commonwealth games opening ceremony

Few hours from now and many of us will be watching opening ceremony of the tournament that has been hot topic for last so many days. Reason for commonwealth games being in new were good and bad both but mostly they were due to time delays, hygeine condition, security issues etc. Now opening ceremony is also under the hammer of secirity issues and few team are threatning to boycott the opening ceremny. Though many team have agreed to turn up for the opening program for the commonwealth games, New Zealand still seems concerned about security issues.

A leading newspaper daily in India called Times of India has published overview of opening ceremony. Heres little about it:

TOI had a sneak preview on Tuesday evening of the show that will kick off the Games on October 3. The ground, similar to the size of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, was bathed under floodlights, attracting the eye of curious jawans passing by as well as giant monsoon beetles.

The 10-minute sequence being rehearsed was "The Great Indian Journey" for which hundreds of youth ran into the ground holding rudimentary props that will represent a giant human train, and will metamorphose seamlessly into an elaborate bazaar scene.

The stage is 80feet by 40feet, encircled by a 30-feet area, where in the course of a 140-minute presentation, Indian culture, from its hoary past to the modern day, will be showcased. Over this stage will be the aerostat, a lighted canopy that is expected to make the opening ceremony a bewitching spectacle.

But to be honest, it is difficult to discern the entire scheme from a 10-minute preview minus the real props or dress. You can tell how effective it is only when the whole thing will come together with music, colour, laser and giant videos on the wide walls of the oval aerostat. Still, one thing is obvious: this is an elaborate affair, involving the hard work of thousands.

Bansi Kaul, formerly of NSD and the lead choreographer, is confident that all the sweat will pay off. His top assistants, Prapti Malhotra, Indu Anand and Poornima Pendse, fill in the details. "The rehearsals start at the crack of dawn, at 6am," says Poornima Pendse. "The first lot of performers, who fill up the ground in the morning, are students from Delhi. They train and then go off to school."

"There are designated practice hours and many of our girls from all other parts of India are staying here at the NCC barracks," says Prapti. A flash of lightning splits open the sky. She looks up: "We just hope the rains stay away."

The two-hour-twenty-minute extravaganza is expected to start at 7pm and continue till 9.20pm on October 3. It is divided into several segments, each specially crafted and choreographed. Most sequences, say the organizers, are between eight minutes and nine minutes - an attempt to keep the programme vibrant and showcase as much diversity and heritage as possible.

The Great Indian Journey, for instance, seeks to create a human train (a tribute to the main sponsor, Indian Railways?) that will give glimpses of ordinary Indian scenes as seen from a train window. Soon the train breaks up and vignettes of Indian life are created - the bazaar, the cycle shop, kite shop and vegetable market where the vegetable seller who, among other things, is talking on a mobile.

It appears orderly and chaotic, at the same time. "There is order behind every chaos in this country," says Bansi Kaul. "You can say that again in the context of the Games," quips one of his assistants.

Read more: Preview of Commonwealth Games opening ceremony held - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/commonwealth-games-2010/news/Preview-of-Commonwealth-Games-opening-ceremony-held/articleshow/6562806.cms#ixzz11EksfPY0