Wherever I go, there I am!!...

If you have seen any of the footage or read any of the stories coming out of Delhi about the Commonwealth Games which took place there last month, you would certainly be feeling a little alarmed at what was going on in India and maybe would think twice about visiting. Well let me tell you, (first hand knowledge) your instincts would be somewhat correct about Delhi, but visiting India on the other hand should be a place high on the ‘must see’ list..

The terrible footage shown by the media of Delhi and the Commonwealth Games certainly didnt help, and unfortunately it was mostly true. But I will need to start off by saying that I am not tainting the whole country of India, I am sure there are parts of the country which is very beautiful, spiritual, just like you imagined the country to be. However, the city of Delhi is no such place. It is a true capital city in that, it is full of banks, government buildings, embassies and law courts. The city has also been under construction for the past 10 years, so the whole place resembles a war zone and full of dust.

With a city of more than 17 million people, all your senses are on high alert as soon as you land. The minute you get onto the open roads, the poverty hits you straight in the face. Not 10 minutes into my journey, while at the traffic lights, a little girl taps on my window asking for money, my driver is very quick to advise against it, he warns me that these people are fraudsters and should not be given a dime. I asked him if the images and stories we saw in the Slum Dog Millionaire movie were true about gangsters making money from putting beggars on the streets and he resoundly said “Yes”!

I didn’t look at the little girl the whole time she was knocking on my window but I did get a glimpse of her when the car moved away and I could see her desperation. I did feel bad that I didn't help her, but I felt that taking advice from my local driver given I had never been to Delhi before was the best thing to do.

Driving around Delhi was also an experience, by drive I mean seeing my driver weave in an out of dangerous situations was an experience. There is an art and a dance to the driving in Delhi, I was lucky to be provided with a driver and everyday I drove with him, I was fascinated how we would always make it to our destination, not only on time, but alive! There is this great understanding amongst the drivers on the roads, they communicate by honking constantly and everything moves in such a sequence and precision that is actually very impressive to see. The first few days of driving with Ashok, I had white knuckle fever daily but after a few days and getting the comprehension about how it all worked, I just sat back and enjoyed the dangerous ride and applauded him every time we made it out alive. I believe my words to him each time the car stopped was, “Well done Ashok, good driver”, to which he would smile proudly and give me the Indian head shake and say “Thank-you Maggie Maam”.


I can’t say that India was ever high on my list of places to visit, the whole reason why I decided to go there was to see my friends who were working on the Commonwealth Games and to also do some consulting. I actually thought when I first arrived that it would be fun to work on the Commonwealth Games again as I really did enjoy it in Melbourne in 2006 and was impressed by the show that India put on then. But I was very quickly brought back down to earth once I met with my friends and then with the organising committee.

From mismanagement of staff, to corruption, to lack of experience, to lack of proper guidelines and training, to lack of direction and general laziness of the people, the Delhi Commonwealth Games experience was a nightmare. I had a sense that things would not go well and so did many of my friends working there, but I have to say, I never expected it to be as bad as it eventually got and was surprised that the locals let it get so out of hand. It just shows their level of ignorance and carelessness. It is a shame that the event went so poorly, I really did have faith in some of the locals and certainly did see some great potential in some of the workers.





In the midst of pulling my hair out trying to infiltrate myself within the organising committee, I did get a chance to visit some wonderful parts of Delhi, in particular, the wonderful gardens in and around Delhi, the beautiful forts, the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi, Old Delhi for it’s markets, Agra, Jaipur (Pink City) and of course Madam herself, The Taj Mahal. The Taj was easily the highlight of my trip, it is a wonderful sight to be seen, the images on television or in print can never do it justice, it is simply breathtaking!. The drive to Agra is a good 5hrs away from Delhi, and is an interesting and eye opening way to see how the locals live. Along the way you will see many things which you will never likely to see, some of these images were of people bathing or defecating in open view, women picking lice and or insects out of their childrens' hair along a busy road, people dangerously crossing the highway, buses being completely overload with people sitting on the roof of the bus, very large oversize objects such as televisions or mattresses being carried on the back of motorcycles, up to 5 people riding on a motorcycle or bicycle, people living in makeshift homes made out of cardboard boxes, sheets or just sleeping in open air in the garbage, babies lying in rubble on the footpath of main roads, children drinking out of contaminated, dirty, sewage water and many other things that humans living in this modern age should not have to go through. But once you arrive at the Taj, all of that is forgotten and you then experience the beauty, opulence and romance of the love story that is the Taj Mahal.


Delhi was just a ball of dusty contrast in so many ways, you would see poverty and opulence living side by side, you would see injustice and spirituality, you would see corruption and generosity, you would see beggars and givers, you would see an Indian curry on the menu of a pizza restaurant, you would see unattractive men with beautiful Indian ladies, you would see men peeing against walls.. Well that is not a contrast to anything, I just had to get that in.. My friend summed it up beautifully with this saying, “In LA, peeing in the streets is against the law, in Delhi, it’s against the wall”!! I never got over seeing men peeing against the wall then not washing their hands and go about their daily business.



All in all my experience in Delhi was one to remember and treasure, I enjoyed visiting with my friends, sampling some great Indian cuisine, visiting some amazing ancient places, witnessing extreme poverty and human suffering which I had never seen before, but I can’t say that I would be rushing to go back to Delhi anytime soon. I forgot to mention that I also got very very sick from Delhi belly, I lost a total of 6kgs which did not help my already skinny frame. I do believe that I will one day return to other parts of India and get the true sense of spirituality and soulfulness that many people have experience while visiting this great and old country.. Stay tuned for the next chapter of my Indian journey...

Please see more pics in my album..

Well after 2 yrs of policies, procedures, venue operations, ‘what if’ exercises, volunteer training, contingency plans, emergency response plans, athlete arrival and departures, competition schedules, weather conditions, torch relay arrival, opening and closing ceremonies; The Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver have been and gone!. What seemed such a long and arduous process to get to that point, seems now a very distant memory for me even though the games only took place in February.

The games in Vancouver, after what was a very troublesome start with the death of an athlete, the delayed arrival of the Prime Minister of Canada on opening ceremony night, the malfunction of one crucial element to the lighting of the torch flame and the general lack of snow up the mountains at the competition venues as well as the lack of performance of the Canadian Athletes, the end result proved quite successful. It was really touch and go there for a while whether the Canadian Athletes would actually perform in their own country and win that much anticipated first Olympic gold medal on home soil. For a while there, the Australian athletes were getting more media attention than the Canadians. A huge billboard size boxing Kangaroo flag displayed right outside their apartment window in the athletes’ village caused a huge uproar and very much took the focus away from the minuscule Canadian flags displayed on the building next to them. Whether it was an innocent thing done by the Aussies or a clever marketing ploy, it certainly brought attention to the Aussie Athletes who numbered in only 25 compared to the massive contingent of over 200 Canadian athletes. A huge debate was raised as to whether the boxing Kangaroo flag was appropriate or not as the rules indicate that only the country flag should be on show in the Athletes’ village. The argument went on for a few days with the IOC and the Acting Prime Minister at the time Julia Gillard all having a say. The Aussie Athletes could not buy this much media attention. The end result was that the flag could stay, as Aussies we felt proud that so much attention had been put on such a small issue and then to top it all off, our Aussie girl snowboarder goes on to beat the much favoured Canadian girl for the snowboard gold medal. We were all on fire and couldn’t believe that out little Aussie battler team were doing so well.
But as all the local Canadians predicted, ‘The Canadian Athletes would be strong towards the end’, and they sure were, sweeping almost every medal on hand in the last few days of the competition, topping it all off by winning the illustrious Mens Hockey Gold Medal against the USA. It was widely said that if Canada did not win this much sought after gold medal against their arch rivals USA, then all the other medals won by Canada in the winter games would have meant nothing, this was how much this hockey gold medal meant. And we also knew that if Canada didn’t win, the country would never recover from it. But luckily it was the right outcome and everyone enjoyed the spoils that came with it. So the tumultuous beginnings were quickly forgotten and Canada went down in history as having won the most amount of gold medals ever as host city.



My experience at the winter games was also a great one, I was lucky to again work in the Athletes Village where I have enjoyed working in the past, I got to watch a few events much more than I had been able to in the past with my ‘All Access’ accreditation and also attended the opening and closing ceremony. On the work front, there were a lot of challenges and elements which were hard to control but I tried to remember that I was part of a great adventure and no matter how hard, long and tiring the job seemed I would one day look back on my experience and say it was memorable.