Common Wealth Games - What should be the priority now?

Heard about someone named Suresh Kalmadi recently? Shocked by all the allegations? Wondering what will happen to CWG? To begin with, please dont be shocked and surprised about all these scams and allegations. More importantly, we are India and from small college fests to big events like this one, we are used to these last minute patch ups.

A bit of digging up on the matter of how sport in general is run in this country will actually make you wonder how did we get the right to host the games in the first place? I would also wish to state that in India every sport is run by a politician who in addition to being a MP/MLA also take up the responsibility of heading this institutions. Now the mismanagment of each and every sporting activity in our country happens because they are headed by incompetent people who simply dont understand sports. It goes without saying that these people also make a lot of money during their tenure.

So the question which i am trying to bring forward at this juncture is the need to set our priority. Yes, the guilty should be brought to book. Suresh Kalmadi needs to answer so many question but is this the time to concentrate on him or is it not the time to concentrate on the athletes who are coming to India to play? Is this not the time to think how many medal we can win and who are our best bets for Gold? Make no mistake about it, India will host a successful CWG simply because the situation demands that. India is an economic power and these games are usually the best medium to showcase that.

From the Berlin Olympics to the Chinese one, games have always been the symbolic representation of power. India realized it and hence pitched in for the CWG with the ultimate target of hosting the Olympics. This message should reach us loud and clear and the medium through which it should reach(Press and Electronic Media) must understand quickly that while it is very good and important to play the role of public police, it is also naive to miss the core intention of hosting these games. The media needs to understand that they are not doing any good by subscribing and inlfating the negative reports about CWG. As a matter of fact, those who are shouting so much about the games village should take a look back at the Manchester or Vancouver games where althletes were made to stay in University campus. They should also check reports of how Athens was so much criticized prior to the Olympic games there. In the end all these games were a success.

Let the games roll on, let it be a success. We will have time to bring the culprits to the book. Now its time to unite as a country and project ourselves as worthy contenders to host bigger events like Olympics and Fifa World Cup.

Barrack Obama - IT's all going wrong

I have reasons to believe that in Barrack Obama every single US citizen saw a hope which could take them out of the misery created by George W Bush. The war against terror,the economic crisis led to the need of a messiah at the White house who could begin afresh and give the stars and the stripes a new direction.

Based on the present situation, it seems that all those hopes were tailor made for an idealistic environment where everything goes according to the script. Current popularity charts indicate that Obama has lost a lot of ground and he basically does not know how to steer America out of the economic slowdown and at the same time create employment and stick to his political views.

Being an Indian, it is imperative for me to understand what the only superpower in the world does and how it affects my country. Historically, USA has always been an honest bilateral partner but the reationship has been based on the situation at a particular point of time. When Pokhran happened, the relationship went to an all time low. Similarily post 9/11,relations started taking a positive turn. Based on recent events it becomes quite clear that there is some amount of tension going on between the two countries. Obama wants to ban outsourcing. He does not want jobs to be shipped out. To put his views into action, he is trying to bring in policies which will indirectly hurt India Inc. But is this only about Obama trying to fulfil what he promised? I dont think so.

Surely, USA knows that to counter China she will need India as a strong partner. The 'brutal' growth of China will outpace USA and the only way for Obama and his successor to delay it or perhaps change it is a strong relationship with India. What then makes Obama to flex his muscle and hurt the Indian IT industry? The answer lies in the Nuclear Deal. The USA wants India to involve more of its companies in the entire chain of producing nuclear power. That will lead to more number of US companies earning higher revenues. India on the other hand wants to choose from a wider base of countries. She wants to do business with other nations in the NSG. This conflicting interest is causing a lot of problem for Obama.

India on the other hand must understand that she is rightly poised to take her growth story to another level. China's growth defies economic logic and it is anybody's guess when it will collapse. India's fundamentals are strong and barring our own callousness i dont see any reason why we cant continue to grow.Is it not the right time to send a strong signal to US and tell them that we can and we will grow irrespective of their support and they MUST STOP these arm twisting tactics? Is it not the right time to send a message to the IT industry top honchos that the government wont compromise with national interest?

According to me, the time has come to stamp our authority and make America understand that they need our support more than we do because the Chinese dragon is after them and its catching up fast !