India Preparation - Newspaper Research

I can already picture myself, sitting on a Darjeeling rooftop, a view to the Himalayas, a hot chai and a copy of the excellently named Hindustan Times. With a name like that, images of turban-clad, heavily bearded journalists slaving over Raj-era typewriters in a yellowing office in a Calcutta backstreet are conjured up.

Or the tabloid antithesis, the Mumbai Mirror brings to mind chai wallahs oggling over sexy, thigh flashing Bollywood stars. Thighs only mind, it is India after all!

However cliched your perspective might be, newspapers can offer a fantastic insight into a country's mentality. A headline in the Sydney Herald, "Kiwis Call Tait A Chucker" is a 5 worded lesson in Australian culture. From this you learn that Aussies & Kiwis have a somewhat provocative relationship and that although they speak English down under, very often you won't have the slightest idea what they're talking about!

I once read a story in Singapore's Straits Times about police being called out to a peaceful demonstration by a group of Burmese protestors. Within the article was the fantastic line "police were forced to take down the protesters particulars." Not only does it tell you that not much happens in Singapore but also that the British were once here taking down particulars too.

Over breakfast this morning, I found myself reading The Times of India online. In the Delhi section, between flooding problems and increased cases of dengue fever, was a little article about the city's metro system. In preparation for next months Commonwealth Games, the city government is improving the metro system. Nothing overly noteworthy in that until they give exact details.

Apparantley trains on some lines will be running every 2 minutes, or to be exact 2.26 minutes! I know Indians love their trains but I would bet that behind those 26 seconds of preciseness is a German!

Times of India
Metro trains every 2 mins on some routes for CWG rush