One of my favourite ads – Surf Excel – Daag achche hain. A totally different approach to something we completely dislike. Still we smile and agree.
I remember my little Muskaan (4 yrs) coming back from school one day with all the water paint stains on her pure white tunic. I was zapped to see the condition of uniform. As I asked her, she proudly told me that she painted. And I thought, this painting cost me a dress, as I have to buy one. As I opened her bag, I saw a painting; it was a riot of colors on the paper. She made many things with water colours using her fingers instead of a brush, so obviously she needed a napkin and uniform served the purpose. Along with the painting was a certificate, where she got 3rd prize for her painting and a note from the principal saying she is very creative, loved her painting. And I realized “daag achche hain”.
Whether it is a greasy finger print on Enid Blyton or a sindoor mark on his shirt, I smile, kyonki “yeh daag achche hain”.
Recently we all heard, read and saw the CWG Scam. Corruption, delay in project, shabby work. It was a stain on nation. They were not able to complete the task in time limits, whole Delhi was dug up. It was months of inconvenience for the daily commuters. I read it everywhere, papers, blogs. The bridge broke and it was breaking news for two days. Every five minutes, channels ran the footage of collapsed bridge with a reporter cursing the government committee. We all were ashamed how the authorities mocked such an international event. Media, both national and international commented taunted, mocked at India.
But to everyone’s surprise the event took off well. The performance of players is worth praising. Indian players showed their worth. Someone sarcastically taunted all the good international players are sitting at home, so Indians had a good chance. I thought, o please give me a break. No one stopped them from coming, how could they judge the situation just by sitting there. So many other players are here and are happy with the arrangements. So they are the losers!
People could quote the bridge mishap for weeks or whenever CWG was discussed but no one talked about the alternate carpeted bridge that was created in 5 days, and is worth praising. No one talked about the stadiums which are world class and have shown a standard. We have catered the 71 countries and pulled off the entire event without major glitch. I know we are not perfect, and still there is a lot of scope of improvisation and much more could have been done. But for a moment, we could think positively and appreciate all those who have contributed to make this event a success. Being an Indian we can support our Indian technicians, engineers, players, who made us proud. But not a single post or article was posted in support.
In all, I am very happy that India emerged as a winner in this event, where they have broken some good records; even shown their potential in athletics where I thought England and Canada will take away India’s rank. Now they have a benchmark and a guideline to improve and show their potential in coming international events. For me here also I could feel Daag achche hain :)
