The Anatomy of “preparing” for an Event. Indian Ishtyle

First we had the Commonwealth Games. Now the Cricket world cup. Each of these has stadia being prepared at the last moment….Eden Gardens looks like a dump..and yet they are “assuring” people that they will be ready…fortunately Suresh Kalmadi doesnt have his tentacles here..else they’d be short of money as well..

So typically heres how we seem to approach events in general:

1. Go all out to get the event to be held in India. Send Aishwarya Rai, Dawood Ibrahim etc.. In other words do what it takes…

2. Keep quiet till only a few months are left..suddenly wake up and realize that small things such as roads, electricity, water and of course the stadia needs to be built or repaired..now start deciding who to award the project to..in most cases the awardees are friends, relatives and thieves (not necessarily in that order).

3. In the meantime our News Channels that are hungry for news start sending out “investigative” reporters with hidden cameras…then the debate starts… usually the headlines will be something like “INDIA SHAMED AGAIN…”

4. In the meantime the members of the Organizing committe or the local organizers (like the ones in Kolkata) keep saying everything is on track.. background shows workers mixing concrete to build the statium to host the event in another two weeks…

5. TV channels in the meantime are using this as a filler between the next scam and high profile murder…

6. Now suddenly the politicians realize that they can get mileage from this situation as well…so they jump into the fray…usually accusing the government and demanding resignations…usually of unrelated ministers…for instance in this case, the defence minister and the foreign minister will be asked to resign…of course the PM is a common factor in all calls for resignations..

7. As in the case with Eden Gardens, the finance minister who happens to be from Bengal..says “I am dephinetely soor that bhee vill be ready. I will talk to Mr. Powor”…

8. Meantime the above mentioned Mr. Powor is figuring how to hide onions…

…and so it goes..on and on and on and on… we never seem to learn…

Oh ya..and then the Parlimentary Enquiries Start…

“Learning” inside out

The “L” board on a friend’s car pasted the wrong way…he claims his wife (who is learning to drive in India) stuck it. Me thinks its my buddy…and yes I told him I’d blog it !!!