India’s Commonwealth Games : no superpower effort

It is all so depressingly predictable. I feel as though I can say this, being of Indian origin. Because what could otherwise seem like prejudice is in fact disappointed realism. It was always going to end up like this. Delhi could yet pull things off, in a chaotic, Indian way that will make people smile as much as they scream. But right now, after the collapse of a footbridge and the condemning of the athletes’ village as disgusting and unhygenic the Delhi Games are careering headlong into fiasco, a disaster of huge proportions that could be a humiliating memory for the country for years and be an example of why India is in truth a long way from superpower status. It already shows how it has failed to compete with what China achieved with the Beijing Olympics.

Anyone who has travelled to Delhi in the last couple of years will know how the preparations have plagued the city. As we drove through the choking streets in January this year for the Channel 4 Indian Winter we laughed as we wondered how they would ever get things finished in time. There was that amused Indian assumption that everything would come together in the end, like a chaotic wedding. But it seems they are perilously close to not quite managing it.

Indians, and those visitors who convince themselves they really understand the country, often joke about it being a country of 70% finish. For a nation famed for the most amazing craftsmanship and artisanship, on the average building project workmanship can be shockingly shoddy. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Take a look at half the labourers doing the work. Underpaid, frequently exploited they come from rural areas, in search of work, with few skills. They live in shacks and huts, in shocking conditions, totally unaware of what a modern apartment should really look and feel like. When the Indian Games spokesman touchily talked of different standards of cleanliness he not only insulted many Indians, he stumbled on some uncomfortable truths.

India will always do things differently to the other Asian states. Not having the cold power of the Chinese state over its people nor the sheer financial muscle means that India always has to go with the flow rather than bulldoze and start again. In most things that gives India a charm and character that is warm and appealing by comparison to others. But it remains a frustrating country in which to try and get things done efficiently, quickly and well. The Games were an opportunity to show the nation had changed in this key respect. That the country outside the commercial capital Mumbai could take on grand projects and execute them crisply. But the combination of officialdom, bureaucracy, cutting corners and poor private sector standards has clearly taken it’s toll already. For India’s sake, and the Games, we must hope things magically fall into place in the final days. But there is a strong nagging suspicion that they won’t.