Delhi Commonwealth Games and dust engulfing the players
People, who have been to Delhi for at least once in their lives, cannot forget the heavy cover of dust that engulfs the city. Dust covers the entire routine life over there. In the mornings, before setting off for the work, people find dust gathered upon
their cars like people in US find pollen sprung up upon theirs at morning times. Dust in Delhi is not only confined to the open roads, it easily trickles into homes, offices, on furniture items and even under the rugs. It is said that if one spends more than
an hour on the streets and roads of Delhi, one might have to deal with a clogged up nose and dry throat.
Though dust is not a new phenomenon at Delhi, but one would encounter even Delhiites saying that it has never been that much before. However, just like other Indians, Delhiites too are expected to adapt to the situation soon. In order to encounter the problem
head on, people have started taking measures at their own. For instance, keeping the cars clean from outside, they usually keep thick clothes that are usually considered helpful in sweeping the dust softly. At homes, women usually put plastic sheets upon the
carpets so that the dust can be prevented from going into and getting stuck in the carpets. Moreover, taking bath twice a day is the solution for most of the Delhi dwellers to feel free from the ever-increasing dust.
While explaining the situation, some locals came up with the view that the dust was the side effect as well as the symbol of India’s success on financial and economic grounds. “As you can see” said a local, “there is a lot of construction work going on in
the city, new towers spring up into the sky overnight, and we have been also spending upon the construction work in regards of the Commonwealth games. While you observe the dust in the city, you must also consider this positive and rather encouraging sign
behind it.”
For Indians, whether locals or NRIs, this might not be difficult to accept the dust as the symbol of shining India, however, for those who have been to Indian soil, particular in Delhi, for the first time, may feel serious issues while encountering it. The
foreigners as well as the NRIs who have been to India for the first time or after a long time, and that too primarily because of Commonwealth games, encountering a city, that despite of having some world class structures is covered with dust might not be as
easy as for the local dwellers.
When asked about the views of the foreigners on visit to the city, primarily for observing the live sports competitions, they said that that was not the picture they had in their minds about the city before arriving over there. They lamented about the fact
that despite of much spruced up image of “shinning India” the reality was painfully different from the image they had seen on electronic media.
An athlete, in this regard, came up with perhaps with the most interesting comments when he said that he was unable to understand what helped India in winning 46 votes against Canada’s 22 for organizing the commonwealth games event for 2010. He further said
that besides everything going out of order, what annoyed him the most was that there was no one willing to take this responsibility. Despite of knowing that nothing was in order, everybody kept on insisting that everything was fine. He concluded his rather
straight forward remarks by saying that if he had even a little idea about what he was about to face over there, he would have chosen to stay back at home.
An Indian NRI, who happened to be at Delhi to watch the Commonwealth Games said that from an objective point of view, India was a place where people were least concerned about any large sport event being organized in the heart of the country. He further
said that the way things were being taken care of on part of the organizers; at least he did not have the hope of any other large event being assigned to India ever again.
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