Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Run, run for your life

Our city fathers are more obsessed with luring tourists and luxury liners than the health of our children, says STAN RAYAN

PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

UNSPORTING ATTITUDE: Some stadiums and playgrounds are not suitable for sport

"No sir, it's not open to the public," says the watchman guarding the tall gates of the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.

Just a few days ago, Kochi's biggest oval was bursting with life, vibrating to the drums and cheers of thousands of cricket fans but today, its gates are tightly closed to children.

It's summer time again, a time when little ones need to run and jump to stay fit, to excel in sport and, most of all, to celebrate life.

But where do they go?

After the Nehru Stadium disappointment, we - my chubby son and I - drive down to the Maharaja's. But there's no good news there either. The stadium has been dug up everywhere and there's not much activity going on. There's a new eight-lane synthetic track coming up, it will be only Kerala's second, but work is still in the foundation stage for months now. Running here is clearly ruled out.

A stone's throw away is the Ambedkar Stadium, uneven and full of potholes. Doing sport here is dangerous too.

Under such circumstances, it's no wonder children do a daylong darshan in front of the television these days. And their favourite sport: video games, with a flurry of the fingers and an occasional yell, being the only exercise. Along the way, they're also gobbling down loads of junk food and growing up unhealthy and obese.

A recent visit to the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences threw some light on how big a problem this sedentary lifestyle is turning out to be. "There is a significant increase in children with diabetes these days," says Dr A.G.Unnikrishnan, endocrinologist at the AIMS. And it's all related to lack of exercise.

Which just means that our children need to run... to run for their lives.

But all these don't seem to move our city fathers. In their obsession to lure tourists, luxury liners and bringing the Smart City home, they have forgotten many of the crucial things that matter in churning out smart, healthy people.

For big events

"We can't open the Nehru Stadium for the public. It's one of the biggest in the country and big grounds are normally not open to public anywhere. It's for big events... like the one-day internationals," says Prof. Antony Issac, the Chairman of the Greater Cochin Development Authority, which owns the stadium.

But there's no big-time cricket coming to Kochi for the next two years, at least not anything the Kerala Cricket Association knows of.

"But we have the Asian youth football coming here in November. We have to preserve the turf for the championship, we cannot open the stadium and allow children to damage it," explained Mr Issac.

But that's not the case.

"Kochi will not host the Asian Youth Championship, it will be held in Bangalore and Kolkata in October-November this year," confirmed the All India Football Federation secretary Alberto Colaso.

"The AIFF inspected the Nehru Stadium for the Asian event during the Santosh Trophy last year. But we did not get any confirmation after that," said the Kerala Football Association secretary K.P.Sunny.

But clearly, the GCDA has not been kept updated about the new developments. And while it's anxious about protecting the turf, it has often allowed frenzied stomping of feet at award nights, music shows and religious conventions at the Nehru Stadium earlier.

The GCDA plans to start the `roofing' work at the Nehru Stadium soon. The tenders will be opened later this month and the work on the drainage, to prevent flooding at the stadium during rain, will also be done simultaneously.

And the Ambedkar Stadium will come under the care of the Ernakulam District Cricket Association.

"We have almost finalised the deal with the EDCA, we have a meeting on Monday. We have also called the football association for the discussion. They (the EDCA) will give us Rs 10,000 every month and also maintain the stadium," said Mr Issac.

"We can't have too many stadiums now. Land has become too costly, we need at least four acres for a small ground."

The children, said Mr Issac, can try out the Maharaja's Hockey Ground or turn to roller-skating. "We have a lot of space (tarred road) for skating outside the Nehru Stadium. Skating is also an exercise."

Roller-skating?

And this is supposed to be the land of Jimmy George, I.M.Vijayan, Usha, Shiny and Anju George.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail