I guess, deep down there was a part of me that hopes to see some mishaps or technical glitches that will mar the occasion, you know, like watching F1 for the crashes. So, I tuned in to TV1 at around 9 pm & was immediately greeted by the familiar deep voice of Hasbullah Awang (who else?).
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium looked stunning basking under the glow of soft lighting. The ceremony got underway with a performance featuring drums of all shapes & sizes. Fireworks went off & the spectators went wild....not a bad start I must say.
Then came the marching in of the competing countries, all 85 of them! Holy Queen, how did a tiny country like Britain ruled over such a large part of the world in the past?
Even more illogical is the fact that they managed to convinced their former colonies to happily participate in a sporting event held once every 4 years. Imagine asking China & South Korea to participate in a Japanese Empire Games!
Okay, back to the event. After the boring bits involving speeches by the VIPs, including one by a certain Prince Charles...
The ceremony commenced with yoga practitioners transforming the stadium into a large spiritual exercise class.
This was followed by a segment called 'Indian Railways'...but just when the colourful train was making its way into the stadium, TV1 decided to end the live telecast!
@&(+=*%^#$!
This is not the 1st time TV1 had screwed up the broadcast of the opening ceremony of a sporting event. Same thing happened during the Beijing Olympics. I think RTM secretly hates sports.
Found out from the newspaper the following day that everything went smoothly till the end. No sudden mass outbreak of dengue or any invasion of cobras.
So, I guess I didn't miss much then...