Subject: Fw: Sardar Khushwant Singh on CWG THIS ABOVE ALL We can’t afford Games ~~ Khushwant Singh I first met Suresh Kalmadi in 1980, and took an immediate liking to him. Both of us entered the Rajya Sabha that year. I, a nominee of the Congress; he elected from Maharashtra. I heard his maiden speech and was enthralled. I felt he had the making of an all-India leader. I wrote a favourable account on his speech, and went out of my way to befriend him. He responded to my gesture, and we visited each other’s homes. His wife, a school teacher, was a shy lady. Twice I met Sharad Pawar, who stayed with them. I concluded he was Pawar’s protege. All I knew of Kalmadi’s background was that he had taken premature retirement from the Air Force, and the family owned a restaurant and landed property in Pune, till Sharad Pawar brought him into politics. I did not suspect he suffered from a sense of financial insecurity till he celebrated acquiring a Maruti sales agency in Pune by throwing a lavish reception on the lawns of his parliamentary bungalow. It was lit up with coloured lights; liquor flowed, and tasty snacks went round. I was disillusioned, and cooled off him. Squandering hundreds of crores of rupees on building stadia, swimming pools and squash and tennis courts is an act of folly Photo: AFP About the Commonwealth Games, I know very little. I go along with Mani Shankar Aiyar, and am convinced they should not have been undertaken in a city which teems with thousands of beggars — a few at every road crossing — where the only shelter the poor find in Delhi’s bitter winters and monsoon rains are footpaths and under overbridges. They don’t get even a square meal a day. Squandering hundreds of crores of rupees on building stadia, swimming pools, squash and tennis courts, and much else, is an act of extreme folly.It should never have been allowed. Suresh Kalmadi played the star role in the comic-tragic drama. I cannot help adding a few film songs, KJS Ahluwalia of Amritsar sent me, which go very well as background with the movie to be called Games Tamasha: Suresh Kalmadi — Kutchh to log kaheingae; Shiela Dixit — Kahin daag na lag jayey; M.S. Gill — Kabhi khud pe kabhi haalaat pey rona aayaa; S. Jaipal Reddy — Yeh kya hua, kaisey hua, kyon hua; Tejinder Khanna — Merey tutey huay dil say, koi toh aaj yeh puchhey; Mani Shankar Aiyar — Chal akela, chal akela, chal akela, tera mela peechey choota; Delhites — Jab dil hi toot gaya, hum jee key kya kareingey; Manmohan Singh — Sub kutch seekha hum ney, naa seekhi hoshiari, sach hai duniyan walo, ke hum hain anari
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