Hosting the Commonwealth Games, we are told, is a prestigious event for India. So prestigious that crores of rupees are being spent on – much of them in doing footpaths and then redoing them – at the poor, inflation-hit taxpayer's money. Still, it's a matter of India's prestige before the world. So be it. However, precisely how prestigious is this event? Olympics champions Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser and Chris Holy do not think the event is prestigious enough, so they are not coming. Expect more such announcements in the days to come.

But Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi maintains that it does not matter if a couple of top stars do not come, as the “biggest ever squads” are coming from England, Australia and elsewhere. He did not specify how many people in these squads would be international sports stars and how many would be officials on a leisure trip. Sports minister M S Gill responded well to that cavalier claim. He said nobody's going to come and watch the Games “if Suresh and I run”.

The Games story, as it is unfolding, is a story of mismanagement that is hurting people, more directly so in Delhi. Now we know the supposedly prestigious event we are bankrolling is not worth a trip for Olympics stars. Would you now waste your money on buying a ticket for one of the Games events?