When You-know-who grew too tall at London 2012

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is reborn. His creator is distracted and reading Peter Pan. Wow! Oh, didn't get it? Read on and enjoy...:D

Although I observed very keenly the proceedings leading to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October 2010, I was unable to attend or watch the Opening Ceremony of the event as I happened to be travelling by train at the very precise time when the event unfolded. This was probably the time when I started following news and especially sports news and the events of significance. And so, there wasn't any doubt that I would be following the events leading up to the London 2012 Olympics quite keenly. For instance, watching the Opening Ceremony LIVE on television was not going to be an opportunity that I would miss this time.

The Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games.
And I personally love this picture. Looks as if it is straight out of a video game! Source: Internet
A quick Google search later, I had set my alarm at 1 AM, 28th of July 2012, to remind me to switch on the TV and see my first ever LIVE Opening Ceremony for an Olympic Game. I sat on the bean bag, laptop on my left downloading the episodes of Prison Break and the remote in my right hand switching through all the sports channels. Oh well, this is India. Why am I not looking for Doordarshan?


The ceremony begins. First look at the interiors of the Olympic stadium- Wow! They have created all of that indoors! No, they don't have a what was that 70k crore buck thing at CWG? Oh yes, the 'aerostat'! But, what Danny Boyle has made, left me with no words to describe! Surely I didn't have any previous memory to compare the opening with (the critics can do that), but what I saw in the over four hour opening programme was amazing. 

Some of the moments which I had heard rumours about turned out to be completely unexpected and well, left me laughing and wanting for more. And yes, if you are wondering, I am talking about my favourite, the small relations to the Harry Potter series. ;)

We all remember Professor Gilderoy Lockhart from the Chamber of Secrets. Well, who would wonder that the dumb professor would be reciting lines from Shakespeare? Well, it seems he has taken an interest to reading Shakespeare than writing more books about himself! Haha... Jokes apart, Sir Kenneth Brannagh, delivered an amazing opening performance and it took me a while to look carefully and realize that yes, this is Lockhart! :D

The show which comprised both live actions and pre-recorded fiction being blended together, saw Queen Elizabeth's first fictional acting performance. That's saying something. And anyways, it was James Bond himself escorting Her Majesty in a helicopter and then dropping down with the help of parachutes to the live ceremony in the stadium. Haha...just imagine, this actually happening! :D

Queen Elizabeth II 'lands' at the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony. Source: Internet
The second part of the ceremony, the children's literature part- probably the one which I loved the most! The  biggest wizard of all time, a surprise entry of J K Rowling reading an extract from Peter Pan, and then Lord Voldemort rising again...and not just rising, rising and rising and rising...40 feet up in the air! And then the way he was killed! Wow! Had Harry been aware it would be this easy, Rowling would have been spared of writing 7 whole books! Haha...

J K Rowling reading out an extract from Peter Pan at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony. Source: Internet
The 40-ft high Lord Voldemort rises again (without any blood, bone or flesh) ! Source: Internet
A close-up of the huge Lord Voldemort. Source: Internet
Apart from that, Mr Binns was there. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web was part of the performance. And there was so much more!

The athletes' parade began. 204 countries. This is going to take long. This was when I started getting bored. I had wanted to see more of the event. Anyways, country after country entered. I waited for the Indian contingent's arrival. At Beijing, Sonia Gandhi had herself been present to greet the team. I waited to see who was there this time. It turned out that it was just the head of the Indian Olympic Association. When all other country's premiers are waving excitedly and cheering their teams, the Indian contingent's arrival saw the camera zooming in at our IOA head who on realizing that he was on camera, began to set his coat right and get up. Well, it was too late by then and the camera had moved. Are we always going to be late at everything??

The Indian contingent at the 2012 London Olympics. Source: Internet
And the best part. The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron. David Beckham carries it over the Thames and then it moves to the stadium. The way it is lit is perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes that I have ever set eyes on. 204 petals- each one representing one country- taking up the flame and then joining together unitedly to burn the cauldron. Breathtaking beauty! :)
The 204 petals of the Olympic Cauldron closing. Source: Internet
With the event over just now and Doordarshan stopping any further broadcast, I bring this entry to a close and I am off to sleep. Here is wishing the Indian contingent all the best for the next two weeks. Grab the Golds! :)

Comments

  1. Yes the opening was a highly tech business, other than that it did not sound very impressive to me.

    I was also waiting for the moment the Indian officials waving and cheering up the team. Then there was the barring of Kalamadi from attending the Opening. May be the big shots might have stayed home in solidarity with him. :))

    http://indiablooming.com/article/klamadi-and-2012-olympics-opening-in-britain#more-1471

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    1. Haha..yea, probably..thats why we jst saw the IOA secretary there! :D

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  2. why didn't you mention the revolution of Olympic Rings?
    It was also a tremendous performance :)

    and the queen's entry was also fabulous!!!

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    1. The forging of the rings was grt for sure..shd have mentioned it..
      Queen's entry was unforgettable and unbelievable..I did mention it though ;)

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    2. ya i know you mentioned but i was just asking about the rings. :)

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  3. Hi Anatarik
    Nice post!! I missed watching the opening ceremony as i just cudn't keep myself awake till so late .. lolzz..i heard a lot about the ceremony though but reading the first blog on it by an Indian right now...Nicely written. :) You didn't mention anything about the 'mysterious woman in red' though :P

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    1. Thanks for your comment. :)
      Didnt mention the mystery woman in red because I had no idea then that she was some 'mystery woman'. Only when the media reports came in, that I realized that she was not someone we knew! ;)
      And considering the complexity of my name, I cant blame for getting it spelled wrong the first time :D

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