The Side Effects of Hosting IPL Matches in Delhi

Now then, like thousands of people living in NCR who travel to central Delhi on a daily basis to earn a modest living, and then back home, I was on my way to Noida after a particularly long day at work. It was Friday, and the Let's-make-merry-it's-Friday-afterall feeling had just begun to envelop my now-rising-from-a-deep-weekday-slumber mind, and I had almost started dreaming up plans for the upcoming weekend. It was at this point, when I suddenly realized that my car was not really moving at its usual 45-50 kmph pace. For those who are familiar with the area around Outer-circle, Connaught Place, I was travelling towards Noida via the Dilli Gate route since the route through ITO/Pragati Maidan gets really choked-up after 6 pm.

Anyways, the traffic snarl that pretty much formed an overwhelming part of the local scenery at that particular point in time jolted me rudely out of my daydreams. The driver and I tried to come up with some possible reasons for this jam and to think up of means to escape the madness that threatened to engulf everybody in sight. As you might have guessed by now, we could come up with no alternative plans and resigned ourselves to the imminent fate that awaited us - crawling at snail's pace whenever the opportunity presented itself and waiting for our chance to get out of that mess at the next signal, however long that might take. 

One-and-half lanes of the barely-3-lane road in question were taken up by vehicles that had been parked there (people really have no civic sense, and authorities seem to be apathetic, so to say), and Metro-related construction work was also going, adding to the mess. While we were caught up in that huge jam, there was actually no space to even open your car door and step out, if required. 

Ultimately, it took us nearly 50 minutes to steer clear of the jam on a 2 km stretch, and finally breathe a sigh of relief. Before long, we saw a long queue of people waiting for their turn to get into the Ferozshah Kotla stadium. We realized that there was an IPL match scheduled for that day. And, that jam occurred just because there was an event planned in the vicinity - that too in the heart of the city!! And, now I'm reliably informed that this is pretty much the state of affairs whenever there's any match being hosted at Ferozshah Kotla.

I mean, it goes on to say something about the traffic management skills of our police, and the disaster readiness of the city, on an overall level. It was in that endless moment that I realized that ours is a city which is actually sitting on a disaster waiting to happen. If any untoward incident would have happened at that time, where would that have left us? There was no way one could have gotten out of that place to safety, or any help would have reached the hapless people caught up in that situation - no Police, no Fire engine, no Ambulance, No Nothing! 

I'm not sure that the organizers really think about such trivia - for them, I guess, if the players and the VIPs are safe and secure, their work is done. Maybe, even the authorities who permit such events to happen even in the view of the limited-and-already-bursting-at-seams infrastructure don't place much importance on the lives and wellness of the common citizenry. Maybe the rest us are simply the mob that has no face, no voice, and hence, no noteworthy existence. Amazingly, even the Media that otherwise runs with a mike in hand and camera on the tow to report just anything and everything that transpires in this universe is totally mum on this aspect.

I wonder when the safety needs of not-so-important people like you and me will be given some kind of a priority in this entire scheme of things..

A common sight in Delhi

All Cricket and No Politics is not a Bad Idea...

Okay, so the much acclaimed and revered Sachin Tendulkar got nominated for the Rajya Sabha a few days ago. Big Deal, is what one would like to say! This piece of news is not supposed to be more important and engaging than, say, kidnapping of officers, murders, corruption, economy and the like. But considering that this is just not ANY trivia related to Cricket, this one is actually worth pondering upon since it concerns our Parliament as well.

While people come up with varied threads on this topic ranging from how there are other more "deserving" sports persons for this honor, right down to how it's a poll gimmick by Congress considering the huge fan following that Sachin has; I think we should stop for a moment and look at the issue from the perspective of the election to the highest law making body in the country.

To be among those who would be instrumental in drafting the destiny of our beloved land, one must at least have demonstrated a good degree of concern and understanding for one or the other issues plaguing our society. After all, how can one be expected to solve a problem when one does not even understand it. And no matter how well you have performed in your chosen profession, you need to have a vision for the country when you decide to join this field.

While I really admire Sachin for being a cricketer par excellence, I would think twice before applauding this particular decision regarding his RS nomination, for this is not about electing somebody to chair a sports body. This is about giving somebody the right to take decisions on our collective behalf; it's about placing our collective destiny in someone's hands. For this reason one must not get swayed by Sachin's sports achievements alone. There is a lot more which needs to be pondered upon.

To be honest, I frankly don't remember the last time when I heard about Sachin getting involved with some social cause. Unlike, say, someone like Aamir Khan, he has not been around to engage in any activity meant to generate public opinion on any matter of national interest. This is when even he would know about the sort of much-needed attention which his presence would generate. And as for the claims related to him being the flag-bearer of Indian Cricket in the world, well, all I know is that he chose to remain mum when BCCI decided not to send any team to the Asian Games in 2010, citing the tour of New Zealand as an excuse. This was clearly a time when he could have taken up the chance to represent "India" and not BCCI. In this case, even if the main team could not have gone to the games, a second team could have been sent. It's just that the "God" chose to simply see and not speak out.

When I say all this, I don't mean to belittle his cricketing achievements in any way. I just want us to think whether he is the person whom we really want to be taking decisions on our behalf in the Parliament, decisions that could have far-reaching impact on our fate...