CWG - the lost pride

This is my second post on the Common Wealth Games in 2 months. And i am retracting back from my viewpoint presented in the earlier post. I had requested all to give up the criticism on CWG and instead prepare to make the games a successful event. But now, when the games are just a fortnight away, it seems a far cry. And i am sorry, but i am admitting here that i was wrong to request that.
I still remember the day when India won the bid for CWG in Nov 2003. Though the news channels then were not as much emotional exploiters as they are now, but still there were pride inducing songs (Chak de hadn't come then) running for days. And it was certainly a moment of pride, a moment that all Indians would have loved to cherish for long, an achievement which could have been talked about for long. But alas, there is nothing to say now. It should have been an easy guess. We have never been great organizers, sports or otherwise. And all this could have been speculated earlier too. But yes, as always, we are paying the price to keep expectations and hopes.
What a big mess this CWG has created. What big humiliation and insult we, as a country are facing. What a big corruption saga has been going on with the entire nation busy in other thoughts. With all these, can we still claim to be the future superpowers?
And the worst part of it, there is still no big reaction from PMO, not a single strong statement from PMO. At least take some action on the culprits. At least, ask Kalmadi to step down now and have an inquiry on the entire mess created. At least, do ask various research organizations to come up and analyze what went wrong and what could have been done and what are the lessons to learn for future from all these chaos. The nation is angry and the citizens of this nation are angrier. It is high time now, some action is taken. Go crap with the games. No one cares now if it is a success or a failure as an event, because for us all, it is already the biggest failure.
Already enough has been said around as to what is wrong with the CWG and what all problems exist and what is the reaction coming from the entire world as a feedback to the games preparation. So i won’t ponder upon these thoughts. It just pains to think of these sorts of corruption and mismanagement happening at such a big level.
Hope no big calamity happens during the game. And I hope not for salvaging the pride of the nation or the organizers (that is already in tatters), but because so that nothing bad happens to the international athletes participating in the event. Hope the buildings and stadiums and various tracks and fields remain intact and also no calamity takes place anywhere in Delhi. But then, why am i hoping again? I don’t myself know, but at the end of the day i still love this country and still hope some miracle happens to bring back the lost pride of the nation.

The Big Transition

How many of you have heard your parents or grandparents say that things used to be way different in their days. And by their days, i mean days when they were young. After all, these are our days now. But yeah, coming back to the topic, i guess most of us would have heard that. And yes those are true claims too. Things were indeed very different just a few decades ago.
Just to ponder a thought on the current generation - the generation that is in its prime youth currently, the 18-30 age groups. We have lived in an era when things were way cheaper than what they are today. When talking to a girl in the class used to raise many mocking gestures from fellow students. When Bajaj scooter or LML-Vespa were seen in every household. When computer was that geeky instrument, the possession of which used to earn one a definitive high status in society as being the new age scientist. When mobile companies used to charge Rs. 6 for incoming calls and Rs. 18 for outgoing calls. When DD1 and DD metro were our prime source of entertainment. And the list can go on and on for an eternity. But, don’t you think we are extremely lucky. We have lived through the big shift. We have lived in the extremely transient phase of this generation game.
Comparing the generations before us and the generation after us, there are clear indications of the vast differences existing in their attitudes, their behavior, etc. The generation before was a far more conservative one, the ones who had seen India progressing through the most difficult times, the ones for whom luxury and pleasure had a different definition, the ones for whom entertainment was radio, the ones for whom internet and even telephones and televisions were non-existent. And even though we didn’t get a chance to see all those, but we got a fair glimpse.
There have been some great revolutions recently, which according to me have induced this big generation shift. The 1991 economic reforms in the country, which opened the doors for the foreign firms to enter the Indian market, making it more open and more competitive, the internet and IT revolution, the telecom revolution and the retail revolution were the biggest game changers, as per me. Who would have imagined a young graduate - a guy or a girl - earning more than 20k bucks just after graduating from college. And now, even that 20k looks so meager. Who would have imagined all the daily workers, the rickshaw-wallahs, the vegetable vendors, etc owning their own mobiles and catering to their customers after taking orders on mobile? AC supermarkets and malls were those little fantasies which people thought existed in Dubai or some far away imaginary land only. And now, the case is that people are bored of too many malls in cities. Internet brought about the biggest turn-around. It is possible to do any task now sitting at home. And with such abundant data available online, and with people connected like never before, world has truly become a village. Now was that possible about two decades ago?
I must say we are extremely lucky to have seen this change happening in front of our eyes, to have witnessed the pros and cons of the widely distinguished generations and to have lived through this change. And it doesn't surprise me to see that it is this generation that is doing wonders and is being hailed to have finally woken up and working towards bringing about the change.

P.S. I have assumed those reading this will be the people who have been through the same change as me. And that is why i have directed them as second person in this post. :)