Post-CWG, foreign journos plan pleasure trips in India

NEW DELHI - Their Commonwealth Games (CWG) assignments will soon be over, but the several hundred foreign journalists are not leaving India yet. From a dekko at Rajasthan’s royal palaces to visiting a Kolkata steeped in Durga Puja celebrations, the pleasure trips are about to begin.

Moazzam Hossain Choudhury of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha said he, along with his colleague, will head to Kolkata a day after the Games culminate Oct 14.

“You know Chittagong in Bangladesh celebrates Durga Puja with great fervour and we are aware that Kolkata has its own style of celebration. Since the Games have coincided with the puja, we are really keen to see the celebrations here,” Choudhury told IANS.

“So on Oct 15 we will go to Kolkata before heading home Oct 18,” he added. Durga Puja will be celebrated Oct 13-17.

According to a government official, more than 630 foreign journalists from various Commonwealth countries were accredited to cover the Games.

Canadian journalist John MacKinnon plans to visit Udaipur in Rajasthan once the Games are over. “I along with a few others am planning to go to Udaipur in the week after Oct 14,” MacKinnon told IANS.

Although he admitted he was “looking forward” to his trip to Rajasthan, he said he was “disturbed” by some images in Delhi.

“The other day I took an auto from Pragati Maidan to my hotel in Connaught Place and we had to take a big de-tour because of the security arrangements. As we were crossing a bridge over the Yamuna, I came across these houses made of mud and people living in very bad conditions - it was really disturbing as I have not seen such a thing in my country,” he said.

“And there was also this ox cart on the road! But the Rajghat looked beautiful,” MacKinnon said.

Henry, a Britain-based journalist, similarly said he is planning to visit Jaipur and Udaipur in Rajasthan once the Games are over.

“I have heard a lot about Rajasthan, its palace grandeur and beauty. A lot of celebrities seem to be totally mesmerised by the place. So I am really keen to see all of that myself,” he said.

The biggest delegation of foreign scribes, constituting 140 journalists, is from Australia. The second biggest is from England, with 120 scribes.

“Some journalists have already started going back, but there are others who are planning to stay on and visit some tourist destinations around Delhi,” an official said.

Mereseini Marau of the Pacific Islands News Association however said she would rather explore the capital city after the Games than go elsewhere.

“I have been in India for a month now and have seen a lot of change in Delhi. But because of work I haven’t been able to explore the city, so once the Games are over I would like to do that. There is a lot to see here, monuments and parks…,” Marau told IANS.

It’s been a busy schedule for the journalists, running from one stadium to another to cover events, attending press conferences at the Main Press Centre in Pragati Maidan and then filing regular updates for their news organisations. Some journos can be seen checking their Facebook accounts and chatting on the internet with family and friends.

A trip to Indian tourist destinations, of course, promises to be an affair to remember.

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)