When this decade started, I was still doing my engineering, had no idea of what life had in store for me, thought I knew more about the world than I actually did and was searching for love.

In these 10 years, a lot has happened. I built myself a strong career in management consulting that took me to multiple countries and in the boardroom of many companies. I then gave it all up to follow my dream of entrepreneurship. I discovered love, lost it and found it again. I have travelled the world, to the most exotic and exciting of places.

If the decade before this was about investing in my future, this decade was about enjoying the fruits of that. I must confess I have had lots of fun in the last 10 years and really indulged myself. There is a lot that I have seen and done. I have made money and spent it in plenty. I have taken risks and don’t regret it. I have loved a lot and been loved even more in return.

That brings me to the all important question – what is the next decade of my life going to be about? Is it good enough to carry on living a good life or there is something more to it? Can I be as risk-taking and reckless as I have been so far? Is it time I grew up and became more responsible?

As of now, I don’t know. I do know that I am being true to myself and following my heart. I take each day as it comes and try to give it my best. All this while, I am aware of the risks I am taking and how I making others take these risks too. Honestly, all this ambiguity and risk-taking can be stressful at times. You become overwhelmed and feel like giving up. But what else is there to do? After all, there is only so much of good wine, food and travel that one can have. There is a need to something more, something that gives meaning to one’s life. Most of us are in search for that elusive feeling of fulfilment in life. I am yet to find it but at least I feel myself getting closer to it. So I shall carry on, one day at a time, till as long as I can hold on.

Rating: 4/5

Rating: 3/5

Rating: 1.5/5

That does not excuse the corruption and the mismanagement that happened before, and it is imperative to bring those responsible to book. Fortunately, it seems the central government hasn’t dropped the ball on this and is looking into it. I am not very optimistic of what will come out of all the investigations, but it is a start nonetheless.

Some of the other questions that CWG has raised and now need to be answered are:

• Delhi traffic management: The way the entire road traffic management and security worked was outstanding. Even after the blockages due to Games Lanes, the traffic was smooth everywhere. No doubt the traffic volume had gone done with all schools and some offices closed, but the difference in traffic management went way beyond that. Implementing any kind of rule of law in Delhi is next to impossible, yet the sanctity of the Games Lanes was pretty much maintained. Why? Due to heavy fines, extensive communication about the blockages and efficient role of traffic cops. Why can’t we do that more often? Why can’t we fine people on the Gurgaon Expressway Toll-Plaza who break lanes? Why are the normal traffic fines so low that they don’t deter anyone? Even more impressive was the behaviour of traffic and security personnel – everyone was smiling and polite. It was eerie! People in uniform talking to you so courteously. That alone makes the any kind of security constraints so much more bearable. Why can’t they behave the same at all times? The CWG can become a landmark event if it can help change the attitude of the Delhi police personnel. They have already got a start, they have seen the positive response they get from people , let us see if they can continue with their smiles

• Sports infrastructure utilization: Some outstanding stadiums have been built. But what happens to them now? Are they left to be dilapidated so that the next time we host a big sports event, we again spend thousands of crores upgrading them? Or can we maintain them and use them to provide Indians greater access to sporting facilities? The track record of India in maintaining infrastructure is dismal. I heard that the first alternative use of one of the CWG stadia is going to be a Congress meeting in the Talkatora stadium. What a shame! Hopefully, that is a one-off and we use these stadia for regular sports training, organizing domestic and regional tournaments, and if possible, giving normal public access to some of the facilities

• Taking care of our athletes: Suddenly we have these new bunch of sporting heroes. It is endearing to see them being interviewed in their frank and hesitant styles on all the media channels. The media focus will die down soon. We know about that. But can the sports federations continue to support some of the new champions? Or are we again going to hear stories of CWG 2010 medallists living lives of misery 10 years from now? Luckily, the Asian Games are just round the corner so that should continue the sporting euphoria in media a little longer. But the real battle begins after that.

Another thing that stood out about this concert was its easy accessibility. I had to drive 5 minutes from home, got a decent parking and entered the concert area without any pushing or shoving. The crowd too was mostly well-behaved and appreciative of the music. This is very unlike Gurgaon! Slowly this Millennium City, which is pretty much a concrete jungle and cracking under its electricity, water and traffic problems, seems to be getting some cultural footprint. There is Epicentre which has good theatre once in a while, the Kingdom of Dreams has opened up (though I am yet to go there) and the city is alsp beginning to have some musical concerts. There is a long way to go before it can claim to be have an active music and arts scene, but it is good to see the first steps being taken in that direction

Anyway, after trying to get tickets of various events for the weekend, all we could manage to get was Athletics. Still, something was better than nothing. So quite excitedly we reached JLN stadium around 4.45 pm, a good 45 minutes before the start of the event. What transpired over the next 1.5 hours was complete pandemonium. There was a huge crowd trying to get into the stadium and there was absolutely no system in place to manage this large a crowd. A narrow walkway has been built from the Jangpura metro station to Gate 9 of JLN stadium. People were completely packed into this walkway like cattle and there was unbearable stink coming from the nearby open drain. There were a handful of policemen trying to manage the crowd. Quite judiciously they had created a separate queue for women and children, so most of them were saved the horrors I am about to describe. Unfortunately, soon you could see some men trying to sneak through the women’s queue under the guise of accompanying them. Even smarter folk used the women’s queue as a means of jumping forward in the men’s queue – they would go and stand in the women’s queue somewhere in front and when the policemen asked them to leave, they would join the men’s queue towards the front instead of where they originally stood. With time, there were more and more people trying to break queues and people in the proper queue getting angry about that. I must point out here that when I say “queue”, it doesn’t mean an orderly sequence of people standing one behind the other. The men’s queue was a just a crowd of people bounded on one side by a series of hoardings and on the other side by a 1 feet high edge of the walkway. Meanwhile, the event has already started and you could hear the roars from inside the stadium. This added to the frustration of the crowd – standing outside in that humid, hot, stinky and crowded mess when they should have been enjoying the games inside. Suddenly there came a rush of people who completely broke this delicately managed queue by going right ahead to the front. The handful of policemen had no means of stopping them. Even when they tried to stop them, instead of asking them to go to the end of the queue, they just asked them to get inside the boundaries of the queue wherever they were. Even I was feeling infuriated at this by now. It seemed quite reasonable to push and slap people entering from the side. As this continued, there was tremendous squeeze in the crowd as people pushed and shoved each other. A few women had decided to stay with their husbands and remain in the men’s queue. They were the worst-off. They pleaded in vain for the people to behave a bit but nobody could do anything. I was quite sure there is going to be a stampede. It was scary! Somehow I managed to get to the main entrance which was a narrow opening through an iron door. With all this pushing behind me, I barely managed to get through that but only after I had bruised my arm in a few places against the iron door. It was unbelievable. I would have never gone there if I knew this was going to happen. I saw a man standing outside the entrance in a corner with two little girls by his side, both crying profusely. It was heart-breaking to see that sight. Those poor girls, they couldn’t understand what was happening and why everyone was going crazy.

The organizers of the games should be ashamed of themselves. This is not how you run an event. While one can blame the crowd for being uncivilized, the truth is they were quite patient and well-behaved. With the kind of situation created there, it is a wonder there wasn’t a stampede or a riot. There is no rocket science in crowd management, especially when you know the capacity of the stadium and the timing of events. All it takes is some thoughtfulness and a little bit of advance planning. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to exist with the organizers of the games.

Once inside, it was a pleasure to watch Athletics live. The atmosphere of being in the stadium is unmatchable. We had a great 2 hours watching different events – high jump, long jump, javelin throw, 3 km steeplechase, 200 and 400 m races. I am quite inspired to watch more live events going forward. However, the chaos at the entry has scared me off a little. The opening ceremony had been a smooth affair but that was probably because we had reached almost 3 hours before the start of the event. The tickets for Athletics were also available for Sunday, but both our friends and we decided to give it a skip given the mixed experience of Saturday.

I reached the venue quite early and was surprised by how well everything had been organized – the security checks were extensive but smooth, people were free to roam around the outer grounds of the stadium that had sufficient food outlets and souvenir shops, and there were dozens of volunteers to answer any query you had. Such customer orientation in an event organized by the government was genuinely impressive and surprising in a place like Delhi!

The show itself was spectacular – definitely the best live show I have ever seen in my life, and, most likely the best show India has ever put up. You could see the effort that had gone in the creative design of each act – the costumes of the performers, the formations, the relationship between what was happening on the field, what was being shown on the aerostat and the visuals on the two large LCD screens in the stadium. My favourite acts were The Tree of Knowledge and The Great Indian Journey. The latter was particularly enthralling – I have never seen more organized chaos on stage. What was also impressive was that for once we didn’t seem self-conscious of the sights of India – so there were labourers carrying tons of bricks, doodhwallahs on bicycles, etc. More often than not we are too proud or embarrassed to showcase these things. It was also good to have Bollywood completely missing – for one, you got to see something different and not something you anyway see so much of, and secondly, whenever there is a big star in a show, the attention shifts to him or her and not on the performance itself. Here I was actually watching and enjoying the traditional dances of India. I think over the course of the entire show, they must have shown at least 25 different dance forms of India – classical, folk, costume-based – and each one of them was a treat to watch. They were able to successfully convey the richness and diversity of India’s performing arts, and that is a commendable achievement. Another act that deserves a special mention is the on-the-spot henna painting done during Hariharan’s Swagatam performance. I am not sure how it looked on TV screens, but seeing it live was quite exciting – all those children furiously painting below that sheet and laughing while doing it, and then seeing the colours steadily emerge on that white sheet and form an intricate pattern – it looked very cool.

One of the most boring parts of the ceremony was the speeches by half a dozen different people. Yet it was worth seeing the spontaneous booing and hooting that Kalmadi got, and even more so as I could take part in that booing. Helps take out some of the pent up frustration! But it was intriguing to see the popularity that Sheila Dixit enjoys with the Delhi crowd. Every time her name was mentioned in any speech, the entire stadium would go up in applause. It was amazing. It seemed as if the CWG was heading for a disaster when the Lady in Shining Armour entered and saved the day. Yet from whatever I saw in the media, she seemed as much a part of the problem as everyone else. Earlier I was convinced that Congress is going to lose Delhi in the next assembly elections because of the CWG mess but now I am not so sure.

I rarely see live events in India. There are few that seem worth watching and the logistics challenges associated with any such event seem too daunting. But attending this opening ceremony reminded me of the unmatched energy and emotions such live events bring. Three moments stood out for me that night- first was right in the beginning when the entire stadium rose to sing India’s national anthem. I got goose-pimples in that moment as my voice joined 65,000 others and the entire stadium resonated with the sound of Jan Gan Man. Second came at the time of the CWG flag hoisting. There is something inspiring about these army ceremonies – just the kind of music played by the band, the visible rigour and detail of each little act, the way they march and turn and fold the flag and hand it over and then raise it, the pin-drop silence in the stadium, it makes me feel good. It seems to justify the elaborateness of rituals and ceremonies still followed by the army. There is something immensely positive about doing something simple in such a precise and detailed manner. The third moment was when the Indian contingent entered the stadium – the entire crowd was up on its feet and cheering and clapping. It was simply delightful. Suddenly I knew what being Indian means. The sense of belonging I felt was overwhelming.

The CWG opening ceremony was truly an experience I am likely to remember for the rest of my life. It was a rare moment and a proud one too. I am so happy I was there. In fact, I am now inspired to try and get tickets for some of the sporting events as well.

At the same time, irrespective of how successful the games are, I hope we don’t drop the ball on all the corruption and muck these games have thrown up. There is no excuse for poor planning and execution that led to last minute glitches. The guilty must be made accountable and punished.

• The pride of leading a parade on the school’s sports day or winning a major competition in college
• Going out for dinner as an occasion to eagerly await and look forward to
• Joy of dancing in the first rain of the season on the terrace
• Not doing the homework and the fear building up as the teacher came closer to my roll number
• Anxiously waiting for a family member to return home as they are late and there is no way I can contact them
• The excitement preceding a school social
• The fear and excitement of running away from school during class hours
• Eagerness to go and pick up the developed snaps to find out how they have come

I still feel joy, excitement, fear, anxiety… but somehow that particular flavour that existed in these situations is not there anymore.