London 2012: In true spirit and style



London 2012 is a tribute to the city's indomitable spirit

I still vividly remember my aborted journey to work on 7 July 2005 - undoubtedly one of the saddest days for London. We were stuck at Earls Court, and the steamy atmosphere inside the underground carriage coupled with the confusion, because of no public announcement, was only making us restless. It was an awful experience to start your day and we were blaming it on London's broken public transport system.                                                                 

Only the day before, London had pipped Paris by four votes to bag the 2012 Olympic Games, unprecedented in the history of what is termed as the greatest show on earth. With millions of people assembled at a sunny Trafalgar Square, the whole nation rejoiced London's success only to find the city brought to a standstill the next morning.

Arguing the case for London in Singapore, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair was all praise for the city, and here we were stuck in the Piccadilly Line the very next morning. Many of us were pouring our hearts out only to call the bluff of the people running London. Little did we know then that one of the most vibrant cities of the world was under a severe terrorist attack, but London's public transport system never regained the faith of many over the past seven years.

Since then, till the very last day - 26 July 2012, I had my doubts about the possibility of any success of London 2012. Over the years the public facilities have crumbled in London causing huge discomfort for the residents and visitors. The cuts in public finances made London the melting pot of protests throwing the city into chaos and disarray. The tough negotiations that followed between the government and the trade unions cast further doubts over the smooth sailing of London 2012.

In the end though, I must admit, London 2012 has been a huge success. As the terrorists who masterminded the attacks of 7 July 2005 failed to undermine the indomitable spirit of the Londoners, similarly all those who questioned London's potential, including myself, to host a successful Olympics were proved wrong. All the doubts and apprehensions were thrown out of the window as life in London, during the Games, was reasonably normal.

Volunteers can take pride in making the Games a success 

Those who were witness to the Sydney Olympics or to the Games in Barcelona confided that London was much better prepared and very well controlled to cope with the millions who gathered at this great city for an equally great event. The comparison with Beijing was pointless as London provided an air of freedom which the Chinese capital can't even dream of delivering.

As I was watching the spectacular closing ceremony of London 2012, I was trying to figure out the real heroes of the Games. Undoubtedly, the athletes and the other participants, irrespective of how they performed, provided the necessary life to the Games. All those who worked so hard over the past seven years to make London 2012 a success deserve to be duly credited for what they have delivered. The members of the armed forces, the transport workers, the security staff, the people working in food stalls and thousands of others in airports, train stations and in many other places,  all have made valuable contributions to the success of London 2012.

Yet for me the real heroes were the thousands of volunteers who provided their service without the  expectation of any reward other than the personal satisfaction of being associated with this great Games. Clad in magenta tabards, these volunteers always retained their smile and maintained their cool wherever they were at whatever time of the day. Their motto, as a 60-year-old volunteer told me at the Excel Arena, was to uphold the true spirit of London of being friendly and helpful.

On a personal note, the legacy of London 2012 has been the opportunity of being part, even if it was only as a spectator, of this truly global event, which was indeed a unique experience for me. Never before did I feel so proud to be a Londoner, especially after the ease with which London managed the Games.

For my eight-year-old daughter, it was a demonstration and celebration of her British identity. Over the past two weeks she was literally glued to the television, apart from the events that we watched at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre and at the Excel Arena. Every time Britain won a medal, she waved the Union Jack with pride and her joy was doubled only to find that the men's 10,000m and 5,000m gold winner, Mo Farah, took to athletics when he was a resident of our London Borough of Hounslow.

For two weeks London was the melting pot of world cultures

Peter Reed, a member of the gold-medal winning British men's rowing team, also hails from the London Borough of Hounslow.

As Britain wakes up on Monday morning after a very successful Olympics, the British economy will still be in double dip recession, yet the nation can take pride in its indomitable spirit, which once withstood the terrorist attacks from making a dent in London, and gather strength in coping with the difficult days ahead with much greater confidence.

And the 70,000 who volunteered in London 2012, will definitely cherish the memory of being part of the greatest show on earth and making valuable contributions to its success.

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Tirthankar.Bandyopadhyay.Blog@gmail.com