A friend shared his thought about the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, which poises to be a disaster, the other day. The Economist with its typical humor wrote:
INDIAN officials insist that the Commonwealth games, to which Delhi plays host in October, should not be compared to Beijing’s Olympic games. They are right. The 2008 Olympics were a symbol of China’s emergence as a great power. The Commonwealth ones seem to be heading for disaster. [Running into the sand. The Economist. August 12 2010]
Allegations of corruption revolving around the Games are everywhere and it is likely that these allegations are true. On top of that, New Delhi is seriously behind schedule, despite the Games being just less than two weeks away.
The friend, in addition to saying that nobody cares about the Games, states that the disaster is good for India. For the longest time, India has its own way of doing things. The way the Games is developing even before it begins, it is likely to be a very public embarrassment for the country. That embarrassment might prove to be big enough for India to buck up and encourage the country to do something about the widespread corruption, and the Indian (government’s) way in general that appears to be chaotic.