If I was an Indian ...

By Yvonne Dasler in All Sorts

Yvonne looks back at the Commonwealth Games

A couple of weeks after the Commonwealth Games have ended, I'm left with the thought - I'm so glad I'm not an Indian. The reason is simple. If I was an Indian I would be angry - very angry. And that's not an emotion I want to experience.

If I was Indian, I would be angry that my best and costliest effort to share my culture with the rest of the Commonwealth was almost wilfully misunderstood. The Games ethos is to bring nations together to compete in sport and create international understanding. The first goal was achieved, but the second aim failed dismally.

Crowds stayed away because of a perceived threat of terrorism. British people who have lived with IRA terrorist strikes for more than a century (and as invaders continue to kill Iraqis on a daily basis) became wusses at the thought that a forgiving Indian people might welcome them, despite the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of colonialism. New Zealand athletes whinged at the lack of cellphone services in their rooms. Hello! Did the lack of an i-Phone prevent Peter Snell or John Walker from achieving Commonwealth gold?

Others complained about insanitary conditions, conveniently forgetting that athletes from half the Commonwealth live and train in these conditions every day. Ditto for the disease risk.

If I was an Indian sportsperson, I would have expected respect for my nation's ability to produce gold medal athletes without the cossetting, special diets and training regimes of other nations. If I was an Indian Games organiser, I would have expected admiration for the way I kept my eyes on the goal in the face of unremitting criticism and doomsayers. If I was an Indian accommodation provider, I would have been proud to welcome people from around the globe. If I was an Indian shopkeeper, borrowing heavily to ensure my merchandise met the needs of a diverse array of sports tourists, I would have expected congratulations for accurately anticipating my guests' needs. If I was part of the magnificent opening and closing ceremonies, I would have been proud to showcase the diversity of my national heritage to the world. If I was a food vendor, I would be expecting compliments for the delicious food I prepared from humble ingredients in the dust of the street. And if I was a member of the stigmatised Dalit caste, forcibly removed from my home to make way for Games accommodation, I would have been reassured by the fact that my plight would be seen by thousands of people who could put pressure on my government at international level.

As the world's largest democracy, India has a lot to teach us about self-reliance, fortitude, family loyalty, resilience and achievement through hard work. Those values were proudly displayed to the pitifully small crowds who turned up for the Games. As hospitable hosts, India spent money it could ill afford to ensure visitors were housed, fed and entertained. For the most part, foreign guests responded with selfish gripes, racist gibes and petulant criticisms. No one should travel in the expectation that things will be as they are at home.

The money India spent and the indignities it put its own people through to ensure visitors had a pleasurable experience were based on assurances made by the Games secretariat and global travel agencies. These predictions were not met, with the result that many Indian companies and individuals now face financial ruin. Athletes who refused to attend, and supporters who stayed away from the empty venues mean hardship for many Indian families. Those sporting fans who cancelled their tickets to India also lost the opportunity to share our values with Indians, and introduce concepts such as sexual equality, social justice, animal rights and environmentalism.

Worst hit of all are the poorest people evicted from their shacks so that tourist highrises could be build on their slum lands. They have lost everything, not least the chance to show foreigners and their media the reality of their grim lives. As much as the rich corporations who faced bankruptcy, the poorest street-dwellers suffer greatly from the Games the Commonwealth chose to ignore.

And in turning our backs on everything India has to offer, we all lose. If I was an Indian, I'd be angry.
-- Yvonne Dasler

First printed as a Connections article in the Parish Weekly Bulletin, October 31, 2010.