Day 23-2011 : Staying (In) Power!

One of the most outrageous news item that is being reported by the media over the past few days is about the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (Berlo) and his amazing libido!  Berlo has always been a bit controversial but this time he is in the dock for sexual encounters with minors, vivid details of which appear in the media now on a daily basis.  One of them being that he had a harem of a few pretty young women just outside Milan which was the venue for some wild parties.  I am thinking, at 74, this is not bad at all! 

At first, I was shocked that a sitting Prime Minister could conduct himself in such a manner.  But then the more I think about this, it is becoming very apparent to me that there is definitely a strong co-relation between politicians (especially if they are in power) and sex!  And then I said to myself, this is how the western world is.  Really?  The chubby cheek N. D. Tiwari immediately came to my mind.  At 80, His Excellency, then the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, was not doing bad for himself either, with not one, not two but three escorts at the same time! Talk of staying power!

There are many many more examples not only in India but across the globe, the most powerful of them of course, was Bill Clinton.  Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards are other examples from the United States.  The erstwhile president of Israel was recently convicted of rape, something that happened when he was in power.  Closer home, recently a minor has accused the MLA from Banda of rape.  A minister in Goa, Micky Pacheco, got into trouble when his one of girlfriends committed suicide.  Then there was the Srinagar sex scandal where many high and mighty in Kashmir politics were said to be involved.  Gopinath Munde, it is said, has a dancer girlfriend.  I am sure there are many more which have not hit the headlines and this post would have an acreage problem if I were to list down all of them.

So, the question really that I have is, why is there such a strong co-relation?  Is it because power corrupts? Does being in positions of power make one's adrenaline more active?  Or is it all about easy access?  Where is morality in all of this?  Are these politicians aware of their moral responsibility?  Do they have a moral responsibility towards the populace?  Is it just their private lives and they have the right to do what they want to or does being in the positions that they are in give them the unfair opportunity to exploit.  And they probably do!  Though one may argue that they are humans first and then politicians.  And they get exposed more often than others because they are in public life.  I am not sure that is really the only explanation for this.  But it sure makes me want to get into politics!

Just kidding!

Be good and take care.

Day 216 - The Scandalous Games

Hosting an event of the scale of the Commonwealth Games is definitely a national honour, and responsibility, although the Commonwealth itself as an organisation, may be completely defunct.  Over the past few months, however, the media has been going on and on about about how badly prepared are we to host the Games.

There have been many allegations. 

Allegation No.1: The infrastructure is not ready.  The construction at the various venues for the Games is not complete.  Building materials are still lying around at the venues; probably the Indian athletes are fortunate, especially the long jumpers, steeple chasers and marathon runners, as they might have used these as an effective hurdle training course, in their attempts to get to these venues to practice!

Allegation No.2: Everything which has been built has been hurriedly built and is of inferior quality.  Roofs are leaking and the walls already have cracks.  Imagine a weightlifter in serious contention of a medal, attempting a 250 KG 'clean and jerk', and right then droplets of leaking water from the roof hitting his pate.  I think we need raincoats for the weightlifters!

Allegation No.3: Huge financial irregularities.  Treadmills have been hired for Rs.9, 50, 000 each for a period of 45 days!  Some smart bloke in the papers has gone and found out the cost of buying the costliest  treadmill from Harrods, which happens to be around Rs.7, 00, 000.  A contract for media displays during the Queen's Baton Run across India has been awarded to a one man company, whose company is in liquidation in UK.  It is a pity; even the common man's hard earned money could not save his company.  But the interesting part is that there is no document to prove that there was a contract, even though money changed hands, just before the company went into liquidation, incidentally.

All this when we have 2 months to go for the event to happen.  A showcase event meant to demonstrate to the world India's capabilities in hosting high profile events, thus strengthening our future bids for hosting the Asian Games and the Olympics.  And then there is politics involved; no surprises, wherever money is involved, politics has to be present.  The opposition wants the entire Organising Committee to be sacked, including its Chairman, who is the sports administrator extraordinaire in India!  I think they should themselves resign, the money they have already made should definitely last for a couple of lifetimes. 

Amidst all of this, nobody is worried about the pride of the country which is at stake.  The Games are already a marketing disaster, with the common man / middle class showing complete apathy and no interest in the conduct of these games.  We will also miss stars such as Usain Bolt, who has given New Delhi the miss to prepare for more important events.

My view is that the entire might of the nation should right now be focused on ensuring that the conduct of the Games happens reasonably well, the chances of it being a resounding success are already nil.  After the Games are over, there needs to be a serious debate on the role of politicians in sports administration.  Sports administration is the honey which attracts every politician, big or small, stature doesn't matter.  If the Games end up being a damp squib, Mr.Kalmadi needs to be held accountable for it and forever banned from being a sports administrator.

In the meantime, let us pray for the smooth conduct of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Take care.