Kalmadi steps on the gas!

I have often heard of the one-liner: “Pulling cotton wool over one’s eyes.

I actually did not know the precise meaning of it, even though I flipped through several Thesaurus online. Finally, when I bumped into Suresh Kalmadi on Thursday afternoon at the India Habitat Centre, I knew what this phrase was all about.

I have known Suresh the showman since the days he held those (in)famous Permit Meets at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, when top-notch track and field stars like Sergei Bubka came and never soared! We also got to see legends like Evelyn Ashford come and never clock the timings in middle distance we had heard of in an era when internet never existed,

And on Thursday, when Suresh Kalmadi waxed eloquently about New Delhi having got the nod to host an Formula One GP in 2009, jaws were gaping. F1 in India, you must be kidding, said most inside the hall. But Kalmadi went on and on, stating that F1 was a certainty.

Hey, was this really some official announcement which Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 circus showman had forgotten to make? Kalmadi spoke of a track coming up on time and a stadium being built for F1, unmindful of the fact that this was not some venue for an athletics event, but the biggest motorsport event on Mother Earth.

There was more to follow as Kalmadi spoke of F1 being an event which would generate revenue for Indians athletes to do well in Olympic sport. You rubbing your eyes in disbelief at what I am writing?

No, this is the cotton wool effect of Kalmadi which people were reeling under on a muggy afternoon. As the mind wandered, images of Michael Schumacher came to my mind. Had Schumi, in his chequered career, ever heard of something as preposterous as this. I know Schumi had parted with mega bucks when his personal guard got killed when the tsunami hit Phuket three years back.

But this was bunkum. F1 and Olympics in a land where the Commonwealth Games are going to be held in three years. Mate, you never know. Perhaps, this is one mix where Kalmadi may have got it all right and Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will be just a bystander.

Like you and me.