Common Wealth Games And The Cultural Fiesta

It seems talking about Common Wealth Games is so passe now!  Nevertheless, I want to share some scanned images of handouts etc depicting the cultural fiesta the city was enjoying during the Common Wealth Games (phew! now I got time!).  In fact, we the Dilliwalas were visible all over the places from music concerts to exhibitions and not to forget the food festival.  No trace of tourists of other countries!



Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra showed a dramatic presentation of Ramayana.





Live music concert at Qutub Minar Complex



These were the singers who rocked the crowd, huge crowd! Two singers performed each evening.

So, during the games Dehi Govt had organised a variety of activities for promotion of culture of the city.  You had to pick up things of your choice.  You could enjoy live musical concerts, ghazals, Qawallis, food festival, book exhibition of Common Wealth countries, photo exhibitions (See Dilli Nama Pics - An exhibition on Delhi)

 You could enjoy the Ho-Ho ride (Hop on Hop off ride),  and visit the historical places of Delhi.  The known and unknown historial monuments were lit up, the museums, which are many in Delhi (I love them) were also showcasing the rich heritage of the country.  Also, the Nehru Planetarium, which was closed for quite some time for renovation was opened for public sometime on beginning of October. It's a must watch place, I will catch it up soon with my kids.

There were some very useful handouts and brochers given out by Delhi Government, which serve as a guide to the historial monuments and museums and other places of tourist attaractions.  Not just for foreigners, but even for the residents of Delhi, they will serve a great purpose, especially, if you a parent or are interested in visiting places apart from malls and PVRs.  I somehow love to go to such places where you get to learn something.  See the scanned pic of the map, though a small fragment it is, the map was huge.

And this is the pic of Nehru Stadium, which of course looked amazing! The purple colour as seen would change to different hues and it being huge, was visible for a great distance too

And let me share that the Youth Festival, ie Live Band performances and classical performances are still on in the Central Park of Connaught Place of Delhi.

Hope other Delhites too enjoyed the time, as I did.  If you are a Delhite, share your experience.

RESTLESS

(Common Wealth) Games And The City!

(In the last few days, a lot of activity was going on in my life, work and city!  Things were happening with such speed that though I was bursting out of seams with my ideas to write about in my blog, but still I was not able to formally write and share a lot of things (I had been writing drafts though). So, here I go, starting with my CWG expereince!)

Common Wealth Games have come to an end.  Can we believe they are over?! I mean, seeing the preparations for years?!  There are news articles showing the places in Delhi which are still under rubble, still the work is incomplete.  Do you think, those renovation things would be completed now?!

Another thing, which every Delhite must have noticed, is that and there were hardly any foreigners on Delhi roads.... if they were, they would be with their guides for the occasion (volunteers) who exactly knew where to take them.  This was not what I was expecting. There was no mingling with the citizens of the city.  They came like VIPs, protected, even the buses used to carry the players and the teams were well escorted by two police gypsies, one ahead and one following the bus.  So interaction with the local people was quite out of question.  Also, there were not as many tourists from other countries as was expected.  Remember the bed and breakfast scheme of Delhi Govt., the evacuating of students from hostels to make place for the games tourists for abroad?  Yes, so now hotels even are complaining that they did not get adequate business during this time.  This was quite disappointing for all.



The good part were the sports events and the cultural and food festivals, the capital witnessed during this time.  Surely it was one of those rare opportunities to see an international event being held in your city, and Dilliwalas didnot wish to miss it.  I know a few of my friends had planned holidays to run away from the hustle bustle of the city during the Games Holidays (All schools were closed during games), but I think staying here was a better idea.  I stayed here and enjoyed a few of the events.  I will be writing briefly about them in this and the next post.



The events I witnessed personally, were visit to Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, to see the athletics competitions. First time, I didnot carry the camera, as security instructions were silent about it. But the next time, after seeing everybody else carry theirs, I did carry it to click a few pics (see below).  I must say that the cheer, the clappings, the applause during the event, was gleefully infectious!  I don't know whether anybody thought about the importance of live audience ie. people of Delh or not but they were there, cheering and clapping "Indiyeah- Indiyeah" loudly when an Indian athlete ran past them.  It was truely an experience, which you cannot feel watching it on TV,  no way!

 

Indian athletes in Blue





winners running with their flags

The sweetest thing was the medal ceremony.  The national anthem of the winning player's country would be played during the medal ceremony and the whole stadium would stand up as a mark of respect (I was touched by this part of the ceremony).  Then the angavastram, the chanderi stole given to the winners was also a nice Indian gesture. (Great idea - textile ministry!)

I don't think, I need to talk about the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, again held at JLN Stadium, these were fabulous!  But, I noticed two things, which I didn't quite like. First, the dress of school children in both the ceremonies were the same. A white satin big cloak, which had green and/or orange colour underneath. Second, while the orange and green colour (depicting our tricolour flag) was being sprinkled with children underneath it,  the poor little children were covering their eyes to protect them from those powdered synthetic colours (like Holi gulal), that was not a good sight, I was really feeling bad for the kids.  A little sensitivity in this regard would have been appreciated.

All in all, the show was a success.  I think, we Indians accepted it, when the world accepted it!  Was it something to do with the guest's satisfaction first thing, or is it that we are always looking towards others for approval?! I still wonder.

Next, I would be bringing the write up of two cultural events I attended  and also some brochures, which are for keeps for Delhites!

Stay tuned!

RESTLESS

 



Blue Blues of Delhi!

I wanted to write this little piece last week, but nevertheless now I want to share it, how a Dilliwala on the road feels.

It had been blue which had been terrifying me on the roads.  Earlier it was because of the Blue Line Buses.  If you are not a Dilliwala, let me tell you this commercial city bus service run by private operators was a set of quite a competitive people, who enjoyed overtaking each other, playing who comes first on the Delhi roads, while they went trampling people on foot and bikers alike.  They were soon given the title of Killer Blue Line buses and were gradually phased out of the Delhi roads, thankfully.  If you are driving a car and see a blue line bus behind you, you would immediately think of getting as far as possible from it, and very quickly as you don't know what the driver has in his mind! It was so bad.

And now, there is another thing "Blue" in Delhi, which inspires equal scare.  These are the lanes painted in blue, dedicated to CWG.  The main roads which connect the Games Village and the Stadiums have a dedicated lane for the CWG vehicles.  You can imagine, already crowded roads, hell lot of traffic and now the road is squeezed   and made slimmer!  And on that stretch, the blue lane, there are traffic cops to check nobody gets into the lane.

Initially, the fine was Rs 2000/- and now I read that you can be put in jail, if you cross that line..... Not that, we as citizens should be doing it, but imagine the state, you drive on a crowded patch of road, and a whole lane teasing you...... for it is exclusive and not for the aam janta! Yes, it really teases you!

But on the brighter side, I have observed, Delhi drivers are behaving very well, may be due to the fear of penalty, but still, the sight is lovely, PEOPLE ARE DRIVING IN THEIR LANES! Wow! that's a rare sight here.... to be honest, I also didn't mind jumping the lanes... but with due signalling of my movement.  But now, when there is no space to jump a lane, all vehicles are trotting like school kids queue marching quietly!

Delhi has had its share of blues, but ultimately I think as the guest nation, we should bear with it, and try to facilitate the contingents and nationals coming from different countries with open arms.... err..... dedicated Blue lanes!

RESTLESS


image courtesy : flashnewstoday.com

Do We Really Need Common Wealth Games?

Personally speaking, I never liked games.  Never watched any match, the only exception being India-Pakistan cricket match years back! But we know why we like to watch it, totally a non-game reason!

I never understood why so much hype about people playing with a bat and a ball, or a hockey or a foot ball or ....  But, I have due respect for the players, as they work hard for a cause, they feel right about.  But, what about the viewers, the cheerers, the supporters and the fans?? Apart from supporting their favourite players/teams, if they had themselves taken care to take up a sport as a hobby or worked towards making themselves healthier and fitter, I think we would be a physically healthy nation. 

I see only one good thing about the big sporting events - people enjoy themselves (entertainment), and there is bonding amongst supporters of a team.  Recently, during FIFA World Cup, I read how football has become a religion of the game lovers all over the world. People felt that bond, that common thread across the Continents. That was a heartening news! I liked that.

image courtesy : www.bharatchronicle.com

But, don't you think that joy, that enthusiasm is marred many a times, as sports are not being taken as sports any more.  They have become a battle somewhere, they have become a big money spinner somewhere, and somewhere sports and the victory has become a prestige issue for the teams and for the countries.

A Game is a game is a game.  Some one will lose it. What's so shameful about it? In principle, there is nothing wrong about losing a game.  The spirit of sportsmanship is the most important thing.  Why this basic value about sport is forgotten when a team loses?  I read in newspaper sometime back that the coach of a team is having a threat to his life because his team lost a match?  Isn't it ridiculous? Are we not stretching games too far?  Were the games not meant to entertain us?  From where this issue of prestige came in?

Now about the fan's anger over "decided non-performance" (match fixing); "ill performance" (read fun n frolic at night parties) and "no-motivation to perform" performances (when a few seconds in Ads get me money, then why slog).  This anger is understandable.  I don't know, hence I won't comment on how far all that is true about the sports persons.  If anybody knows better, please add it as a comment.

Coming back to, should sports be given so much importance? Now, if you are a die hard cricket fan, or any sport for that matter, you will say, why do we watch movies then? Are we not mere spectators there and what do we learn from movies.(I have heard this argument from people earlier, so thought of adding it here). I would say that movies are a form of art, it portrays lives of people, it has a reflection of the society - sometimes imagined.  It is art, and we watch a form of art - enjoy it , criticize it and reflect about it.  Movies touch us in some way (I am only talking about meaningful movies here, rest I don't watch).

I would once again say, that I have all the due regards for the great sports persons who have worked all their lives and wondered the whole world with their talent and magic.  Its commendable.  Their efforts should be, must be recognized and rewarded.

Having said that, I would say that, ultimately, its a sport, and ultimately, movies are another form of art.  We live in a country where people slog to get just two meagre meals.  They allow themselves to live a life of a housefly - living on and eating dirt and die like dirt.  They are caught in a cycle of poverty.  Poverty means no education, which means no or unskilled job which again means poverty.  Its quite hard for them to break this cycle on their own, of course there are exceptions, but we know mostly the State has to support them, uplift them.

This picture is much more gloomy with caste system still in place at many places and gets worsened because of corruption, which seeps down to the roots of the smallest unit of governance of the country, the village level.  We should be working towards that direction, but we idolise sports - sports persons, (and movie actors also).  We are ready to fight for them, we are ready to spend crores and  crores of money for hoisting sporting events.  It disgusts me! 

image courtesy : www.geotauaisay.com

We, a developing country, with dreamy eyes, have to set our priorities right.  We cannot spend our hard earned money on decorating the terrace, the exterior of our house, when we don't have money or will to feed the people in the house.  The decision to hold the Common Wealth Games was correct at this juncture? I have doubts.   The thought behind it, as I have understood, was to showcase the country to the world, and generating employment and revenue for the country.  Noble thoughts, really good.

But, why do we need the scrutinizing eyes of our neighbours (read other countries) to set our house in order (read better public transport system, infrastructure, better aesthetics, better heritage management ). Just why do we need an even to better our country? I fail to understand, why do I need an International Event to be hoisted in my city to see it in a better position, to have a better place to live in?

I have failed... completely!

A Restless Mind With
A Sensitive Heart