Yesterday afternoon I watched the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games that is being held in Delhi. Despite negative media coverage the show was spectacular. A wonderful tribute to the rich and wide culture of India. The ceremony took place in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The first part of the ceremony showcased the amazing drumming skills of tribal musicians from across India. In various types of traditional tribal dress.
A drum solo was given to a seven year old prodigy Keshava, a tabla player. He got to match beats with 100 percussionists. Keshava was said to have been playing the instrument since he was 2.
Following this school children formed the traditional symbol of welcome.
They then cleverly transformed into the Indian flag. This was done by some members of the group removing a white top to reveal a red or green costume underneath.
All of a sudden the children held up huge white sheets above their heads. Whilst underneath they painted traditional Mendhi hands. To the audience it looked as if the hands were being painted on magically.
The cultural section was even more extravagant, first came The Tree of India which represented the different branches of philosophy within Indian culture. The staging was absolutely breath taking. The biggest helium balloon in world projected images of leaves whilst the trunk was made of 25 pieces of fabric. The fabrics measured 25 metres high.
Next came various styles of traditional Indian dancing. Each set of dancers representing different seasons, whilst the tree changed to appropriate colours and was accompanied by traditional Indian music.
To follow was an amazing tribute to Yoga a very important aspect of the Indian culture. Very impressive yoga poses were demonstrated by young performers dressed in gold. A gigantic light sculpture was brought up from under the stage, that was in a meditation pose. This finished the sequence off wonderfully.
A tribute was made to Mahatma Gandhi with sand art being projected onto the balloon and a abstract sculpture of the man being centre stage.
The last part that I am going to mention was the Train Journeys of India. Obviously using the train is an integral part of the Indian culture. It is the cheapest way to travel across the vast country. The show had a gigantic train with each carriage representing parts of the Indian culture. Some aspects that were shown were Bangles, Bikes, Music Politics, Sweet Meats and Tea.
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