COMMONWEALTH AND US

Commonwealth games are something of an irony a colonial tradition that we are carrying on even 63 years after our independence from the brits. The media generally tends to overstate the importance of all such activities and when we won the game in 2003 we were all on top of the world. I remember i was still in college and i was looking forward to watching the games in Delhi 7 years from then. So many ideas evolved for Delhi, metro flyovers beautification etc and all that was thought for the city was meant to end at the common wealth games. Everything was in the anticipation of the game as if that would be the end of a dark era and beginning of a new revolution for New Delhi.

I would have ideally expected the following "goods" from the game for the city of Delhi

• India to be presented to the world as a new tourism and business destination and would become another Shanghai
• Indian sportsmen would have the advantage of practicing on a worldclass infrastructure so they could compete at the world stage better.
• Delhi would have a worldclass infrastructure so all delhiites would have a better future.
• It would be economically a profitable venture for Delhi ands India to host the games.
• India would be in the limelight and would not be a thirdworld country anymore.

None of this has happened entirely and CWG has been a loss making idea for us and now some of us feel that we would have rather not had these games, the funds could have been better focussed at so many other nation building activities. INR 70k cr is serious money and hey we have spent more than 10 times of what was spent in Melbourne.

Despite so many negativities in the games, Delhi would be a spectacle to watch and adore during the games and India can fail on anything but not on the display of our rich heritage and hospitality. Lets all make these games a success by attending in huge numbers as in fact this is once in a lifetime option.

LETS DO IT