beyondbrics

In the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, set to start on Saturday in New Delhi, many hotels had expressed anguish over a lack of bookings as a promised flood of foreign spectators showed no signs of materialising.

But over the last few days, India’s top hotels received an unexpected boon: last minute bookings from Commonwealth athletes unhappy with conditions at the blighted new athletes’ village.

After advance teams declared the games’ village ‘filthy’ and ‘uninhabitable’ last week, teams from England that arrived last Friday checked straight into the Taj Ambassador and the luxurious Aman New Delhi, where the rack rate for rooms starts at $550 per night.

The tab was picked by the games organising committee – which basically means the Indian taxpayer. After intensive clean-up efforts at the village, many athletes have begun moving in, but their brief sojourns will surely have added to hotels’ bottom lines.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s citizenry are bearing the brunt of the games in others ways. In a bid to project an image of the city in ways they think befits an emerging power, New Delhi authorities have stopped rickety, privately owned Blue Line buses from plying the streets for the duration of the sports tournament.

Though notorious for a poor safety record and downmarket look, the buses play a major role in the Indian capital’s public transport network and in their absence, public buses have been unable to cope with the huge demand from common people with no other transport options. Some are now considering long walks to work or even buying bicycles, which would potentially bring the benefit of exercise and fitness to an unintended audience.

But for many Delhi residents, it’s just a matter of holding their breath, counting down and waiting for this all to be over.