा मिसाल एक कर्मयोगी की
नहीं आने दूँगा ज़िन्दगी को आसानी से पटरी पर
उतरने दूँगा उसे कीचड मैं, टेढे मेढे रास्तों पे
नहीं सूखने दूँगा दीवारों पर लगा खून
हल्का नहीं पड़ने दूँगा उसका रंग
इस बार नहीं बनने दूँगा उसे इतना लाचार
कि पान की पीक और खून का फर्क ही ख़त्म हो जाए
इस बार नहीं
इस बार घावों को देखना है
गौर से थोड़ा लंबे वक्त तक
कुछ फैसले और उसके बाद हौसले
कहीं तो शुरुआत करनी ही होगी
इस बार यही तय किया है