A Big Fat Greek Event

allsmiles | 15 August, 2004 03:22

Just seen replays of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Most of these ceremonies more often than not live upto the expectations .. left me with a sense of awe and bewiderment. Most of the people who watched it with me had their jaws hanging.

There was the regular breath-takingly spectacular visual and audio display which spoke of the great heritage, culture and contribution to the modern world from host country Greece(philisophy,democracy and mathematics). It might seem ironic that the event come back to the country where it was born and revived after at least 100 odd years.

It was the cheer and sense of aniticiaption from the participants from about 200 countries that proved quite infectious to the viewers as well. Must be such an honour to hold your flag and represent your country on such a magnificient stage.

But it was the moment the torch was lit and for some reason had me with the unexplicable phenomenon of goose-bumps. The torch that has travelled all over the world is finally lit keeping alive the spirit, energy and enthusiasm in pursuit of sporting excellence. The flame is said to be a symbol of noble competition, friendship and peaceful co-existence.

And finally sorry about the title(borrowed from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), may take away some enormity of the occasion but like the movie, the event seemed to be a confluence of ancient and modern, and somehow in the end left you feeling hopeful.