COMMONWEALTH GAMES NEW DELHI : OPENING CEREMONY

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

The Opening Ceremony for the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi began with a marchpast with participants from all 71 countries showing their colorful best. The marchpast began with the first country alphabetically, Antigua and the last country to bring up end of the list of visiting countries was Zambia.The host Indian team was the last to do the marchpast. Some of the larger contingents were from countries like Canada, UK and South Africa.


The marchpast was followed by a welcome speech by Suresh Kalmadi the head of the Indian Olympic Committee. Due to the controversies that surrounded the preparations for the Games, he was booed by the audience when he began his speech but he carried on nonetheless and announced the arrival of the Commonwealth Games Baton. Mike Fennell, President of the Commonwealth Games Federation was next to give a short speech. The third speech was given by Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India.

The Baton was brought in by the India's Gold medallist in shooting, Abhinav Bindra.Sushil Kumar, the famous Indian wrestler handed it over to His Highness Price Charles.who declared the Commonwealth Games open after reading out a brief message from the Queen of England. Pratibha Patil, the President of India gave a speech highlighting the importance of sports. At the end of the speech she exclaimed," Let the Games begin!"

The show started with the a large Bodhi Tree coming up on the center stage with hundreds of dancers streaming out into the ground including Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Manipuri, Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Odissi dancers. The dances signified each season through the year. Next was a brilliant yoga performance which showed the different asanas and the kundalini which signifies the seven chakras. The Great Indian Journey by Indian Railways showed various cultural scenes from India and a representation of the diversity from the length and breadth of the country. 'Jiyo Utho Khelo' was sung by A R Rehman who also sang Jai Ho the globally famous number from the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

The $3 billion aerostat was the centerpiece of the entire show. The aerostat comprises of the largest helium balloon in the world suspended at a height of 25 meters from the ground. The 360 degree projection surface was used to display scenes and reflections from the entertainment events taking place on the ground.

The show was a grand success and made everyone present and millions who watched it on their screens at home forget about the troubles that the Games faced during the run up to the Opening Ceremony.