CWG must succeed

Who could have thought that the Commonwealth Games will be such a success even before they began? Never has a sporting event been monitored so avidly. Games organisers from across the world are wondering how India managed this. The secret is simple. The organising committee's big idea was the pre-games competitions. It knew that most countries didn't care about CWG, many countries wouldn't compete, top athletes would avoid them and sponsors will ignore it. The only way to grab the collective eyeballs was to organise a series of contests before the games. And break records after records in them. So the organising committee began to buy things at exorbitant prices. Umbrellas, tissue rolls, chairs, treadmills? All at record prices. As a result, this remarkable CWG is already the talk of the town.
And don't forget the series of slugfests the committee thought of. The Mani Shankar Aiyar versus Suresh Kalmadi was the biggest hit. Aiyar landed massive blows with his acidic words like those organising the event were evil. In return, Kalmadi branded Aiyar anti-national. He was cheered wildly. Yet another contest was for contractors: who will complete the project as close to the opening ceremony as possible. Many contestants are still in the field and going strong.
There is little hope now of the CWG being a global advertisement for the country. Forget competing with the success of the South African World cup or the Chinese Olympics, the CWG will find it difficult to even emulate the success of 1982 Asiad. But let us be optimistic and believe we can and we will ride over all the obstacles at the last minute, and the CWG won't be a disaster. The commoners too can join in and work for the success of the event.
If handled right at this late hour, the fact of playing host to the world's best will usher in a new era in the annals of Indian sports. Despite all the drawbacks, the CWG can still make a statement to the entire world. Delhi will get a facelift because of the games. It will heralded a new beginning. The city will now been on par with world class cities.
A failed CWG experience will add fuel to the already raging fire. It will fan the argument that there remains a big disconnect between the country's new-found modernity and the masses, who live a pitiable condition and will continue to do so for ages. And commentators not very happy about India's growing economy and political clout will focus on the disconnect and the disparities. Let's not give them a chance.