Finally, New Delhi is smiling. And so is the whole of India. After being blamed, taunted, and embarrassed for months together, the glittering opening ceremony on Sunday surpassed all expectations. More importantly, the faith, self-belief and self-respect of the people of India have been restored. To some extent, that is.
The gala ceremony proved to be a balm for Delhiites. An enthralled collegian says, “I forgive all the organisers of all their sins. I have never seen such a programme which showcased India so well.” School teacher Anju Moorjani, 45, was all praise for the way ceremony “celebrated” the life of a common Indian.
“We never imagined it would be this good. I guess we never believed in ourselves that we could pull off something of such a big scale,” says Preeti Kaur, a volunteer who has been involved in the organisation of the Games for the last two years.
The impact of the two-hour ceremony was such that everyone slowly but surely started to believe what Suresh Kalmadi had said. “We never had a doubt about the quality of the ceremony. It is the media who doubted it. This is just a sign of things to come,” says organising ceremony secretary-general Lalit Bhanot.
You simply could not miss the smiles on the faces of officials, including Kalmadi, Bhanot, Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell and CGF CEO Mike Hooper. “We are very happy that everyone liked it. Now we hope the momentum is carried forward over the next 12 days,” he adds.
That, precisely, is the challenge. Will these positive vibes last till October 14? “It should. This spectacular ceremony has got the people involved. Until now, that was missing, I guess. But this should do the trick,” says an Aussie journalist.
“This ceremony was certainly up there among the best. “India loves song and dance. Will so many people turn up at the stadiums to watch matches? But yeah this could be the turning point the OC was looking for,” he adds.
