Not so fast, Commonwealth

In order to host the Commonwealth Games (and an estimated 1.8 million foreign visitors) in 2010, the Delhi government has been working around the clock on various beautification and upgradation projects. These projects range from the necessary, such as widening key roads, to the comical, such as convincing auto-drivers not to spit while driving. A new plan by the city to construct 300 "7-star" public restrooms, at a cost of ~$200,000 each, is a strange mix of both.

But it got me thinking. It's great that the city of Delhi plans to spruce up its historical monuments, add beds for tourists, and modernize its bus system. These things are all desperately necessary. But how many of these projects will last past the end of the Commonwealth Games?

The Delhi government's mad frenzy of activity reminds me of the way I used to clean my room as a kid. Basically I shoved things into the closet and closed the door. My parents, when they came by to do an inspection, were pleased. But the moment I opened the door (and I had to open the door eventually) all the accumulated mess fell on my head.

My point is that hosting the Commonwealth Games should be more than a prestige point for India's Ministers of State. If we plan to provide better civic services to visiting foreigners, there should be a way to make these benefits tangible and lasting for the actual people of Delhi (beyond giving taxi drivers a week-long opportunity to jack their rates by 500%.) These days, China casts a long shadow. After last year's record-breaking and awe-inspiring Olympics, India feels the need to keep up with the neighbors. But China's method of preparing for the Olympics, which included forcibly displacing millions of poor Chinese, is nothing to aspire to.

A lot of public officials argue against expensive public infrastructure, saying that the average Indian has neither the awareness nor the civic ability to respect that infrastructure. Anecdotal evidence supports this view. I remember with horror the time I discovered tobacco spit stains on the walls of the Taj Mahal.

But I don't see how the average Indian's attitude to the Taj Mahal is any different from the average American's attitude to global warming. The world's top carbon emitters are China, the US and Russia. China and Russia have huge populations. The US doesn't. Considering that rising CO2 levels are responsible for everything from Pacific typhoons to Himalayan habitat loss, emitting the amount of CO2 that we do is a bit like spitting on the entire world.

Okay, maybe I'm going off on a tangent. But the bottom line is that there's no way of knowing what the average Indian is capable of when he's never been given a chance. At some point India must become a nation that shows its best face not just to outsiders, but to its own citizens.