New Delhi

Well, Collingwood won the AFL grand final in no uncertain terms , Central Districts has got the red white and blue flying again for another year in the SANFL and while Adelaide is relishing all this great sport  - the Commonwealth Games are now upon us. Pity it starts at 11pm or thereabouts. Not really a time to appreciate the opening ceremony but I bet it will be superb. India knows how to be lavish and surprising. Hamish and Andy have got us all in the right mood for the New Delhi games because there lessons in India have taught us all well. We now know Indians have a a great sense of humour. We know their life is rich and diverse. We know they can show the extremes of poverty and richness but that they involve themselves with living. Hamish and Andy really had to put themselves out there to be Australians in India because it showed that as Australians they didn't have the breadth of cultural experience that Indians have, but they had a real capacity to connect with others and a willingness to learn and try. Hamish and Andy weren't just cultural sponges . They were genuinely trying to appreciate how Indians interact and how they live. They really did do it with a spirit of learning at the forefront and so the Indians were letting them learn. Meanwhile , over here, we have been hearing about the  messy preparations, our athletes have gone off to compete and then there are some dumb media things like asking whether the games are relevant . What? The Commonwealth still exists. We have had such a  strong global interaction over the issues with these games. We all , as a planet, have worked on changing the situation to a more positive one. They are relevant and current. Okay, so we have those who'd rather be knocking things down. That attitude here is going to have to go. The knockers have supplied us with nothing in return. I prefer the approach where we explore our new territory and, in this case ,it is the complex nation of India. What we do know is that there have been hundreds and hundreds of Indians who have tried to get this right and who have worked hard to get it right. Administrative let downs cannot be allowed to undermine the massive effort of so many to bring us a great Commonwealth Games. Straw voting on whether they are relevant or not is just tosh.