One more major test cricket match has been witnessed in Bangalore and crazy fans turned up in their thousands unmindful of paying through their nose to enter the stadium and occasional maltreatment from policemen on strict instructions to be on thelook out for terrorists. Witnessing a big cricket match is no longer the pleasure and the education it was. You are not even allowed to carry a bottle of water inside the stadium. Contrast this with the leisure at which carefree men and women watch cricket matches in Australia, England or South Africa.

But every time a big sporting event takes place in the City and the dust raised over triumph or loss settles down, one keep wondering whether we are giving enough thought to the basic issues that bedevil sports in the country. The media in general is ever excited over the master blasters and its obsession with big time sports and its glitterati, the fluctuations in the world rankings of a Sania Mirza or a Jeev Milkha Singh, the fiat against Dileep Vengsarkar continuing his newspaper column or appointment of a foreigner or an Indian to coach the national cricket team.

The most basic question to be raised is do we have the infrastructure in the country to prepare sportsmen for the big events? Bangalore which is called a "Garden City" is today crying for open spaces and playgrounds for children. A city where planned development began in the first decade of the 20th Century today finds itself in a sorry situation where there is no large public ground to hold exhibitions, circus shows and the like. In contrast Kolkata has its Maidan and Mumbai its Azad Maidan though both the cities are more crowded than Bangalore.

The Bangalore Palace ground where even political jamborees are taking place is a private property and not a public ground. No doubt we have on the statute book a master plan for the development ofBangalore over the next 15 years. But that plan caters more for the builders' lobby by increasing the floor area ratio. The amendments to the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act of 1961 hastily adopted by the State Legislature at its Belgaum session in September 2006 has indeed buried planned development by issuing a blanket condonation for illegal construction, violations of building bylaws and unauthorized layouts. The Karnataka High Court has just stayed the implementation of the amendment.

For long, discerning observers of public affairs in the country have been appalled by the lack of sporting talent considering the vast population. The debate over this is raised once in four years after our athletes and sportsmen return home empty handed from the Olympic Games. For our population, we should be producing Tendulkars by the dozen. Moreover the percentage of population taking part in games of any kind is minuscule indeed.

Consider the case of Karnataka itself. With the exception of Kodagu District, it is the State Capital, Bangalore, which accounts for most of the sportsmen and sporting activities.