National Pride!

The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games made my heart swell with pride, even if momentarily. In fact that is what these transient extravaganzas are at best capable of. A fleeting moment of national pride. In fact my elder daughter reminded me today morning of the tremendous capability our country always had in creating "tamashas".

The fact however remains that the ceremony was extremely good, in fact perhaps the best ever that the country would have witnessed on its soils. But the ceremony alone should not and can not be a cause of joy. That the game makers indulged in a totally different kind of games ever since the time the games were slated for Delhi is a sordid aspect of the games that can not and should not be forgotten.

That this transient extravaganza has emerged as the reason for the sudden fervor of national pride amongst the citizens of this country is a cause of serious concern. That our population is reduced to seeking pride in what at best is an outstanding "tamasha" is definitely not something to be happy about.

I would really feel proud, when India emerges from the shadows of poverty and deprivation and takes its place in the list of developed nations. I would indeed be proud when we have been able to create infrastructure of internationally acceptable standards across the length and breadth of the nation and not just confined to the capital city of Delhi. I would have been proud if the massive amount of expenditure that has been been attributed to the games had been fully utilized for the purpose and not been siphoned off to a very large extent mainly to grease the already bloated pockets of the corrupt people in charge of organizing the games, an event that our "developing" nation may have been better off without.