Wall collapses, but the stadium stands tall

Indian presence is quite visible despite the team’s early exit

If the sights and smells of Georgetown have a vague Indianness to it, the sounds at the newly-constructed Providence Cricket Stadium here just drive home the point. As a hit from the Salman Khan classic Tere Naam is blaring from the public address system, one is greeted by a very familiar welcome by the office boy with a heavy Bengali accent at the Shapoorji Pallonji and Co Limited —the Indian builders of the stadium—site office. “Chai piyenge,” he asks escorting one to the makeshift chamber of his boss where you see an ever-smiling project manager I Parthiban.

Stationed here since April 2005 along with his team of 500 skilled workers from India to build the 15,000-capacity stadium in a record 18 months, Parthiban is a contended man before the world premier of his company’s prestigious project.

“Though India might have not reached the Super Eights, the Providence Stadium is an Indian success story,” he says, introducing himself and his construction work.

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“It was a Government of India initiative to the Guyanese government and we won the contract. Except for cement and steel that we got from the neighbouring countries, the rest of the 80 per cent material needed for the project is from India,” he says. The project has been funded to the extent of $19 million under the line of credit by Export-Import Bank of India, the remaining $6 million coming as a grant from the Government of India.

Parthiban, a district-level cricketer himself in his college days, talks about his punishing 7 am to 9 pm schedule and the pressure of adhering to the all-important deadline. Despite the several design and drawing revisions asked by the ICC technical committee, the stadium was inaugurated in September 2006 by India’s vice-president Bhairon Singh Sekhawat.

While the locals rave about the stadium, the unfinished work around it has got its fair share of criticism. According to the agreement, the Indian construction giant were to only build the stadium while the road leading to it and the parking area was to be paved by the local authorities. With the big day ahead, the Indian workers are lending their hands to get the stage ready in time. As many at the site office will tell you that after being connected with such a high-profile project for so long, there happens to be some personal connection and pride associated with their work now.

But Parthiban and most of his colleagues think that the cherry on the cake would have been the presence of Men in Blue at this home away from home. Amrita Biswas, a handy man about the office is from Howrah in West Bengal, feels home sick just every other day. Two months ago he could have gone back but stayed on since he wanted to see Sourav Ganguly and the rest of the Indians in action here. “After coming to know that India were out of the World Cup I told my boss that I would leave any time now. Would have loved to see them play at apna stadium,” he says.

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As one takes leave, Parthiban tries to fish out a business card but suddenly he reaslises dawns that he has exhausted all the cards that he had during his recent meeting with the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was here for the nets with his team. The project manager would have loved it more had Rahul Dravid been at the stadium with his team for that Indian touch. The Wall might have collapsed but the stadium stands tall.