Wrote this piece in July last year and posting it now, must have written in strong emotions of anger, passion, enthusiasm…with all the stupid media hype amidst the games. It was more frustration, mixed with jubilation of competing at totally chaotic test event (many thought was impossible). Nonetheless it’s worth the bit we went through.
Date: July 30, 2010
Come August 1st and we have exactly 63 days to go. Each day matters and I can tell you this after making the impossible possible. Today, we concluded the third and the final day of National Swimming Championship (Swimming test event) at SP Mukherjee Swimming Stadium (last among the many that were incomplete). What seemed like a herculean task 2 days before the test event, with incomplete false ceiling, non functional toilets, dusty pathways and entries etc, Organising Committee team staff along with the Venue contractors and respective venders – we all pulled it through. I am not fooling you as a reader neither am I saying that it was a flawless event, certainly we made mistakes, agree we have lot of work yet to complete, surely we need to put in more efforts but this test was effective and important lesson to learn.
This blog is directed to everyone –friends, family, my colleagues, media, brand ambassadors of India and many other out there to realize that each one of us are working very hard towards the Games. The criticism and the cynicism may go out to the Venue Owners and the Contractors for the unfinished venues and delayed work, to the Senior OC management for their selfish desires to make money, to the lazy and bureaucratic Government system for their inefficiency but it’s been all so easy for everyone to pin point faults. It’s been so easy for the media to report it in the newspaper, flash in it on every news channel or write it on your webpage. (I am not saying you should not pull them up, everyone has a right to express their fears and take full accountability of public money) However, in this process you are addressing more than 1300 workforce employee, who know they don’t have a jobs come October 2010, 5000 contractors, who possible may be thinking of backing off, and most importantly 35,000 volunteers, who are willing to work for more than 10 days without a single penny. You are directly addressing their aspirations, faith, trust and sincerity and discouraging them each day as we come closer to Games.
The Games are here to put India on a world map, not destroy its image showcasing the weakness and the ups and downs.
Our largest fear lies in losing hardworking staff member; the absence of the volunteers and the lethargy / defeat in our contractors. Imagine the logistic nightmare if these important people leave.
Swimming event that seemed absolutely impossible was delivered as scheduled. One has rightly said “The show must go on” and it will. A journalist on the first day of the test event was surprised to even believe that the test event actually happening as scheduled.” Therefore, we will deliver.
It’s unbelievable how the Indian society works. Probably we all leave it up to the end, ofcourse it’s a big time chaos, but we still make it happen. My foreign consultant was surprised when he saw the greens laid out at the archery stadium a day before the event. I remember a tar road was laid out outside the boxing stadium two days before the event. No wonder, he calls the last min situation as an ‘Indian miracle”.
As a member of the Organising Committee, I request each one of you to trust us, encourage us and keep that momentum sustained. As a reader, I sincerely request the media to be a little more sensitive towards aspirations of the people working behind the Games. As a part of the Games, I request each of my team-mate to keep up the hard work and faith.
