Exactly seven days before the closing ceremony to be held in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on 14 October, the laser specialists from Bochum, Germany, received the go-ahead, and within a matter of hours around 7,000 kg of equipment had been packed and transported to Düsseldorf Airport.
The next day, six of its employees were on their way to India in order to install the 10 high-power, full-colour laser systems and forty fog/wind generators that had been shipped. The Indian production team delayed choosing the music for the laser closing until three days before the event, which represented yet another challenge to the company's laser specialists.
The raft of difficulties involved was crowned by the fact that, due to the very brief rehearsals, the team from Bochum could not be allocated a time slot for a trial run of its laser systems on the evening before the event, which meant that the closing ceremony was also the full-dress rehearsal.
Despite all this, the show was declared a major success and received a host of enthusiastic compliments from the Indian media.
(Jim Evans)
