Boria Majumdar in Paris
In all the excitement surrounding the Paris Olympics, there are some serious issues as well that have cropped up with food and hygiene. The Indians, or a sizeable section of the Indian athletes, are unhappy with the arrangements in the athletes village. One athlete, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “I have to order food from outside literally every day, because when I reach the end of the queue and to the food table in the dining area, it is almost over. They don’t refill immediately and it takes 20-25 minutes to reach the front of the queue.”
Sumit Nagal, who visited India House the day before, was more scathing. “You don’t expect this from an event that is supposed to be the best in the world,” he said. “Athletes expect basics at the village and things have been lacking. The queues are long and it takes a very long time to get food.”
At the shooting events in Chateauroux, things haven’t been pleasant either. At times, there has been no water available in 35-degree heat. The food wasn’t great and the Indians have mostly ordered from a local eatery. Even within the venue, the arrangements have been sub-standard. Most shooters have not had food and water at the end of their events, and as far as the media is concerned, the very basics of tea, coffee and water aren’t there either. Some of the washrooms, especially in the badminton arena, have been very similar to what we have in India during sold-out cricket matches, and the experience has been extremely unpleasant.
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The biggest problem has been transport. Buses just don’t come on time. At the badminton, we reached the transport hub at 6:15pm for a bus which was due at 6:35pm. As we were waiting, a volunteer came up to us and said rather softly that if we wanted to go by metro, we should, for she had no idea when the bus would come. Mostly, the buses have been 45 minutes to an hour late. The coach that was to take the Indian Press attaché to Chateauroux did not turn up on time the other day, and he had to take the train after waiting for a substantial time. With no volunteers in sight and with locals, including security staff, not speaking English, Paris has thrown up a real challenge for many of us.
Having covered multiple games in the past, it can be said that this is indeed the most difficult one to cover. Basics are lacking, and that’s a surprise, to be honest. You don’t expect such things in the developed West. You shudder to think what the western press would have said had such things happened in India. Surprisingly, the media here is silent about these things and they haven’t made it to the mainstream press. Having said that, the murmurs are only growing louder. With the weather relentless and the heat intense, things could well reach boiling point in the next few days.
To go back to Nagal, “The organisers could have done much better”. Indeed they could, for this is the world’s greatest sporting spectacle after all.
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