A Gandhi topi, a traditional Nigerian riga robe, a Baluchi turban, Inuit (Eskimo) stone sculptures from northern Canada, Bengal’s “pata chitra” and rare snapshots of historic Delhi are some of the highlights of the collective soft power of Commonwealth arts and culture on display in the capital.

Troubles besetting the New Delhi Commonwealth Games have thrown a fresh spotlight on the grouping's long-term decline, but a role in facilitating behind-the-scenes diplomacy will ensure its continued survival.

The first batch of athletes arrived in India for the Commonwealth Games on Friday, opting to stay at a hotel instead of unfinished, filthy accommodation as the future of the showcase event hung in the balance.

The Commonwealth Games (CWG) are Delhi's biggest sporting event ever. Yet with just days left for the event, the national media discourse on Delhi 2010, world opinion and indeed the mood in the city present a rather gloomy picture.

A wholesale cancellation of the Commonwealth Games might just be the best thing for India...Many observers will be tempted to see this failure [of the Games] as a fable of false pride ending in just humiliation. But apathy, not hubris, is India's fatal flaw, and a bracing dose of shame may be exactly what is needed to shake its incredibly capable, but politically inert, middle class into action.

A footbridge being built for the Commonwealth Games in India collapsed on Tuesday, injuring 27 people and highlighting the raft of problems that have so far blighted the event, meant to showcase an emerging global power. Preparations for October's $6 billion Commonwealth Games, intended to be the coming-out party for India that the Olympics were for China, are so far behind schedule that the event risks becoming a farce.