Is the game over for Commonwealth Games?

What should have been a moment of pride for India and Indians has turned into a cringe-worthy blamefest.
As the Commonwealth Games draw near, DNA's Nandini Kumar asks young city sportspersons - many of whom have competed in the international sporting arena - what went wrong.

"Athletes have been suffering because of administrators like the ones in CWG for years. Something should be done."
- Nisha Millet, Olympian and Arjuna Awardee

No need for more
There is no need for  further investigation into the case as everyone is aware of who is to blame.

"We should focus on the positive side of things -- Delhi now has world-class infrastructure, and maybe we can now host the Asian Games without investing on infrastructure."
- Trupti Murgunde, National badminton champion

Focus ahead
I feel there is too much negativity now. Maybe we should focus on the positive side of things and move on

"I hope more sportsmen get into administration - that’s what Clean Sports India is working towards."
- Reeth Abraham, Convenor, Clean Sports India



Sporting enough
I would have loved to be involved with the Commonwealth Games

"Every department of the CWG is a mess; it’s a money-making racket. All of those in charge  should be given the boot."
- Ashwini Nachappa, Vice-President of Clean Sports India

Cleaning up
I'm happy that all these scams are coming out in the open

"This was waiting to happen. Now it’s too late to do anything about the Games -- the administrators can’t be changed at the last moment. They should have been kicked out six months ago."
- Pavithra Chandra, Former international basketball player

Not prepared
Kalmadi and the others have attended lots of international events as delegates, they should have known how to prepare

The day of the little Lord

Today is Krishna Janmashtami (the day that marks the birth of Lord Krishna). The celebration for the big day began on Monday itself with the city of Bangalore alive in full vigour and colour.
While school children had a field day dressing up like little Radhas and Krishnas, temple staff and devotees got together for some serious preparations for the festival, eagerly waiting to wish the Lord.
DNA’s Nishant Ratnakar, Mohan Kumar BN and A Veeramani capture the city’s festive mood.

In Karnataka, Madhwas (Vaishnavas) (followers of saint Madhwacharya), Iyengars and Srivaishnavas, (followers of saint Ramanujacharya) make elaborate preparations for Krishna Janmashtami.

Rahman's CWG anthem gets thumbs down

Enough has been said about the Common Wealth Games this year to be held in Delhi. Right from corruption to shady jobs and sportsmen backing out, many hurdles have come in the organising of the whole show. However, one thing that everyone was positively looking forward was the motivational and energetic Common Wealth Theme song to be composed by the revered A R Rahman.

The conference where the song was to be launched, well, didn't have the song but the details about it. The reason was that back then the CWG committee wanted the song to be tweaked and releasing it without the necessary changes would've been foolhardy. Despite all this, everyone was expecting a highly inspiring anthem from Rahman, given his current status in world music.


However, after the song came out on the internet, the response was far from encouraging. Rahman fans weren't just disappointed, they were actually shocked. The comments ranged from "this song got no vibe…I mean you should be getting Goosebumps for some event like this. It was supposed to be more like an epic song" to "CWG Organizing Committee should be made to listen to this song 10,000 times as a punishment."

Some supporters feel that the song will grow on people and with enough marketing people will like it, while some others feel that the lyrics lack the punch, still others from the music industry are of the opinion that with a wide range of Indian instruments that Rahman could've used, his song lacks Indian-ness and the sporting spirit of this event.

The theme song hasn't gone down well with the CWG committee as well who feel that the song is nowhere worth the price (Rs. 5 crore) demanded by the music composer. They are insisting for the track to be recomposed, while others on board can't understand why Rahman was given the sole responsibility for the composition and that too for six months.

Though Rahman's die hard fans stand by him and insist that listening to this song over and over again would help and some others demand for a whole new song, one really wonders if any damage control can be done when we're so close to the Common Wealth Games.