Olympics Rio 2016 are on.
Last week I met Mr. Sai Baba, who
runs an NGO called Sports Coaching Foundation, along with some other corporate teams.
With Indian Shuttlers on the court now @ Rio, the discussion veered towards the
state of sports infrastructure in India. This took me back to school time when
I was growing up in Delhi.
We, a bunch 6-7 teens in the locality, were
perpetually under served by the sporting infrastructure and had limited options
to play, especially during the moronic summer holidays. Badminton was one of
the popular options and a lot of kids would end up occupying the roads chalked
up as court. But that wouldn't always work thanks to ongoing traffic and lack
of fully functional street lights if one wanted to take advantage of the cool
summer breeze.
I don't recall how it happened but we figured out an
alternative solution around the infrastructure issue. I suspect the phrase
"PPP Model" wasn't coined then but that's what it turned out to be in
some ways.
Delhi during late 80's/early 90's had lots of open
spaces and plots awaiting a monstrous multi-story pack to be built. The civic
sense those days was no different than today. Open plots were well leveraged by
people to either toss-in a bag full of garbage or utilize these dark spaces for
shady activities. Invariably such open plots existed between two constructed
homes, much to the chagrin of inhabitants of these homes.
We figured that most plot were 20 ft x 50 ft or around
that dimension - a reasonably good fit (slightly tight on the breadth) to put
together a badminton court.
We, as a private enterprise interested in the available
public space, would strike a deal with house occupants on either side of the
shabby plot. We would pool in our pocket money to clean up the rubbish from the
plot, and in return the occupants would ensure uninterrupted power supply for a
couple of hours every evening. It was a win-win for both the parties.
If there
was a good looking neighbor around the court you can rest assure that smashes
flew thick and fast.
Looking around now, I see there are no more open
plots available and the sporting infrastructure hasn't kept pace. I wonder how
kids in these localities keep themselves occupied now - hope not on
Playstations and X-boxes. Otherwise, we can only hope and pray for sportsmen
worthy of competing on international stage.
