The Insignificant – YOU 

I have been asked, questioned and pestered to write on Commonwealth Games. I have resisted deliberately and really didn’t have an opinion. I still don’t. This piece is not about CWG either, though it is about you. 

In the past decade under the current chief minister of Delhi what impressed me the most was her ability to stand ground in a few instances and doing the right thing – even though unpopular.  A few examples that come to mind immediately are the decisions of solving pollution worries through the CNG drive or relocating the unorganized industries and her adept handling of victims during the demolition drive. Also in relative terms compared to the rest of the states, infrastructure development is definitely the fastest and the best. None of this has been reported or is believed to be entirely scam free, though lets overlook it for a while.  

Then comes the coveted challenge. The dream to put Delhi on the world tourist map. The claim that Delhi will be the Singapore in no time. The proof will be the Commonwealth Games. The sweet pudding will be mass media coverage on uplifting of a city, the transformation of a state, the beautiful symbol and role model for the rest of the country will be our capital. Why not? What is wrong with that? 

The leaking roofs and falling ceilings will be fixed. The city will look beautiful even though not in time but will. Symbol and role model for the rest of the country – certainly as far as infrastructure is concerned. If everything is on track then what is the fuss all about. The government was elected with all this on the table and it has delivered (almost).  

The trouble is that the city has been beautified, the metro is working, the stadiums are lit and shining but the people of the city as well as of the country aren’t feeling beautiful about this. They are feeling betrayed.  

“CWG should be celebrated like a festival” was a politicians remark on the news yesterday.  We might have spent taxpayers 70,000 crores on this but for people this is just another sporting event.  

Correction 70,000 cr has not been spent. Entire allocation was perhaps never meant to be spent. A large part of it was perhaps meant to be pocketed.  

The celebration might have been if people felt good and proud. Unfortunately they don’t. The reason for this isn’t corruption.  

Which part of corruption is a surprise?  

I personally feel the whole banter on corruption is just double standard garb by a majority of us. My recent research for one of the other writing assignments I am pursuing shows me that all (ALL) the organizations that you are working for or in are corrupt and majority of the employees are aware of it. You are aware too unless you prefer lying to yourself. 

I also believe that people expressing anger, venting out in social media -  at the government and CWG for corruption – is simply a release mechanism. No one in his or her heart likes to be part of corruption. Yet we all are.  We cant dare to speak up against this within our companies, which we might have a realistic chance of changing, so why not do it at least at the CWG and create a false sense of contribution. I am truly beginning to believe that we do prefer to lie to ourselves. 

How sad is that? 

I truly, really understood the reaction on corruption and that’s the reason I didn’t have a view to share on the CWG. I do know the problem needs to be dealt with. We as a society aren’t even close yet.  There are plenty of us who are available (for each to their own reasons of survival) to turn a blind eye to it. And thus become insignificant or useable at the hands of a few. 

What really irked me about the CWG is my recent visit to Delhi.  

The slums gone. The street peddlers gone.  Shops on the roadside gone. Simply gone. You might be thinking that that’s not a bad thing. You are right. It is atrocious. They are gone not because someone has proactively eliminated their poverty and employed them. In fact it’s the reverse, someone has actually multiplied their poverty, made them homeless and taken away the little employment they had. And why? Because someone visiting from another country will not like it. Sick. 

Roads closed. Diversion created. Lanes singled out for CWG. Fines. Threats of arrests if you dare cross the line. Delays. Jams. Endless wait on the roads. The government propagating a common man agenda. What a joke! May be the common man from another country. 

Then celebrate we must – so what if we made a few people homeless and inconvenienced everyone setting foot in Delhi, unless he’s not an Indian.  

What saddens me though that what CWG has really done is that through the media hype it has reflected us as a society. A society that is mean and selfish. A society that has lost all sense of reality and rehabilitation. A society that would rather ‘look good’ to an outsider than purposefully confront its problems.  

Replace the word ‘society’  with the word ‘individual’ in the above paragraph and you would know that the statement is true for you. 

An individual that is mean and selfish – for our reasons of survival, salaries, bonuses and promotions – you turn a blind eye to misgivings and corruption every single day in the office that you work in. Though in an issue like the CWG that is unlikely to impact one’s vested interests, one would be on the moralistic high ground. 

An individual that has lost all sense of reality and rehabilitation.  The reality written in here is there for everyone to see, not just in Delhi, in any state that you are reading this is in there are issues and some even more glaring. The individual response in Delhi is either to plan a holiday and move out of the reality or to look the other way. Your response perhaps will be ‘what can I do?’ and in that you will absolve yourself of all responsibility just as our government and society does by blaming the system.  

An individual that would rather ‘look good’ to an outsider than purposefully confront its problems.  All of us are aware of this mask of projecting what isn’t really the reality. The reality is that people have been rendered homeless and jobless. The government’s projection is that of games’  hoardings and a beautified city. The reality is that you are directly a part of corruption in one way or another – in your organization, or when you bribe an officer on the signal, or when you register a home, or when you get your driving license or something. Your projection is mindless garb and intolerance of CWG’s corruption. 

It is sad. It is not the CWG and its mess that is sad. It is we as a society that is sad. Truly sad.  

I often wonder how big a sin is it – the lust for power and money. It is evident in the current realities of the games, how having the power to do something overrules anything. I admired the Delhi government for doing the right thing, however, it has now defied the very people who make Delhi. Might be the right thing to do for the Commonwealth Games but certainly not for the people of Delhi. Fortunately, participating countries don’t elect governments, the people here do. The people have been defied and defiance will lead to change.  

In this quest for power and money comes the indifference. The indifference to uprooted people, to the public at large and to commitments and expectations of time.  At an individual level – in our own quest for power and money comes our indifference to the realities that surround us and turn a blind eye too. Sometimes in the name of helplessness.  “What can I do?” we ask -  may be if one isn’t selfish, a voice will answer that question.  

It is in this helplessness and indifference that the individual, is rendered insignificant to the sins of power.  

I love my country and wish Commonwealth games to be a success. I hope guests visiting us are well taken care off and carry good Indian memories back with them.  

Will I go watch the games? NO. Absolutely NO. Celebrations cover up the realities momentarily. In this case they will justify realities. However the bigger reason why I wouldn’t do this is for I cant celebrate the reflection of our society yet.  

As I am writing this, I have reached a conclusion – the greatest sin is not the one of lust for power or greed for money. The greatest sin is the 21^st Century sin of indifference for your very indifference makes you insignificant.  The insignificant always tries to then be significant through power and money.. 

And as the quest for this moves on, the society will keep reflecting itself through many more CWGs. It shows you the mirror. The mirror glaringly screams that the ones in power will not change as they are guided by the lust and greed. But by being guided by indifference you are even guiltier for it is the greater sin.  

Yours,

Chetan Walia