A bridge has collapsed, and with it has collapsed world’s trust
By Meha Mathur
“It was just a foot overbridge,” is how our Urban Development Minister described the tragedy that struck near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, the main venue of the Commonwealth Games. The overbridge collapsed on September 21, injuring 40 workers, 5 of them critically. It was just two days before the athletes were to arrive in Delhi. Every authority interviewed on electronic media displayed a nonchalant attitude, giving out a loud and clear signal that the one skill we have perfected is that of glib talk and passing the buck.
It was a day of double embarrassment, when four foreign delegations pointed out how unlivable the residential quarters were, with excreta in toilets, paan stains, and even a dog using a bed. But for an organising committee that had been boasting of a “world-class” infrastructure, it was only a matter of altering the words to suit the occasion: “I might have different standards of cleanliness, you might have different standards. Similarly the other countries have different standards of cleanliness.” Indian standards in a ‘world-class’ games village?
It’s one matter to mesmerise the world with money play. But that is what proved to be the undoing in this case. Every interested party, big or small, lapped on to the CWG bandwagon. The attitude can best be described in Hindi phrase “Behti Ganga mein haath dho lein”. Contrast it with smaller events India has held, where money might have been stingily control, and some person might have held the reins. Think Asiad 1982 - a smaller, less ambitious, but a more graceful event.
As a teenager, I witnessed the involvement of one and all, from top to bottom, to make the Asian Games successful. And I witnessed the pride in Indians and Delhiites then. Today, in contrast, what I witness are brazenness and shamelessness. At a University hostel in Delhi, which is being handed over to the CWG organising committee for use during the Games, I, along with a University authority got a taste of it. The authority pointed out to the contractor that the rooms on the top floor were not yet clean, when the handing over date was near. The contractor replied that the rooms were being finally cleaned and locked from ground floor onwards. But the toilets on the ground floor were unclean, the provost pointed out. “Actually sir, we are cleaning the toilets and locking them from top floor downwards,” the contractor smartly replied.
This brings me to the moot point. When we boast of being the skills capital of the word on the strength of JUST our numbers, we miss the point. ‘Largest work force’, ‘youngest workforce’ and other such tall claims lose meaning when the world witnesses the shoddy job. Beauty lies in a small task being done to perfection, not in a mega project buckling under rain. God lies in detail. As important as skills is the attitude towards what you are doing. It’s the difference between a worker who treats his work just as laying bricks and the one who thinks he is laying the foundations of a temple. You can make out which set of workers would leave the toilets in shambles.
A few years ago, at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2008 I met a NASA astronaut, who recounted how he had helped resolve a life-threatening crisis in the space station. I asked him how the team managed that. And he replied that in such situations, the team thinks that if each member does his task properly, a task can be accomplished. “I do my bit, and I trust that my teammates would be doing their bit.” After all, right intention always pays, just as wrong intention invites Rain God’s wrath.
