Preeto was having a tough time not laughing out loud! She was on a metro ride, with hundreds of others, for god-sake! She was travelling alone, but her thoughts kept her company and with the biggest arse-hole of the nation on her mind, she just couldn’t stop chuckling under her breath!
It all began as soon as that bearded man had climbed onto her metro bogie! It was as crowded as delhi buses have always been and still are. The metro seems to have magically conjured up a few more millions into the burgeoning city population. That bearded man’s face was comically plastered against the glass door, across which Preeto was blissfully seated. Preeto could have sworn he had to pull in his belly to let the metro door close! He had reminded her of Suresh Kalmadi and then her giggling began…..
What had she read in the papers that morning?...yes!....
“Britain's Princess Diana may have died in a car crash in 1997, but New Delhi Commonwealth Games supremo Suresh Kalmadi thanked her for being at the opening ceremony on Tuesday.” Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee!....Ho!Ho!.....Gosh! Preeto just couldn’t help it, that man was just so funny! …. And at the opening ceremony, hadn’t Kalmadi addressed former President A P J Abdul Kalam as Abdul Kalam Azad! ….Someone had even claimed that he said “Mr. Sheila Dikshit”… Hee! Hee!
All the public money, he and his partners in national crime, had swallowed during CWG preparations, was coming out through a series of goof-ups from the Organizing Committee President’s round mouth! Digesting the dirty money was perhaps now causing uncomfortable heartburn and lots of ‘gas’. Kalmadi was rightly booed at the opening ceremony, thought Preeto.
(image courtesy 'Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya's world of Cartooning')
It is a no brainer that corruption in India is at its rampant best. There is not one section of society that is spared from it. Corruption in the form of bribery takes the cake and given that it begins at the grass root level, makes it even more difficult to monitor and control. But then it’s not just that, said Preeto to herself, my country has begun to not just accept but ‘respect’ the corrupt.
They are given VVIP treatment, they live beyond their known sources of income, their children study abroad in elite institutions, generations will perhaps not need to earn an honest living, they own prime property in a nation where the poor are constantly driven out from make-shift homes, they are invited to high-society events and the next day their gloating, smiling faces are thrust upon the nation through the media.
Yes, Preeto thought, corruption is indeed now an acceptable way to be in society. You are a foolish, unworldly, outdated and old-fashioned human being, if you are not into corruption, nepotism and power-brokerage. No wonder then that the corporate world came out in support of Suresh Kalmadi after the spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010. This is because the CWG is a ‘business’ opportunity, just as the games preparations were, so corporate India has its fingers crossed, please no-more harm should come to India’s “image”, otherwise what will happen to the moolah we have invested in that “image”.
“In this country, payments are made without work being done. Newly-constructed bridge collapsed like a pack of cards. Rs 70,000 crore are involved (in the games). There is rampant corruption in the country. We cannot shut our eyes,” a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had said.
Preeto was reading this somberly on her tiny lap-top, as by now the face of the fat, bearded man, the Kalmadi look-alike, plastered against the metro bogie door, had stopped amusing her….
*For the CWG, a treadmill is being hired for 45 days for 9.75 lakh. A cross trainer for 8.8 lakh.
*Diesel power will be generated at 80 per unit at some Commonwealth Games venues. The market rate is less than a tenth of this.
*Umbrellas are hired for 6,308 a piece and chairs are rented at 8,378 a piece for a month and a half?
*Tissue rolls are purchased at Rs. 4,138 for bathrooms.
*Clothes for visitors are purchased at Rs. 4000 from Adidas, MRP for the same is Rs.1600.
“The deals for the overlays — the treadmills, chairs, refrigerators and such-like that form part of the temporary infrastructure meant only for the duration of the Games — have Mr Kalmadi’s fingerprints on them. They have been cleared by the Organising Committee, of which he is the chairman. NMDC officials, contractors and each minister is corrupt. Congress must not get away from this in elections,” someone had written….
Preeto read further….The overlays deals total about 650 crore and have been awarded to four contractors, three of them having an Indian and foreign partner each. The most lucrative deals, worth 230 crore, have gone to the PICODeepali consortium….
Preeto sighed deeply and looked up at the bearded man (face still plastered)….the journey was suddenly seeming too long….she wanted to get off soon and get some fresh air….she really needed it, to clear her head because her next unholy thoughts were troubling her even more…..
It had been a Super Tuesday for India on Day 2 of the games as the hosts romped home with five Golds and jumped to second spot in the medals tally….does this mean, Preeto thought, that when the games successfully conclude and the foreign contingents leave and the poor flood the Capital’s streets again, Kalmadi and co. will be forgiven???
LET THE GAMES CONCLUDE AND LET KALMADI & CO. BE FORGIVEN! .... Can it be? Will it be? Should it be? ….the metro droned on….
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