The human cost of the Games

I am going to be a sport and wish the Games all the best and the athletes a memorable stay in India. No one can doubt the fascination that this country holds in terms of history, culture, and sheer volume.

It is on this that I want to dwell briefly today. Filth or no filth the Games look as if they will go ahead. I am hoping that they will be accident free and fun. When they are over, the newspapers report that Delhi will be left with empty Games venues and no less than 30 lakh  migrant workers who migrated to Delhi to seek work for the construction of the venues and who slept in makeshift tents on the sides of the road with no running water, electricity nor sanitary arrangements.My poor maths translates that figure to 3 million. That is more than the population threefold of my tiny country and a staggering figure.

These workers like thousands of others who lived on the roads or in unsightly slums have been conveniently shifted behind colourful hoardings for the CWG or simply ejected. These people have been paid a pittance to work at the sites, have endured unreasonable and hard working conditions, have even lost their lives,and now that the  job is done, are placed out of sight and out of mind. Citizens should be appalled by this.

An editorial considered the possibility of a boycott and then suggested that people wear black bands on their arms to express their anger and dissatisfaction with the way these Games have been organized. Well that is  anyone who is going to bother going. I wonder what will be the post mortem on these Games and the human cost of hosting them for India.