So how many of you enjoyed the CWG opening ceremony? It was certainly huge and grand and colorful. And truly Indian. And the huge helium balloon used a screen is purely genius! ("At the same time, spending almost £10m on a giant balloon in a country when so many try to live on less than a pound a day could only kick up uncomfortable moral questions.")
What I would ask more for is coordination, which was almost absent in the entire opening. I mean I get it, with that many people and that humongous-ly large venue, it is an incredibly difficult feat. However, Beijing showed that it could be done in the Olympics opening ceremony, which was amazingly coordinated and organised. But in the desire to be a melting pot of culture from all over the country, all I saw was a central theme of chaos.
The Rhythms of India got a bit monotonous in the middle, the dances were cool though the dancers looked highly uncomfortable coming down the stairs each time, and the ones who went on did it like they were in a school play. A Naga dancer during the Great Indian Railway journey actually fell. Cringe. Aren't you supposed to hire professional dancers who will not fall during a ceremony where you showcase how good you are to the world?
And what is with the theme song Jiyo Utho blah bleh. 5 crores went to THAT? Seriously? Are you kidding me? I think it is a testament to their own recognition of how incapable that song is of getting people on their feet that they had to play Jai Ho after that. I used to tell people that Jai Ho is nowhere in the same league as A.R. Rehman's other brilliant creations, but after watching these 2 songs in succession, I must say I prefer Jai Ho a thousand times more. And what was that besuri screaming that Rehman did at the end of Jai Ho (minute 13)???
Though they must be congratulated that after all the media hoopla about unpreparedness and safety and hygiene, they have pulled off what is being hailed as a major success. "There have been delays and many challenges but we have managed to rise above them all", as Suresh Kalmadi put it, after being booed by the audience, 'reflecting the embarrassment many had felt over the crisis-hit preparations and worldwide headlines of the past fortnight, the same mortification that had led the Tribune newspaper to refer to "a national shame" and the Deccan Chronicle to "a bunch of inept, inefficient and corrupt administrators".'
So have we forgotten all about the shame now? Have all those who said "cancel the games" now all for the Games? Just like the Mumbai Taj attacks led to boiling blood for a few weeks, and then inaction, it seems that a similar future awaits the Games.
We all seem just so pleased that no major screw up happened, that through the Great Indian method of "jugaad", we actually "pulled it off" and are very pleased with ourselves for it. Though I am sure the thousands who have been displaced from their homes to make room for the venues and now live in less than hospitable conditions disagree. Now that everything has been swept under the rug, seems like it will all be buried in the rubble afterwards too, when the temporary bandaids begin peeling off.
We need to be better than that. We need to expect more from ourselves.
Taken from TOM FORDYCE'S BLOG
A Commonwealth Games that at several points over the past two years had looked perilously close to being stillborn finally sprang to kicking, caterwauling life.
The numbers are vast - 28,378 policemen, 5,000 paramilitaries, 100 anti-sabotage teams, 300 sniffer dogs, 80 radiation meters and 15 bomb disposal squads - and if the organisers cannot be blamed for the wider political problems that require such measures, it can only be an unsettling sight at an event known as the Friendly Games.
These games as a whole will cost India somewhere between £3bn and £4bn, depending on which estimate you prefer, a staggering 60 times the original budget.
When Kalmadi looked up and stated, "India is ready," the derision turned to roars of approval. When he followed that by reminding those watching that, "We have the second fastest-growing economy in the world," the cheers got even louder.
Big multi-sport events are as much about showcasing the host nation as they are about mere sport. Two summers ago in Beijing we kept hearing that the Olympics were China's coming-out party. These Commonwealths, and the Olympics that the organisers hope might follow in 2020, are meant to serve the same purpose for a similarly booming nation.
"INDIA! INDIA" yelled the thousands around the stadium in unison as Prince Charles rose to read the Queen's address. The message could not have been clearer.
This was a night for forgetting the painful gestation, for postponing any worries about the quality of the sport we might witness over the next 11 days or the importance of the Commonwealth Games in a rapidly-changing 21st century world.
All those issues are still there. Come Monday, Usain Bolt will still be in Jamaica, Jessica Ennis in Sheffield, David Rudisha in Kenya. Muhammad will still be stranded in Bawana.
What's changed is that, along with the comical tales of cobras under athletes' beds and sobering stories of corruption, collapsing bridges and missing stars, there is finally a genuine sense of excitement in the Delhi air.
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