CWG Opening Ceremony

In the midst of many controversies, the nineteenth Commonwealth Games got off to an inspiring and magnificent start on 3rd of October, 2010.  The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium roared with the ecstatic applauds with the mesmerizing show at the opening ceremony which kick started the twelve day sport extravaganza.  

The opening ceremony designed by a creative team which includes the great director Shyam Benegal and Bharat Bala, successfully showcased India and its traditions to the world.  Though there are many fabulous performance in the ceremony, I consider the formation of school children in the traditional form of welcome sign, was one of the amazing performances. 

The Indian Print and Electronic Media had given a negative propaganda exaggerating the darker side of the happenings at the CWG preparatory works.  There are allegations of corruption charges and mismanagement and the print media has the responsibility to explore these.  But, it has its limitation and it should not go to the extent to damage the country’s image. 

The international media, carried away by these negative vibes portrayed a negative picture about India as usual.  However, the spectacular opening ceremony shattered the qualms of the international community about India’s ability to host such a big event and forced the international media to change their stand suddenly.  They did not hesitate to place the opening ceremony at par with the Beijing Olympics ceremony. 

 The Daily Telegraph of Australia, which was severely critical of the Games, came up with a headline ‘India delivers Spectacular show’.  “The Australian”, commented that “Finally, after weeks dominated by the old India of corruption, poverty and chaos, the new ‘Incredible India’ of diversity and cultural pride showed its face.”  The Guardian (British newspaper) ran a headline stating that ‘Spectacular ceremony opens games’. Even the Pakistani media is no exception to it. Pakistani daily ‘The News’ said, “Commonwealth Games starts with a spectacular opening ceremony.” Daily Times of Pakistan said that putting behind “Charges of corruption, security fears and shambolic organisation, the 19th Commonwealth Games starts with a spectacular opening ceremony.”  

When the entire world critically watching India, we failed to live up to the expectations, sent wrong signals to the international community and ditched the image of the country.  The major responsibility lies with the Central Govt. which can’t and shall not keep itself aloof and intervene only at the stage of damage control.  It would have taken proactive steps without giving a scope for allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the preparatory stage.  But, it utterly failed to deliver.  Fortunately, the Opening Ceremony of the CW Games, 2010 surpassed the expectations of everyone and was a big success.  We can’t even imagine what would be the fate of the nation, if it went otherwise. Who has to be blamed then? Can we expect our Governments; proactively act at least in the future to come, after having learned lessons from these happenings?   Am I expecting something impossible?  Time can only answer these questions.  Let us optimistically hope for the best.  All the best India, all the best.