Zafar’s craft is not one you learn from a manual. It came to him the way it came to his father and his grandfather before that, an inheritance passed down through the family rather than taught in any formal sense: the ability to summon a monkey’s fear of a langur using nothing but his own voice. This week, that skill became part of the story of India’s preparations for the BWF World Championships, as the organisers walked the media through the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and introduced Zafar as one of the professionals now standing between the venue and its wildlife.
It did not take long for the effort to find an admirer in PV Sindhu.
Responding on Monday, the two-time Olympic medallist struck a note somewhere between affection and pride.
“You can laugh at the solution, but you have to love the effort,” Sindhu said.
“So many people are working behind the scenes to make sure India is ready to welcome the world. Our solutions may be uniquely Indian, but so are our warmth, our spirit and our hospitality. Can’t wait for the badminton world to experience it all in Delhi. See you soon.”
For Zafar, there is real pride in the profession, even if he does not necessarily wish it for the next generation. It has allowed him to put his son in school; the boy is currently in Class II.
There is context worth remembering behind that warmth. The India Open earlier this year was not kind to BAI. Bird droppings on court halted a couple of matches, shuttlers complained of unhygienic training conditions, Delhi’s air quality did its usual worst throughout the week, and a monkey, unbothered by the standard of badminton on display, was spotted in the stands.
The criticism that followed was pointed enough that organisers could not simply wait for it to pass. Zafar’s team is one answer to that criticism, unconventional perhaps, but deliberate.
A MASSIVE OVERHAUL OF THE IGI STADIUM
The vents that once let pigeons wander in have been sealed shut. Wooden doors have given way to a double-door entry system.
A non-toxic gel, borrowed from a Railway Ministry method for protecting overhead wires, now lines the venue’s ceiling and vents, tested and approved before it was rolled out across the stadium.
10 US-patented machines, which can emit the calls of predatory birds across different frequencies, have been flown in to ensure after-hours check to catch whatever the earlier layers might have missed.
The rest of the transformation is more familiar territory. 80 toilets across the campus have been replaced, 57 of them inside the indoor stadium itself, in pursuit of a single hygiene standard for athletes and fans alike. 16 entrances across two floors now run on glass doors and automatic double-entry systems. Overhead, lighting specialists flown in from Indonesia have been tuning the rig to a standard the World Championships require.
Add it together and the figure runs to roughly Rs 20 crore, spent on everything from door hinges to Zafar’s retainer.
With the World Championships now just a week away, the real test begins: not the preparations themselves, but whether every system, from Zafar’s voice to the machines humming overhead, holds up once the stadium is full and the world is actually watching.
– Ends
