The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to take place in New Delhi, India, and there have been snags in construction of facilities typical of any such major event. But the bigger issue is filth in the athletes' village.
Officials of the New Zealand team, arriving early, were gagged by conditions. Photos of one of the apartments showed, in the words of the New York Times, "dirt-caked bathrooms and toilets, a mattress stained with dog paw prints and a sink smeared with the spittle of chewing tobacco."Â Not to mention human excrement (that's poo poo).
A top-ranking member of India's organizing committee tried to explain away the conditions by saying that India and Indians simply don't have the same sanitary standards as Westerners.
Showing a typical room to Indian reporters, he said, "These rooms are clean to both you and us."Â The trouble with foreigners, he said, is that they insist on "certain standards in hygiene and cleanliness which may differ from our perception."Â
If any of you have ever seen the inside of an Indian run motel, you know what this guy is talking about.
Officials of the New Zealand team, arriving early, were gagged by conditions. Photos of one of the apartments showed, in the words of the New York Times, "dirt-caked bathrooms and toilets, a mattress stained with dog paw prints and a sink smeared with the spittle of chewing tobacco."Â Not to mention human excrement (that's poo poo).
A top-ranking member of India's organizing committee tried to explain away the conditions by saying that India and Indians simply don't have the same sanitary standards as Westerners.
Showing a typical room to Indian reporters, he said, "These rooms are clean to both you and us."Â The trouble with foreigners, he said, is that they insist on "certain standards in hygiene and cleanliness which may differ from our perception."Â
If any of you have ever seen the inside of an Indian run motel, you know what this guy is talking about.