I woke up an hour too late only to read a ticker stating "Match abandoned due to poor pitch conditions". But the match was being played in Delhi not in a far flung non cricketing venue like Gangtok. Come to think of it, wasn't so much of a surprise, was it?
Over a period of time, owing to my habbit of following current affairs, I have started realising that the Northern part of our nation is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Didn't notice it? Turn on the TV, switch to a credible news channel, and when I say credible I mean English News Channel, what you see will make you believe; that there are more kids trapped in bore wells than there are in schools; that kids who don't get trapped in bore wells are mowed down by buses on their way to school; that kids who manage to get to so called good schools (Read DPS) end up getting murdered or are caught on camera sucking at wrong things!! Ok. So I am exaggerating. Not all Kids die young. Some grow up (atleast physically) and fall in love and get married... to a person from a different caste... nothing wrong with that, except that I am not from the North, which leaves me at a disadvantage of not understanding the absolute necessity of "HONOUR KILLING". Here I go again. Ok, not all North Indians subscribe to Honour Killing; some of them are just content killing women in discotheques and up class restaurants! I won't delve into the innovative uses of Tandoor as illustrated by an affluent Northerner some year back nor do I want to disgust my readers with abundant stories of rape and molestation! Why oh why dear Northie? Can't you live like civilized human beings?
The culture of a place can be fathomed by the way people treat their women and children, and you certainly aren't fooling me by merely putting women in charge of the state, a prison or a good for nothing political party.
What the North needs is a crash course on civil behaviour, lesson or two on the importance of being humble, a stint at the rehab for all I care. What it needs is a cultural overhaul. But all this would come by, only when the avarage North Indian gets used to living without the generous helpings of the Ego massage doled out every hour by the person below him in the pecking order. It's not as important as "Roti Kapda aur Makaan". It is not important that you recite the names of all your influential Taayajis and Fufajis each time you are stopped by the mundane traffic cop. The DJ can't always play your (Punjabi) song, so put the gun away and wait your turn. But alas, all this is a tall order and can't be fulfilled anytime soon and certainly not before the CWG.
The powers that be, seem to have realised some of the things I have tried to emphasize upon, but their counter measure in the form of "DILLI KI BITIYA" is too little too late. As far as the games go, there isn't an iota of doubt in my mind that we are about to witness the worst organised event ever. What can you expect from a city that couldn't flatten 22 yards of soil even with crores of rupees riding on it. In the meantime I'll just hope that "Bitiya" stays clear of runaway buses and stray bullets.
