Sports

Chaotic Delhi finally on song for opening show

The CWG throw off the shackles of its chaotic lead-up to stage a spectacular opening ceremony.

Express October 03, 2010

NEW DELHI: Plagued by charges of corruption, security fears and shambolic organisation, the 19th Commonwealth Games threw off the shackles of its chaotic lead-up Sunday to stage a spectacular opening ceremony.

Watched by a crowd of almost 60,000 at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi, with a worldwide television audience of more than a billion, the launch was billed as bringing "India alive" for the 11-day sporting showpiece.

Prince Charles declared the Games open after receiving a relay baton that had travelled some 170,000 kilometres (107,000 miles) to all the Commonwealth nations, most of them former British colonies, before arriving in India. "I have much pleasure in declaring the 19th Commonwealth Games open," the prince said after thousands of the Games' 7,000 participating athletes had paraded around the ground.

The tightly-drilled spectacle - far from the epic which kicked off the Beijing Olympics but as fastidiously organised - marked a stark contrast to the build-up, when the Indian capital suffered weeks of disastrous headlines.

Teams arrived to find the athletes' village unfinished and filthy, a new footbridge next to the main stadium collapsed injuring dozens of workers, and concerns about health, security and transport have also been high.

But from the first crackle of applause to the prince's opening speech almost two hours later, it was clear some chastening lessons had been learnt as more than 6,000 performers showcased 5,000 years of India's history and culture.

The crowd was not so keen, however, when it came to forgiving Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee and the face of the troubled Games, whose speech was greeted by an angry chorus of jeers.

The ceremony kicked off as the Delhi skies darkened with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of York, introduced to the crowd before drummers beat out the "rhythm of India" accompanied by traditional Shankha trumpeters.

The "Aerostat", a reportedly $9 million (Rs400 million) white helium-filled balloon, rose 25 metres (80 feet) above the ground as the show began.

Athletes from the 71 competing nations paraded around the stadium, moving to their seats before the Queen's Baton was brought in and handed to the prince, who read out a message from the Queen.

"It is particularly fitting that the 2010 Commonwealth Games is being held in India," the message said, referring to the celebrations marking 60 years of Indian independence and its birth as a sovereign nation in 1947.

The Games will feature 16 sports, with England and Australia expected to dominate the medals tally.

Tweeting approval

Prernascribbles My pride is increasing with leaps and bounds#cwg

mvpriyank RT @msigeek #CWG performances is awesome..! Really loved this inauguration event. I am waiting for Rahman Sir to perform..

shrawankharkia Simply excellent! Never seen all the Indian dance forms on one stage dancing on one music! Awesome!!! It's beautiful! Proud moment! #cwg

SoravJain #Cwg Has won my heart today! i have always loved classical and it was well portrayed 2day. love u india.

ZarirKarbhari Bloody Awesome .. the Madras Sappers #Armyrebuilt the overbridge in 4 days flat #CWG .. as usual our Jawans to our rescue

karthik_Am_I Must admit.. a spectacular opening ceremony to#CWG. A great display of cultural diversity and the chaotic cacophony of colors and music !!

bogeyno2 Fantastic #CWG Opening Ceremonies, stood out in its own right and deserved to as well!!!!!

sameepshah1602 CWG Opening Ceremony exceeding expectations. Digging the amazing ballon the in center! Great stadium too. #CWG

Vix_Pix Really enjoyed the #CWG opening ceremony. T'was neat.

manishsinha2008 CWG opening is a beautiful and a proud moment for every Indian. Thanks for putting India on the sporting event map. Cheers #CWG

Spectators boo Delhi chief organiser at opening ceremony

Suresh Kalmadi, head of the troubled Commonwealth Games organising committee, was booed when he began his welcome speech to 60,000 spectators at the opening ceremony on Sunday.

The Indian government stepped in last week to complete urgent work on infrastructure for the Delhi Games, which had threatened to become a national embarrassment after several health and security issues raised the possibility they would be cancelled.

The atmosphere otherwise for the teams and officials had been good with the crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium offering a particularly warm applause to Pakistan.

Kalmadi was able to finish his five-minute long speech without further interruption before handing over to Michael Fennell, the chief of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Kalmadi gets slammed on Twitter

14_yr_old_Etard Im surprised Kalmadi is not wearing a helmet, just in case someone does the shoe throw again. #CWG

shibu_kt Yeah.. So he really got booed. Kalmadi better make it short. #CWG

BDUTT Kalmadi not exactly getting good ratings on the applause barometer folks #cwg

Rulpa kalmadi talking: are people cheering or boo boo-ing? #CWGBoo louder people

kunalraheja Kalmadi to speak. To mute or not to mute. That is the question. #CWG

With additional input by Reuters.

COMMENTS (60)

Eleena | 13 years ago | Reply Pakistan is one of the top failed state.No international event can conduct there.Taliban is controlling most of the areas.Taliban beheading foreigners on daily basis. people from pakistan make me laugh.Pakistan is considered as a bankrupted country.There government couldn't do anything in recent flood just started begging international community. they couldn't even give protection to Srilanka's cricket team some years ago. But they like to write crap always in internet.No wonder their country Pakistan is top failed state.Let us hope it'll be number one failed state.

Chaitanya | 13 years ago | Reply ITS MY GREAT INDIA

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Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply "As Pakistani im absoluty not proud of the economical progress of Pakistan and if i were an Indian i wouldnt be proud either" Actually is "As Pakistani im absoluty not proud of the economical progress of Pakistan and if i were an Indian i wouldnt be proud either of Inida's economy"

nishant | 13 years ago | Reply @ foul mouthers how many times has pakistan hosted any such international sporting events they got it once for asian games in 1977 and backed out in the last moment. so please and before the cwg india also hosted the afro asian games, in hyderabad so please gather some information before giving out your opinion

Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply @Anonymous Regarding to the interview,its just a tecnique to surprise the reader and leave him with a smile with this unique,strange question.Load/shddung is around 7/8 hours,so ya its big problem but i dont think the situation is so different from Pakistan in India,maybe a couple of hour less of load shudding. "We do not have difference of opinion but when you point so many statastic I had to reply." And i welcome your comment. @Neeraj i partially agree with you,if we check the research and development,the tecnological progress yes India is 10 years ahead of Pakistan,if we check the strenght of democratic institution yes India is 30-40 years ahead of Pakistan,if we check the literacy rate India is ahead of Pakistan by 10 years but if we check the percentage of ppl living in poverty,living with less 2$,having access to electrity,suffering from hunger etc well India is still 10-20 years behind Pakistan.The number are there,in some things Pakistan is better in other India is better no doubt. Yes statistics from Pakistani goverment are not always reliable,thts why i always use numbers from international organizations. My initial intent was simply to say tht we should go beyond the surface and check all the numbers,see how the picture is confusing. As Pakistani im absoluty not proud of the economical progress of Pakistan and if i were an Indian i wouldnt be proud either,honeslty i get irritated everytime someone praise Indian or Pakistani economic performances,,can we really compare our results with other countries which were in our or worse conditions 60 years ago?Japan,South Korea,Singapore?.......... Wht today we need is to be proud if other if the other country succeed in something instead of being jealous and suffer if the other country is failing in something instead of being proud.Its also called human symphathy and thts wht we need. : ) Regards

Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply @Anonymous Regarding to the health care and educational system ive used this link http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html Regarding to the educational system no doubt tht the Indian universities are much better than Pakistani etc,but you need to the see the whole system,the kind services you provide for the masses and Pakistan is still better in this. On health care sorry my mistake i read mistakenly the ranking.India has been ranked 86th versus 88th position of Pakistan.So ya India is slighty better in this : ) No doubt on which we have more attack than you,but i trying to correct the myth tht Taliban are conquring Pakistan.......on illicit drug everybody is involved criminals,common man,Taliban etc.......btw i didnt mention drug why you are talking abt tht? I think you are simply going to far,adding other arguments No doubt has more fdi,i repeated tht has a sliglty higher gdp per capita,i wrote tht. Why are you talking abt debt?i didnt talk abt tht.... Btw honestly i think on the debt issue we are much better than,Pakistan pubblic debt to gdp is 58% while India debt to gdp is 80%,almost 1 trillion dollar. Yes Pakistan has higher external debt 33% of the gdp versus 20%something of India,but honeslty the only thing which counts is the pubblic debt as every country default (Argentine,rememebr Greece crisis in may?based on high pubblic debt,above 115%of the gdp etc) was based on his high pubblic debt which is alarming when it goes above 90%,external debt doesnt simply matter because there countries like Ireland has 1084%, Luxemburg 3854% external debt of the gdp but,.............Every default of a country happened in the 3-4 centuries happened on pubblic debt(goverment bonds) not external debt. Actually i was praising India on 76th position which is better than Pakistan's 10th,but on the other side is India performing worse in the hunger index than Pakistan adn have a higher poverty rate which obvously contraddictory point with the failed state index......especcially if you considr all the growth,the fdi,the slighltly higher gdp per capita,the 65 billionares,all the socio-political stability etc........ Regarding to energy sector,im studing in Italy,so i can tell you only wht i hear from family members and friends,and currently the loadshudding average is aorund 7-8 hours atleast in the urban areas,not 20 hours!,i guess in India is 4-5 hours per day?.......Obvoulsy the enegy production aint comparable since you have to give electricity to 1,2 billion ppl.......(Anyway both 51% of India and 75% of Pakistan are ridicolous results after 63 years of indipendence)

Neeraj, India | 13 years ago | Reply To those Pakistanis who appears to have turned green after watching the colourful opening grand gala at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium and are scurrying to find solace in the Pak's silly economic figures, I want to tell them that, please guys, calm down. Pakistan is well known for it's 'skills' at playing jigsaw puzzle with it's economic statistics. It is famous or rather notorious for fudging and twisting the economic data for, not only to fool it's populace, but, also to confuse the IMF, WB, ADB etc. and get, as many fresh loans as possible. Recently, at the donor's summit in Dubai, Pakistani delegation was severely reprimanded, for coming up with fudged and contradictory figures. Even the prominent economists of Pakistan were sharply critical of their government, for hiding and distorting the data which is vital for planning and finding right areas for investment, in both, infrastructure and human development fields. So much so that, even census hasn't been conducted since early nineties. Pak government still uses population numbers of last census and with help of fictional population growth rate (Pakistan has a highest birth rates), determines the current population figure. These imaginary figures are used to fix the current levels of per capita income and other human development indices. How on earth can anyone believe those wonderful figures! There is absolutely no room for debate about level of development between India and Pakistan. India is decades ahead of Pakistan, no need for certificates.

kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @Mohsin,we got donkeys out of India few yrs back.In next few yrs we will get snacks out as well...

User | 13 years ago | Reply @Mohsin Hijazee Don’t be an Oracle. Talk the current day where Chinese soldiers rarely respect your borders but even that has nothing to do with CWG. I thought you could focus on the topic but as you have placed a tetra-itemed list, that’s what India may go too and it has more chances of that as there are 13 separation movements compared to just one of ours and also China does not blend with India I just mentioned. And I cant help noticing that some of the points on list are the one you’re already complaining about take recent news from Kashmir for instance. You’re big so are the problems. CWG done very well but of course there was some mismanagement due to the corruption that unfortunately a problem in Pakistan too. Whenever I read Indian newspaper I rarely find a difference the way system works here and there. Same butcher police and same bureaucratic hurdles and almost the same corrupt politicians It is ur take on big games your country is playing and its my take on the likely results. You mentioned the big games u play not me. On the Kashmir issue I have as much right to voice an opinion as u do. It is not the birthright of Pakistanis only to have an opinion. As far as chinese are concerned, we will take care one way or the other.

inayat | 13 years ago | Reply "Log on to xxxx.com for the latest news, results, features and images as South Asia hosts its biggest sporting event of the century" Is the banner text of leading news paper in Pakistan. It is understood the pain of writing India even to the educated media, they use word South Asia.

User | 13 years ago | Reply @ IFSAND: For example India invest much more on education and health care and have a lower infant mortality but the Pakistani educational system and health care have been ranked overall better than Indian. You are saying that education and healthcare facilities are better in Pakistan compared to India? Check the fact. Where did wasim Akram wife died? Why he had to file a case in court that doctor's are not working for him even he was throughing money? Where did common pakistani goes for advance surgery? India. Where does gora people go for faster surgery? India.. Which country has medical tourisom? This word may not be in your english yet. Count me at least one engineering or medical or business college where forbes 500 companies come and hire pakistani students? In India I can count you at least 100 institutes where these foreign corporations are waiting to hire them for their business in India and anywhere in the world Everybody talks abt Taliban,the area they control is much smaller than the area controlled by the Naxal……… Who produce and ship second highest opium in the world for illicit trade? Pakistan.. Who has drone attackes? Naxal or pakistani? Which country need military to maintain law and order day to day.. Regarding to the aid,i just want to add tht we recived it aroud 10 billion dollar in the last decade but meanwhile the economy has grown from 70-80 billion dollar to 170-180 billion dollar so how you can understand it had an impact but only slight. Have you ever checked PPP for Pakistan and India? Have you ever checked foreign debt per capita for Pakistan and India? How many $$ business you do with rest of the world? Pakistan have been ranked 10th in the failed state versus 76th of Inida index but India perform worse in the hunger index than Pakistan. I think you do not know simple math here? What is the difference in 10 and 76? and have you ever read in detail how that number differentiate? at the difference of 76 India is far far better and ahead in every count TI defined to eveluate that number. no. 10 you received not for terrisom but there are several factor. India is ahead in each one of them then only we have 76th. In Pakistan 75% of ppl have access to electricity versus 51% of Indians What does it matter that you have cable coming from power distribution but no power for 20 hours of day? The remaining four hours also low voltage? What is pakistan power generation capacity and simply compare it with India? I was reading interview of Veena Malik after that match fixing and the guys is asking to her how many hours did you had power yesterday? If you have to ask a question like this then you understand what a dire situation there.... I think I can go for each and every topic. I am not against pakistan. I am in canada, an engineer and working with another pakistani engineer. We do not have difference of opinion but when you point so many statastic I had to reply.

inayat | 13 years ago | Reply CWG opening cermony entire event was managed by India. India displayed its diversified culture, so many drummers with so many types of drummers beating the same tune, that is India. I see lot of comments here mainly out of frustration to some extent jealousy. I did not see any ruling elights from nieghouring country congratulating the grand opening cermony, this non-inclusive thinking from elite to bloggers/comments is result what is been cultivated. There are thousands of patholes and craters in a system can be filled only by time and generations. India has pulled up from its elite (none of the performers, directors and managers of this event being paid), hat's off to them hope our neighbours at least learn the crisis management with just one hope and efforts.

Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply @Anoop "The heavy dependence on aid and massive defence expenditure is coming home to roost." Totally agree with you,we need absolutly to reduce our dependence on aid.atleast for sake of self respect! and the fact is tht, if willing the establishment can eliminate goverment needs of financial assistance in just one day. Now we have a gdp tax ratio of 10%(one of the lowest in the world),but if govermant start to fight tax evasion we will recover every year 10 billion dollars which is actually the quantity of money we recieved in the whole decade as aid!!! After tackling serously tax evasion we would have 16% tax gdp ratio. Than we need to include in the tax system sectors which are completly out like the agriculture sector and the service sector.According to new study if we bring the agriculture income tax from the current ridicolous 1% to 20% we will have revenue around 6% of the gdp! Now we would have been to 22% and thts even before starting to service sector.,if we tax the service sector even slightly overall we will easily exceed 30% gdp tax ratio. So how you understand we can easily go from the current 10% to 30%,without even increasing taxes for those who pay taxes today. And for those who say tht will damage the economy,i just want to say tht first we need to do it not in few months but in a couple of years so we ease the effect and in the long term it will immensly benefit both Pakistan and India(as a stable and prosperus Pakistan is good for India) as Pakistan's goverment will be more stable,will borrow less,wont run large deficits so wont print money(which cause inflation) to cover the deficits will have more money to invest in the infrastructure and education and this obvously will make Pakistani companies more competitive and untimatly Pakistani ppl and indirectly Indian ppl. @Moshin Also i love both countries,ok we get divided because the leaders couldnt find an agreement,but thts ok,lets move on why we cant live as ppl lives in Europe?no borders,free movement of ppl and goods,ultimatly this was Jinnah's vision for the after-partition situation. Lets find an agreement on Kashmir than nothin will stop us by considering each other as brothers.

Haris | 13 years ago | Reply @kamaal khan bhai bbc = biased british corporation

Mohsin Hijazee | 13 years ago | Reply @Isfand Thanks for the informative post. Actually I love India as much as I do Pakistan and I'd love to visit India than Switzerland. We have same problems. I'm just pointing out that there's much more to be done and a CWG does not mean that common public's problems are solved. I mean no disrespect to India or Indian people at all.

Mohsin Hijazee | 13 years ago | Reply @Kamal We can refuse the American aid if it helps to get cats and snakes out of the CWG. Please let us know how to proceed on that front. @Tony Singh: Don't be an Oracle. Talk the current day where Chinese soldiers rarely respect your borders but even that has nothing to do with CWG. I thought you could focus on the topic but as you have placed a tetra-itemed list, that's what India may go too and it has more chances of that as there are 13 separation movements compared to just one of ours and also China does not blend with India I just mentioned. And I cant help noticing that some of the points on list are the one you're already complaining about take recent news from Kashmir for instance. You're big so are the problems. CWG done very well but of course there was some mismanagement due to the corruption that unfortunately a problem in Pakistan too. Whenever I read Indian newspaper I rarely find a difference the way system works here and there. Same butcher police and same bureaucratic hurdles and almost the same corrupt politicians.

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply @Isfand, Very well said. India does lag behind in many human index ratings. One of the reasons for this is terrible economic policies for more than 40 years of India's independence. The gap which was there between India and Pakistan has reduced considerably post-1990, which is when India's reform measures came in. China started the same process of reform a decade and a half earlier and look where it is today. In a decade or so many of the figures you rightly point to would have changed. With India growing at 9% currently and on track of becoming the fastest growing economy in 5 years, things will start to change rapidly. I dont want to put down Pakistan, but I consider it an insult to democracy that despite being a Democracy India lags behind Pakistan is important human indexes. Pakistan despite having a turbulent political atmosphere from its creation has beaten all odds to do well economically but is lagging behind due to bad economic management. The heavy dependence on aid and massive defence expenditure is coming home to roost.

Tony Singh | 13 years ago | Reply @Mohsin Hijazee Well, Talibaan, Alqaeda, ISI, Afghanistan, America and Russia, we have been playing big games in big arenas among big guys so no problem with that and even now there’s a big game going on that will be revealed a decade later what our agencies have done indeed undercover and I am sure of that. You do not know if HAARP or whateveryou guys call it. will hit u tomorrow and u r talking about a things yet to be unraveled a decade later. Let me give you the glimpse 1. Your people will be burning chinese flags (As they do American now.) 2. You will be blaming every thing on Kashmir issue and chinese influence 3. You will protest the presence of many "Indian Embassies" in Baluchistan 4. The list is endless....However that is another topic altogather

kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @Mohsin,I said Taliban and Al-Qaida only because you people are not able to do anything apart from creating them and fighting them.What big guys you talk..you are on american mercy..they give you aid and you kill your fellow countrymen.."Selfrespect"is a word...but I am sure you must not ve heard about it.

Mohsin Hijazee | 13 years ago | Reply @Kamal: Well, Talibaan, Alqaeda, ISI, Afghanistan, America and Russia, we have been playing big games in big arenas among big guys so no problem with that and even now there's a big game going on that will be revealed a decade later what our agencies have done indeed undercover and I am sure of that. However, that's another topic altogether. And I wonder if I mentioned Taliban or something closer to that. You cannot even interpret things clearly yet aside to think clearly and that too in a right direction is far fetched no? @d c bhardwaj: Mismanagement was there, that's a factual thing so please do not deny it. Overestimation is also there and is evident so that cannot be denied either. Its nothing anti-Indian. Its good that games are being played in our neighbored and we love to play games ;-)

Mawali | 13 years ago | Reply @Sandy, dude you are dead on; why waste time here, who invited you to a forum hosted by a Pakistani paper? Go to the “Hindustan times” or some other Indian daily. My strict admonition to you is stay away. Then, for all Pakistani’s, who are being shall we say less then gracious about this event and India’s time in the limelight I will say this; get over it and learn to appreciate a neighbors efforts. India did what India is; a chaotic land where last minute crisis management is a norm. It is typical of everything India and for that matter Pakistan; Pakistan though can only dream of hosting an event of such magnitude. So for the Indians don’t get your panties in a bunch; enjoy the moment. For the Pakistani’s learn to be gracious and let the Indians enjoy their moment of pride and progress.

kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @ Mohsin,atleast we have started to think in right direction ,which is first step.What about you...come on start thinking beyond taliban and AlQaida.

Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply Guys there is no need to fight,regarding to who is moving ahead and who doesnt the situation on ground is much more complex and its easy to stereotypize. For example India invest much more on education and health care and have a lower infant mortality but the Pakistani educational system and health care have been ranked overall better than Indian. Everybody talks abt Taliban,the area they control is much smaller than the area controlled by the Naxal.........Indeed India has a more competitive economy of Pakistan but overall Pakistan's infrastructure is better. Regarding to the aid,i just want to add tht we recived it aroud 10 billion dollar in the last decade but meanwhile the economy has grown from 70-80 billion dollar to 170-180 billion dollar so how you can understand it had an impact but only slight. Pakistan have been ranked 10th in the failed state versus 76th of Inida index but India perform worse in the hunger index than Pakistan. In Pakistan 75% of ppl have access to electricity versus 51% of Indians but Pakistan economy is always refered as a bankcrupt economy due to its low gdp tax raito(10%,fortunatly now they are increasing it) which always put thegovt financially in a precarous situation agaisnt a mch higher gdp tax ratio (17%) of Inida which simply gives more financial stability to goverment. India have seen a spettacular growth in the last 15 years tht Pakistan has not witnessed but the gdp per capita is only slighty higher than the Pakistani gdp per capita and Indians living in poverty are 55% of the population versus 51% in Pakistan and moreover 75% of indians lives with less than 2 $ per day versus 60% in Pakistan. So how you can understand the situation is much more confusing,contraddictory and complex on the ground (i can give the links if someone wants them) Im not trying to disrespect any country,i just think tht still the economy of both countries still sucks for the common man,we could have been in much better position today if instead of wars and hatred we had cooperation and friendship,but we can start now! Pakistan Zindabad,Jai Hind.

Tony Singh | 13 years ago | Reply @Aleem Jealously will not get u anywhere. "Jaalee Jaalee, Tapie Tapie"

d c bhardwaj | 13 years ago | Reply @Mohsin..you are right we can not conduct gaming that well India thinks as America you are the only person that know in pakistan we in India were unaware till time thanks for it. @Disgusted totally agree with you word by word, after all it is a big event not only for India but entire south asia.

jai | 13 years ago | Reply @ Neeraj the Hindu is a left wing publication not a conservative one. It has more anti hindu bias than most publications. "The Hindu" is just a brand name now.

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Well done India and thanks for the lovely welcome to our athletes!

Varun | 13 years ago | Reply Stumbled onto this site with that Pakistan Flag bearing fiasco, Whats up with that guy? He seems to be your Kalmadi so to speak. Ceremony was good, but too long. Beijing's was still much grander. Commonwealth is obsolete, its irrelevant, Top athletes are becoming rare and rare in it over the years. Top 5 Olympic nations don't even take part in it. Its the Olympics that matter in multi-sport events rest are practice grounds. Asian games later this year will be more competitive.

Anonymous | 13 years ago | Reply Guys.. Fo those criticizing the Delhi CWG, browse through the following link. http://tribune.com.pk/story/58170/amid-flag-bearing-chaos-cw-games-kick-off/

Anonymous | 13 years ago | Reply Guys.. Fo those critizing the Delhi CWG, browse through the following link. Read more: Flag row: Pakistani weightlifters threaten to quit CWG http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/commonwealth-games-2010/news/Flag-row-Pakistani-weightlifters-threaten-to-quit-CWG/articleshow/6681768.cms

Mohsin Hijazee | 13 years ago | Reply @Sonam Your mention about buying Pakistan makes it even worse that still the nation on a whole cannot conduct a gaming event despite the billionaires and even being an irrelevant and emotional argument, goes against your stance. Its not the dollars dude that matters. Its the culture. In subcontinent (Pakistan, Bangladesh, India) unfortunately the corruption and dishonestly is something so much prevalent. We do not do our jobs well.

Mohsin Hijazee | 13 years ago | Reply Well, India thinks of itself as America but I think its too early for them. They've overestimated themselves. The reports have not been published by Tribune or any Pakistani news agency rather they are from Britain and that includes BBC. If Indians think of themselves very descent, moderate, enlightened and very just then they should acknowledge the fact that there has been mismanagement and their society is not on that level where they think it is.

d c bhardwaj | 13 years ago | Reply @Sonam well said these are minority voices in Pakistan itself, they can't digest the success of India. @Asutosh Not agree that average Indian thinks that most of Pakistanies have negative thought against India. Someone written that average Indian lives on 2$ per day,yes it is correct then so what atleast our government on rural road development, village and urban poor development and so many schemes are working. Remember Rome was not built in a day. Time to celebrate great opening ceremony and the day who belongs to INDIA in the world is Delhi,3rd Oct.2010 Cheers.......

Disgusted | 13 years ago | Reply @Sonam Shyam has hit the nail on the head. Apparently as Pakistanis, and educated Pakistanis more, we feel that any type of success we see in other countries is a problem and we as the social and moral police of the world have to point it out to them. This apparently stems out from the fact that our country is at the hight of prosperity and a model for social equality and prosperity. I was very proud to see that at least some of us, with good sense, congratulated India on its timely and spectacular kick of the CWG games. Seriously just think that even with all the problems and issues they faced they were able to start it on time and with amazing fan fare. That shows great perseverance doesn't it? Would we have been able to handle it just as well if the CWG was happening here? Would we have not encountered similar problems? Guys be happy when good things happen to other people and good things might happen for you to. whats the point of pointing out faults and problems with something that people take pride in. All this complaining makes us look petty and i for one do not want that trait to associated with me as a Pakistani. So all i will say is good on India, way to go, hope the CWG is a huge honking success.

kamaal khan | 13 years ago | Reply Haris bhai..you were concentrating on wild animals only so you got to see that....we were concentrating on grand ceremony which was according to BBC "just short of magic"..

Ashutosh | 13 years ago | Reply It seems that most people in Pakistan could not appreciate the opening ceremony.

Sonam Shyam | 13 years ago | Reply I have been reading a lot of comments about poverty in India and how majority of the Indians live on $2 a day. Initially, I wondered whether I had visited some American news website since this kind of rhetoric about Indian poverty, I didn’t expect on a Pakistani website. First of all I want to ask my Pakistani friends that are you a developed country; full of rich people? As far I know Pakistan is economically bankrupt. Your politicians borrow money from IMF, your military begs for money from America and after begging and borrowing, both of them have the audacity to embezzle that money and live lavishly. All this while the average Pakistani spends his life in poverty, hunger, sectarianism, religious fundamentalism, regular terrorist attacks and worse, American drone attacks. Friends, yes, majority of the Indians survive on 2 dollars a day, but remember that money they generate with their hard work and any money earned from hard work gives self respect. Rich in India have started to contribute to eradicating poverty and with more transparency in government functioning, the poor will improve their lot. Pakistan perhaps should be last country in the world to give us lectures on any matter, least of all poverty. Lastly, it may interest my Pakistani friends, that there are 69 billionaires in India, who have more money than the GDP of Pakistan! Technically, they can buy whole of Pakistan and still they will have some 100 billion dollars left in their accounts.

Neeraj, India | 13 years ago | Reply Dear lady @ Sara B Haider, as an Indian I feel ashamed when you say that your comments haven't been published in the The Hindu which you rightly described as one of the greatest newspapers of the world. It is an almost one and half century old newspaper with a reputation of being an extremely conservative one in approach. So much so that, it dared and got the notoriety for publishing news of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on it's second page! Though, later, it apologized to it's readers profusely, but, the stigma could never be erased. But, the greatest damage did not come from it's conservative view points, it is the current owners' utter stupidity that did hurt it's image irreparably. Some of the Kasturi family( the owners) members made themselves a laughing stock by befriending and associating themselves with the likes of Sitaram Yetchuri, the pizza loving communist ideologue, under his influence The Hindu almost became India's own Peoples Daily (China). I want to tell you so many things but, lack of space and time restricts me. In short, if a newspaper like The Hindu denies you of an opportunity to express yourself, then, it is their loss not yours'. After expressing my regrets, let me also tell you of my own experiences with Pak newspapers. You are right the ET is one of the most liberal newspapers of Pakistan. It is providing an opportunity for young writers to show their talent (many of them really a pain in the a...s), whether out of necessity or ideology, I don't know. I had a bitter experience with Pakistan's own 'The Hindu', the so called Dawn. I posted some of my comments (long back) in response to it's blog writers and to my utter surprise, I found that either my comments have been edited, deleted so badly, that they lost the very message I wanted to convey or my comments were completely missing. Even NYT or ToI never did that to me. I vowed never to write to this newspaper again and of course, only after sending a nasty email to them. Therefore, Sara sahiba, I suggest you to do the same to The Hindu. Just read your favorite columnists and forget about writing, after all, they are not paying even a single penny to us for writing comments and believe me, sometimes our comments are more interesting than the article itself!

cbebop | 13 years ago | Reply Yeah whats with the hate . Did you people not see the loud cheering your Pakistani contingent received from us Indians in the opening ceremony? I dont understand what else do you people want from us, you got a separate country in 1947 so why not just stop the hate now. @Aleem These games are not to impress the goras, they are just to showcase the developments of a city(New Delhi) to the world. Every major country including China does this. And poverty is not something that can be eradicated in a day, it takes time. Besides we in India seem to be in a much better position than Pakistan after 63 years; even though we have to deal with a population of 1.2 billion people and a country 5 times the size of Pakistan which includes people of different religions and languages. You people in Pakistan have a much smaller population with almost all of them Muslims and yet your economy is in shambles.

Fahad | 13 years ago | Reply You guys are pathetic. Congratulations on breeding hatred out of nothing. Go ahead, make sure that future generations of Indians and Pakistanis hate each other over petty issues. Both countries have their flaws, why is that so hard to accept? The opening ceremony was amazing. End of story.

N | 13 years ago | Reply Why does every news article mentioning India and Pakistan in the same paragraph elicit such bigoted comments? This is a time for sport and friendship. I think the crowd at JLN stadium made that abundantly clear when it gave such a warm welcome to Pakistani athletes. I'm proud that the Indian people showed such respect to athletes from one of the only countries that supported India while it was being dismembered by both domestic and foreign media in the build-up to these games. Hopefully the friendly spirit continues!

Haris | 13 years ago | Reply i could swear i saw a couple of collapsed bridges and wild animals running around during the ceremony... and as for the booing that wasn't booing they were moo moo mooing

Isfand | 13 years ago | Reply No matter wht , i think we will all agree when i say : Gr8 ceremony!

Sarah B. Haider | 13 years ago | Reply Dear Foreigners, I am glad to see that you can freely express your opinion here. I have been a regular reader of The Hindu (one of the best newspapers in the world), and believe me, in one year's time, they haven't uploaded a single comment that I have made on their website solely because I come from Pakistan.

Raza | 13 years ago | Reply Thanks india :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8yqJ_MOuI

Arvind | 13 years ago | Reply Proud to be an Indian, what a grand opening ceremony. Pakistanis can only dream of that. You folks try to organize your own national games in other countries (like you do in cricket). So, sit down relax and applause India´s greatness and try to learn something if you can. About Kalmari, he is much much less experienced in corruption than your president Zardari. What will happen to a nation which is in the hands of him, just imagine. We applauded Pakistani squad at Delhi to show them how great India is. Jay Hind

Deepak | 13 years ago | Reply @Aleem So, nobody cares about these games ? Why so many countries in world have sent their players to India ? Why Pakistan too if no body cares ? You can always ask me even after two weeks when common wealth games. The infrastructure boost that 1982 Asian games gave to Delhi paved way for thousands of new Jobs in coming years. So will these games do that to this city. We are trying to please goras ? We are as proud to have Venezuelan athletes amidst us. Who sided USA around the birth of our nations and who pursued Non Aligned Movement ? Whose country are "Goras" using as military base ? The facts are in face of you and you still have the audacity to say what you did. Now about 75% of Indian under $2 per day. My father has also been part of this 75%. And when I am writing this to you, I am staying in Virginia state of USA near the same Dulles airport from where couple of weeks back your defense personals had to cancel their "invitation" to USA. This is the power of the same, being under $2 per day because Indian strongly believes that nation is not built with money but with characters of the citizens. We may live under $2 or $1 per day but still do not send terrorists to our societies. Yes, I accept that we are poor and corrupt. Give me one instance in history of world when any society did not have any poor and corrupt. The reason why I am writing here is to give a different perspective to our neighboring minds to cultivate a constructive thought process. I do not want to comment of repute of this paper. I would rather wish them to exceed the standards and benchmarks set by BBC and CNN.

Ashwin | 13 years ago | Reply @Aleem, Well said thanks for reminding us indians about the problems we suffer .Also all major events seem to be organised in Delhi like rest of india didn't exist, anyways that's more a mindset problem with the indian govt. As for the poor of India it is more due to governance which goes unquestioned as corruption seems to be one of the best practices( there are more such best practices). As for using CWG that would be nitpicking don't your agree. Also i must say there was line of thought in india in early 80's that computers were bad and it would replace human begins hence more poverty for india, but technology brought a lot more transparency and also lifted a lot indians out of poverty, CWG of 2010 has brought great infrastructure to the countries capital and exposed indian malaise of best practices. well it has embarrassed us , in the meantime we want to reap the benefits of these games in terms of producing sporting talent and some tourists maybe (hope some brave one's ignore all the problems and visit us,). After all as the saying goes "Mera bharat mahan, sau mein say ninayway bayemaan"(My is country is great,99 out every 100 indian is corrupt). Pls come to India if possible and enjoy the CWG 2010.

skm | 13 years ago | Reply This magnificent opening was needed for shut up all those detractors who were trying to defame India's capacity and pride, even opening ceremony seems to be eyes openers for all Indian news channels who were also taking part in talking too much like our enemy media.

Samir | 13 years ago | Reply The Pakistani athletes stood by India when the world was abusing her for the poor arrangements. And we should be happy that the opening was so successful. The fact that the Pakistani delegation got a warm welcome is again amazing. Politics aside, these are healthy signs.

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply This was close.. It will be the biggest CWG ever.

Varun Bakshi | 13 years ago | Reply I think there needs to be an article which highlights the thunderous applause Pakistani contingent got from India. I think Pakistani politicians will not be happy when they heard India cheer the loudest for Pakistan apart from India of course.

kamaal khan | 13 years ago | Reply Deepak bhai..ignore karo..

Aleem | 13 years ago | Reply @Deepak, Quite frankly, nobody cares about these games or your opinions. Have fun for two weeks, and when everybody leaves and forgets Delhi then I'll ask how you're feeling. It's these upper class Indian fools who irritate me the most. 75% of Indians live below $2 a day, and your government throws your money away on these bloody games to impress Goras? Shame on you. And I don't mean that simply because Delhi got the games, if Islamabad got the games I would be protesting heavily outside the CDA. With all the poverty and corruption in this region, this is what your proud about? Proud that you're shoving things under the rug and pretending everything in honky dorry? Ridiculous needless to say. And if the Express Tribune is not a "reputable" newspaper as you claim, by all means leave, nobody is asking you to post here. Go post on "reputable" newspaper forums like the Hindustan Times. And how is it called the CWG? Commonwealth is one word last time I checked.

sandy | 13 years ago | Reply Dude deepak.. its Pakistan we are talking about. What else to expect from them? Lets not stoop ourselves to their level, and I am happy that crowd cheered for them. That shows our attitude and our level of maturity. Lets not compare India with Pakistan.. Anyways, we have showed our might, and what we can do. Why waste time here?

Deepak | 13 years ago | Reply This is inform all readers that "The Tribune" has changed its headline to this story after my earlier message. At first the headline was -- "Suresh Kalmadi booed by spectators at CWG ceremony" So please do not get confused with my first message.

Syed A. Mateen | 13 years ago | Reply I am glad to note that Pakistan is participating in the games.

Deepak | 13 years ago | Reply Hmm.. So "The Tribune" could only find that as a befitting headline to the story. What else it could be for a pakistani newspaper. If you want to look for alternative just visit any reputed news outlet like "bbc" or any Australian newspaper etc to see what does their headline like. You just can't seem to digest the fact that Indian has managed to give a spectacular start ceremony when you would be eagerly waiting to see it to turn into a fiasco. Why could not you use your headline from the wishes from President or other International dignitaries to athletes ? Or about heavy applause that Pakistani contingent was cheered with when they marched in. You suck.. really.

Ali Haider | 13 years ago | Reply What was the point of adding twitter notes again?

Umer Farooqi | 13 years ago | Reply hahahah ... i was expecting the cancellation of CWG in India but the stupids work like wolfs n done their work to meet the deadline n saved the nation from international embarrassment :P

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