Delhi belly, the cause of much melancholy
“If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the nation,” Jawaharlal Nehru stated in a speech to village people displaced from the construction of a dam. Rightly so, if you are to suffer, you must suffer in the greater interests of the Indian
Nation, be it the Commonwealth Games or be it the displacement of poor people. The displacement of the poor and the commonwealth games might sound a little too far apart to have any sort of connection. Well, in the $6 billion being spent on the Commonwealth
Games, the middle class have to pay their share of the “Commonwealth tax”.
If you were to believe it on face value that $6 billion are indeed being spent on the Games, to create a good image for India in the rest of the world, well it is at least expected that the taxpayers’ money is put to some good use. But unfortunately, the
Games have been plagued by allegations of corruption, inefficiency and failure to meet deadlines. Add to that the pedestrian bridge that had collapsed, and the pathetic state of the bathrooms which were blamed on Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, who apparently
sent their men to take a dump in their bathroom’s and leave the dump un-flushed before the inspecting team arrived.
It made India look bad.
"England, Canada, Ireland etc complained about the state of the Games Village. Let me tell you now, we have done extensive investigation into this matter and have arrested two Pakistani nationals from the site who had littered the players residential units
with graffiti, scrawling ‘Jiye Muttahida’ on the walls. Both were found to be carrying Lashkar-e-Tayyaba ID cards complete with serial numbers, barcodes and advanced data chips. They also left the toilets un-flushed and it was obviously embarrassing when the
forward committees of these nations visited to inspect yesterday. Rest assured we have everything in control and will be DNA testing the samples collected from the toilet bowls, which will confirm Pakistani involvement in this great Indian embarrassment. They
have literally pissed on our party," said Suresh Kalmadi who is the executive head and chief administrator for the event while speaking to a private Indian television channel.
Well, obviously anything that goes wrong with their own folly is violently defended and some even go as far as suggesting that the dump had hints of DNA from Pakistan.
The latest dilemma that the organizers of the Commonwealth Games now face is the fact, that the swimming pools might be contaminated since two top Australian swimmers have fallen severely ill, suffering from extreme diarrhoea and vomiting that they have
now had to withdraw from their respective sport races.
Urgent testing of the pools has been ordered over fears that the water in the swimming pool is making the athletes ill, with almost a dozen Australians and several English players down with stomach bugs.
Three Australians are suffering from gastroenteritis that includes their star athletes Andrew Lauterstein and Hayden Stoeckel who effectively pulled out of their events. While 10 other swimmers have been affected with a slightly milder form of Delhi belly.
Frans Halsall and Rebecca Adlington from England also find themselves in a poor state following severe diarrhoea. British media has reported that as many as 40 of their teammates have been affected by the Delhi belly.
The Commonwealth Games Federation, President Mike Fennel is furious and stated that if the waters are unsafe, then the athletes cannot possibly swim in them, asking for the organizers to deal with the matter urgently.
Australian chef de mission Steve Mongeghetti is also considerably upset over the large number of swimmers falling ill, and understands that this condition is mostly isolated to one sport that is swimming.
A spokesperson representing the English contingent has stated that almost 30 athletes from their team have been struck by belly bug however he failed to confirm whether it was limited to one sport, or was across a wide range of sports.
It should be expected though, that the organizers will once again fail to take the blame and blame the microscopic bacteria in the pools on Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Pakistani DNA.
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