What makes a sporting arena a national stadium? Most people will mention a beautiful green field, modern running or athletic tracks, well-maintained galleries -portions of which are meant for VIPs, players' lounges, commentary boxes, wash corners, flood light towers, facilities for TV camera setting etcetera. But if the quiz is about the Bangabandhu National Stadium, one can bet 99 out of 100 respondents will fail to include one exceptional attribute it boasts.
Perhaps inspired by the green technology, a field curator has developed a vegetable garden inside the stadium. The employee responsible for cutting grass, sprinkling water and drawing lime mark took upon himself the added duty of raising the vegetable garden beside the athletic tracks under the gallery on the Paltan side where there is a giant screen. A Bangla contemporary has carried a report on this exceptional enterprise of a stadium employee.
No mortal anywhere in the world ever has thought of raising a vegetable garden in one corner of a national stadium. How fertile the brain of the Bangalees is and what love for keeping the environment green or clean! The picture of lush growth of bottle-gourd creepers is highly pleasing. This gives an idea that the soil at the national stadium is most suited to cultivation of vegetables.
Although the size of the garden has not been mentioned in the report, it appears it is not small either. Apart from bottle gourd, pumpkin, egg plant, carrot, basela leaf (pui shak), spinach, red spinach etcetera are grown in the garden. Wonder of wonders, the cultivation of vegetables in that garden has been going for 20 years now -ever since the employee concerned has been appointed since 1997.
The man in charge of the garden has candidly admitted that he did not know it was wrong to cultivate vegetables in the stadium. He adds that the former administrator of the Bangabandhu National Stadium rather encouraged him for the marvellous idea and job of developing the garden. Of course, the administrator did not mind if one or other kind of vegetables were offered free of cost at times. The incumbent administrator confides to the reporter of the Bangla contemporary that he took over last year and only recently did the garden come to his notice. Asserting that there is no provision for cultivation inside the stadium, he has strictly ordered for clearing the garden of the crops. The employee will do this soon, he claims.
How casually everyone has taken the matter! After all this is no White House or Angelina Jolie's posh estate where the new arrivals or owners can think of getting a supply of vegetables through organic farming. Here is a national stadium -no one's personal property or incumbent president's lodge for five years where the first lady feels she can use a small plot for cultivations of some plants. This is an indication of what the administrators think of a national stadium.
Equally surprising is the fact that the garden took 20 long years to make news. How is that media people were totally unaware of the existence of a vegetable garden there. If the employee in charge of the garden is to be believed, media people also praised his initiative and a few of them were lucky to accept gifts of his crops. It is not known if players of any discipline ever were offered the produce. Some of the players or athletes coming from not so well-to-do background would have benefited by the nutritional values if they were supplied vegetables produced there.
Last but not least, the vegetable garden has not made the stadium any proud. It has only exposed the lack of knowledge of a national stadium on the part of all concerned. Now the need is to hand over the responsibility to people who know what a national stadium ought to be.