CWG Opening Ceremony!!!!!!!!

Hmm....I hadn't seen it live.Only read through newspapers.It is exciting to read.

About 1,200 moving lights, 25 stacks of speakers and about 2,700 shots of fireworks spread across the roof of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium combined with a stage weighing 500 tonnes to create a spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games here today. The gigantic main stage, inspired by the ''mandala'', a sanskrit word for the geometric designs symbolic of the universe in Hinduism and Buddhism, which is one of the largest built for an opening and closing ceremony.

The stage was built within seven days by about 500 workers. Weighing an approximately 500 tonnes.

The stage is large enough to hold 500 people under it. The opening ceremony would have never been that spectacular had it not been for the lighting arrangements.

1,200 moving lights, 120 space cannons and 16 follow spots weighing approximately 75 tonnes was what it took to enchant the about 60,000 spectators. The 25 stacks of speakers produced 500,000 Watts of sound.

If one was impressed by the fireworks, it was because of the 2,700 shots spread over 88 locations on the roof of the stadium. The crowd had erupted in joy as the firecrackers went up in air heralding the beginning of the Games.

The entire system was supported by over 50 km of power cables that were used to provide constant power for the opening ceremony.

The Mozart of Madras made his presence felt in New Delhi Sunday. In other words, the 60,000 strong crowd at the glitzy Commonwealth Games opening ceremony danced with joy when A R Rahman rendered the theme song ‘Jeeyo Utho Badho Jeeto…’.

The Oscar-Grammy winner, clad in a white bandhgala jacket, black pants and white shoes, belted out the CWG anthem, and the aerostat came alive in a bluster of colour and graphics. Fireworks shot out furiously, signalling that it was time for the spaceship to go.

Flanked by dancers in red and white, Rahman also performed his international hit ‘Jai Ho…’ which won him an Oscar last year. During the entire song, fire crackers went up in the air illuminating an otherwise dark sky.

The ‘Jai Ho…’ chant at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, many would swear, was magical. The audience included Prince Charles, his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Patil and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and an estimated two billion people who watched the ceremony on live television around the world.