Boria Majumdar
There has been much talk about India using ‘monkey whisperers’ for the BWF World Championships, which begin next week in New Delhi, to tackle the monkey menace in the area. It has even become a source of amusement on social media.
But the question to ask is: why?
So what if monkey whisperers are being used? If they help make the tournament better, what’s the big deal? Why should we be self-conscious about it or want to hide it? It is our tournament, and we need to put on the best event possible. If that means using monkey whisperers to help achieve that, so be it.
This is a particularly Indian mindset. We get self-conscious far too easily. We want to hide things we consider embarrassing. And yet, when it comes to hosting major sporting events, we are often better hosts than many.
The moot point is that the tournament has to go off without a hitch. If we use a gel or monkey whisperers to get there, I really don’t care, as long as the end goal is achieved.
There are several things we do extremely well in India – much better than many other host cities. And yet we don’t showcase them. Instead, we focus on the monkey whisperers as if they are a throwback to a very different India, something embarrassing that highlights our deficiencies.
Let me give you the Glasgow example.
The media facilities in Glasgow were practically non-existent. The media hub was very basic, there was limited support, and media transport was available only on a few occasions. It was not at the level you would expect at many multi-sport Games.
And yet, no one complained.
Glasgow had stepped in at the last moment to salvage the Games and, in that context, did a decent job. There were limitations, but you adapt and adjust.
There were days when weightlifting and boxing continued until very late and there was no food available in the media hub. In fact, there was little beyond biscuits throughout the 11 days of competition. Even the food stalls ran out of things on a couple of days.
Compare that with India. When the media comes here, we lay out a gourmet spread. That is the norm. India clearly does it in style, and yet we rarely highlight any of it.
Glasgow did things the way Glasgow felt they should be done – and they pulled it off.
India will roll out the red carpet for the media because we believe that is how it should be done. If we believe monkey whisperers will help avoid trouble, what is the big deal?
It is simply one of the many things being done to make the tournament run smoothly.
Rather than focusing on it as something strange, let’s focus on the competition at hand. The venue has been spruced up and is ready. The World Championships are back in India after 17 years, and the endeavour should be to make it a sell-out event.
Give tickets to students if necessary, but get them into the arena.
More than the monkey whisperers, that is where the focus should be in the next few days.
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