Of course I still have fond and vivid memories of India: when I visited it with John in 2019, it struck me as an incredible, fascinating and beautiful country. Yet perhaps what I remember most vividly, what struck me the most, was the poverty and the stark, often shocking, imbalance in the distribution of wealth. That is, in cities like Delhi and Jaipur, there were pockets of modern development, where shed-loads of money had obviously been poured into constructing buildings of the kind you can find anywhere in Europe or America; yet these were surrounded by vast swathes of undeveloped, poverty-stricken expanses. The imbalance was often quite sickening, and I found myself wondering how the government of any country could spend so much money and effort in developing some areas – those most visible to tourists and visitors – yet leave areas where most Indians actually live to rot.

I was just mucking about looking at Olympic stuff again: the bidding race for the 2036 Games is in it’s early stages, and I wondered if New York could throw it’s hat into the ring again. As far as the UK is concerned, I still think it would be awesome if Manchester bid, but that’s another entry. I did, however, come across this article on the Inside The Games website. India is preparing a multi-city bid for the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic games, with opening and closing ceremonies taking place in the city of Ahmedabad. On one level, of course, this strikes me as a wonderful prospect: as the world’s primary sporting and cultural event, I see the olympics as a celebration of human diversity. For two weeks every four years, our combined attention falls on one city or region, allowing it to show itself off to the world. Surely it is time that India got such an opportunity: such countries are often overlooked, so it would be great to see Indian culture brought to the foreground.

On the other hand, I cannot forget what I saw in India. While it may well have progressed and developed quite a bit by 2036, to be honest I can’t see India or any Indian city being anywhere near the standard it would need to host the games; it just doesn’t have the infrastructure. I also worry that it would just make the inequalities in Indian society even worse: the government would pour yet more of the money it obviously has into the games while neglecting things which the country actually needs, letting it go to waste even more. India’s ruling elite would jump at the opportunity to show itself off to the world, highlighting what a glitzy, glamorous, wonderful place it is, hoping no-one notices the vast swathes of starving people and crumbling buildings in the background.

That is why I don’t like this idea. As much as I see the Olympics as a kind of global festival in which each country or city should have a turn at showing itself off, surely some countries must have bigger priorities. After all, it costs billions to put on – money which countries like India can ill afford. I fear that India would just use hosting the Olympics to whitewash itself, projecting a glamourised, sanitised image of itself onto the world’s screen while hoping we don’t see the far grimmer realities which lie beneath.