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Commonwealth Games are more relevant than you think

4th October, 2010
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Roar Guru
4th October, 2010
22
2038 Reads
Commonwealth Games

The seven year old Drummer Boy said it all. This was India’s future. The confidence, the rhythm of youth and the wonder of life. The unbridled enthusiasm of a young country desperate to put its best foot forward.

Permit me the self-indulgence of an expatriate Indian. I have been critical of the inept politicians and corrupt businessmen. I have been dismayed at the self-interest of compromised civil servants.

This was all forgotten the moment Manmohan Singh, India’s scrupulously clean Prime Minister, made his entrance. It was forgotten from the moment Prince Charles declared the 2010 Commonwealth Games open.

Charles has been maligned, sometimes unfairly, for being irrelevant. But his presence at Delhi signified the importance of the new India and the new England. No longer the ruler and the ruled. But equals in this sometimes unequal world.

The drums were followed by India’s own Pavarotti both welcoming and bidding goodbye.

The painting of colours, “mehndi”, was a reaffirmation of weddings and celebrations of significant events. This was India’s “NAMASTE” to the world.

The first contingent out was Australia, led by Sharelle McMahon, the captain of the netball Diamonds. The discomfort of their digs long forgotten. Replaced instead by the breathtaking pageantry that is India.

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There are many reasons why these games are relevant and not the least being the 63 million dollars that Australian companies shared in from construction and services contracts.

The Commonwealth Games may well be the poor man’s Olympics and it is fitting that India is hosting these games. India has a large proportion of the world’s poor and it is significant that it can host Games of this scale. It will give hope to countries like Rwanda who are debuting in these games.

One of the biggest cheers was for Pakistan. The Indian and Pakistani people are a lot closer than their politicians would have them think. The only two sold out events are the hockey matches featuring India and Pakistan and India and Australia.

And what of countries like Sierra Leone, Seychelles and the Solomon Islands? After Melbourne 2006 two thirds of the Sierra Leone team applied for political asylum in Australia. There are countries in this world not as fortunate as ours.

Nigeria’s team was led by its disabled athletes; many of them in wheelchairs. This was for me a poignant moment showing the healing and empowering nature of sport.

These Games gave the 71 participating countries to come together in a common cauldron. A veritable melting pot of different cultures and disparate economies.

In a world where politicians talk of free trade and erect protection barriers in the same breath this was an opportunity to suspend cynicism and embrace fraternity.

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India’s first woman President, Pratibha Patil, also declared the Games open in both Hindi and in English and hoped the athletes would do their respective countries proud.

The Indian Military band carried in the Games flag and the Defence Forces Band “cymbalised” the discipline of sport.

The purity of the sporting endeavour was further highlighted by the “Guru” and his “disciple”. The coach and the protégé. The teacher and the student. This was as traditional as one can get and is one of the significant beauties of India’s culture. The bond between the athlete and the administrator.

Sadly, this is neglected in the pursuit of money. And trampled in the mantra of “professionalism”.

India is nuclear reactors and traditional classical dancing. It is colour and contrast. It is the land of the Buddha and the fountain of yoga.

It is meditation and medicine. It is flexibility and finance. Ultimately it is a lesson in humanity.

The Opening Ceremony is a must for those that missed it. It is about the colour and sounds of India. It is about the old and the new. It is a chance for Indians to reconnect and for the world to enter and discover. It may not be perfect but it is always vital.

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It was reminder that India can be great. It is incredible and it is not closed to the world. In fact the Australian connection was evident in the sound systems; the fireworks at the end and during the games will be evident in the swimming pool and the various indoor stadia.

In the end, I was reminded how beautiful the Indian women are. India has had its fair share of Miss Universe’s and Miss World’s. Every contingent was led out by a young lady as resplendent and evocative as what Keats wrote in his Grecian Urn: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all, Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

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