If new delhi is india's glittering Emerald City, Suresh Kalmadi must surely be its Wizard of Oz. On Sept. 15, Kalmadi, a career politician, stood in the middle of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in front of an $8.8 million helium-filled balloon 262 ft. (80 m) wide, commissioned for the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games. The aerostat is his pride and joy, and he stood before it to try to reassure a group of journalists that everything was under control. The Commonwealth Games begin on Oct. 3 and will be the largest sporting event ever held in India. But many top athletes will not be attending, thanks to weeks of reports about construction delays, shoddy work, an outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases and an athletes' village deemed "uninhabitable" by visiting delegates.
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