Pardon me, I am just a common Indian citizen and a Delhite one out of the billion. I am as patriotic as all the others are. I am happy for India on Republic and Independence Days, happy when we send Chandryaan I on moon, sad when it fails. happy for Abhinav, Vijendra, and others when they win medals for India then I go about my life, minding my own business.

As a Delhite I am being bombarded by billboards everywhere about the pride I should feel for getting a chance to hold CWG (Common Wealth Games). We are the chosen ones, the lucky ones, I am being told, Nah drummed incessantly from the day India won the bid.

I have been watching my barely livable Delhi slowly but surely turning into concrete maze of flyovers, metro lines and roadways. They have cut down all the green trees on the Nizamuddin bridge road, all I can see is heavy machinery churning out dust in a bleak scenario.

Metro at one time the pride of Delhi is becoming accident prone just because of the haste and the race to beat the deadline safety is being compromised with impunity.By the way Metro was supposed to be underground for major parts but it is only in NDMC the area of the VVIP’s that it is underground where in other places it has effectively murdered once thriving markets example Panchkuian market, the furniture mart for middle class.The once livable houses have been turned into an airless cubicles where life is being suffocated.

The Yamuna Catchment area once serene plains where one could see even the Old Railway bridge on a clear day has been turned into a lifeless monument first with Akshardham which now boasts of being a money minting project for its promoters. Now Common Wealth Village is also being constructed there. More traffic snarls to suffer in future.

IG Stadium will have blocks of residential houses. More and more stadiums are been renovated or constructed at a great expense, all to what avail.

Ultimately they will fall to ruins after the extravaganza of CWG is over, once in a while political rally, film star night or reality show audition will take place. Most of the time it will be vacant. The flats built for athletes will be occupied by who is who.The facilities as usual will not reach the deserving who if lucky will win medals despite all the drawbacks.

What will I, a commoner get, nothing except a concrete jungle with no green pockets, more traffic jams, huge monumental waste of stadiums and watch helplessly more and more open area being compromised.The slums will keep on increasing and the the places which could have been used for their welfare will be occupied by the “Choosen Few”