The Commonwealth Games were supposed to be India's grand coming-out party, an audition for a potential Olympic bid and a chance to show off its rising status as a superpower and serious rival to China. But for all of India's high hopes, the games have become a source of national shame. Allegations of fraud, construction delays, budget overruns and security concerns have plagued the games for months. Then a series of incidents this week - including a bridge collapse and descriptions of the athletes' living quarters as filthy - added to India's troubles. Even the theme song for the games was deemed disappointing. Instead of looking scrubbed and polished, roads in the capital are still dug up, piles of rubble hiding unfinished work in what has become a symbol of the gaps between India's aspirations and the realities on the ground. More than 7,000 athletes from 71 nations of the former British Empire are supposed to arrive here by Friday for the Oct. 3-14 games. But some have announced plans to withdraw, and New Zealand and Canada joined Scotland on Thursday in taking a wait-and-see approach. 'The games are officially a disaster. The people of India feel dejected. Instead of boosting our profile, we are now objects of pity around the world,' said Boria Majumdar, a sports historian who has written a national bestseller about the games. 'We have lost our chance at an Olympic bid for 2020. Who will trust India now?' The centerpiece of a jaw-dropping opening ceremony - a $12 million helium balloon -is being hastily rejiggered because of an equipment malfunction, an official said. A smaller inner balloon, fitted with cameras to project images of 5,000 years of Indian culture and India's economic rise, burst in torrential rains and lightning. 'Now it is just a big expensive balloon,' sighed the official. Adding to India's headache, this year's monsoon rains have been the worst in decades. An outbreak of dengue fever, spread by mosquitoes, has killed five people and sickened 2,500 in the capital. India's health minister, Gulam Nabi Azad, said pools of dirty water around construction sites 'have become a breeding place for mosquitoes.' Delhi state government's health minister announced in August that the army would be called in to remove stagnate water from the athletes' village. But the government, worried that the army's presence would create panic, decided against the plan. On Wednesday, the government reversed that decision, saying the army and the air force were desperately needed to pump water out of the village, which the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation called 'unfit for human habitation.' The monsoon has lasted longer than expected, bringing into question India's selection of October for the event in the first place. 'Elections, marriages and sporting events - we all know in India that these are best held in the month of November,' after the rains, said M.S. Gill, India's sports minister. Officials are praying for a night without rain so they can finish work. Workers at the main stadium received letters on Tuesday saying they would have to work seven days a week for more than 11 hours a day, a violation of the games' labor laws. 'The only legacy of the games would be the realization that we are not a modern nation,' said a high-ranking consultant to the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because his comments would jeopardize his job. A portion of the ceiling at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue for the games, collapsed Wednesday, a day after a footbridge near the stadium crashed down, injuring 27 construction workers, six critically. The same day, several star athletes - including England's world champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu - pulled out of the games after hearing about the conditions at the athletes' village. Security concerns were heightened Sunday when gunmen fired on a tourist bus at the city's historic mosque, injuring two visitors. The gunmen remain at large. 'It's enough to have to worry about performing, but to worry where you sleep and walk is another thing,' said Dani Samuels, an Australian discus world champion who withdrew this week. In an effort to save the games, Mike Fennell, the federation's president, arrived Thursday for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose office took over the city's preparations last month. Oscar winner A.R. Rahman, a national hero for his 'Slumdog Millionaire' hit song 'Jai Ho,' was paid $1 million to compose the game's theme song. But critics said it lacked the energy of Shakira's 'Waka Waka,' the World Cup anthem. 'A double whammy of embarrassment and humiliation,' the Indian Express newspaper wrote. 'Games India's Shame,' read a front-page headline in the Times of India. Defenders of India's effort say the setbacks are the normal growing pains for a rising nation that will soon surprise the world and show it can pull the games off. They point to several major projects that were completed on time. A new international airport terminal has received rave reviews along with a clean and speedy subway. 'What the Olympic Games did for Beijing, the Commonwealth Games will do for Delhi. It will become a world-class city,' said Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee. 'India is the flavor of the season. We want to show that Delhi can be a great sporting hub.' Many Indians have complained about the cost of hosting the games, with estimates ranging from $3 billion to more than $10 billion. In 2003, India said it would spend less than $100 million. There have also been countless charges of corruption and bribes, which the prime minister's office said it is investigating. After weeks of uproar on the streets and in Parliament, the government admitted last month that more than $130 million allocated for poverty reduction programs had been diverted to projects related to the games. 'Financially, the games are a major fiasco,' said Norris Pritam, an Indian sports journalist who has covered the Olympics and Asian Games. 'It has damaged India's reputation, especially abroad. My main worry is that the world will be afraid to put their money in India.' During an official tour of the flagship stadium last week, Kalmadi proclaimed the venue '100 percent ready,' even as workers banged and metal clanged near him. 'This is just last-minute polishing and a little bit of cleaning going on' to keep the workers occupied, he said over the noise. 'Otherwise, what will they do?' 