What Is This? Kangaroo Games?

Remember the chaos before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010? Even as athletes were arriving in the CWG Village on the banks of Yamuna, painters and electricians were still working in the apartments and the foreign press, especially the British and Australian, had a gala time trashing all that India had prepared for the games. Something similar has been happening in the Olympic Village by the Atlantic in Rio de Janeiro. Amid reports that almost half the apartments in the village were not ready, the Australian team checked into one of the swanky-looking towers. They exited soon after and moved into a hotel. Reason: leaking taps and flooded rooms. To pacify the Aussies, the Rio mayor got installed a statue of kangaroo in front of the building. But the Aussies were not impressed at all. “We need plumbers, and not kangaroos,” said the head of the Aussie delegation before leaving the village in a huff. The next day, the American teams too moved into hotels, leaving the mayor and other official exasperated. Last heard, the Rio officials were working hard to bring back the athletes back into the village. Just like Delhi, in 2010, painters and electricians are still on the job in the Olympic Village, with less than three days before the opening of Rio 2016. But in the middle of such hiccups, the Brazilian teams moved into their apartments on Monday without making a fuss. 

Kidnapping in the time of games

Timing is everything. A bunch of Brazilians, most probably first-time criminals, made a bad decision of kidnapping the mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief and Britain’s fourth richest man, in the middle of Olympics madness in Brazil. With the country on the edge and security at its tightest, the kidnappers of Aparecida Schunk, the mother of Ecclestone’s Brazilian wife, bungled big and the victim was rescued by the police from an apartment in Sao Paulo on Sunday night. The plot to kidnap Schunk was hatched by Jorge Eurico Faria, a helicopter pilot who was used by the Ecclestone family during the F1 season in Sao Paulo. But with the police on high alert due to the games in Rio, the plot fizzled out on the ninth day and the pilot and his accomplices got arrested.

The kidnapping could not have come at a worse time for Brazil. Already suffering the image of an unsafe country due to a sudden spike in crime rates in Rio, the police wanted to crack the kidnapping case, which made global headlines, as soon as possible. There has been a spate of kidnappings and killings in Rio in recent months. The situation became alarming last month when the city police threatened to go on strike before the Olympics. A group of striking policemen even put up a banner, saying “Welcome to Hell” at the local airport. If that was not enough to scare away the foreigners, Brazilian football legend Rivaldo jumped in, asking the tourists to “stay away from the city” during the Olympics because of crime. It’s difficult to say how many reservations have been cancelled due to serious crime stories coming from Rio, but by cracking the Schunk case without any ransom, the police have tried to restore some confidence in them – and in Brazil. 

Terror on their minds

For a country with no history of any kind of terrorism, it’s surprising to see Brazil in the grip of fear since the busting of a so-called ISIS cell that was allegedly planning an attack during the games. Brazil seems to have imported fear from Europe. The recent terror attack in Nice has really rattled people in Rio, especially the police which has little experience or training to deal with terror groups and their tactics. The climate of fear is becoming worse because of rumours. Last week, rumours of a second terrorist cell being on the loose spread like wild fire. On Sunday, as an opening ceremony rehearsal was going on at the Maracana stadium in Rio, a loud explosion was heard near the famous arena. The loud noise came from a drill by the Rio police’s bomb squad that used a robot to detonate a backpack, which contained no explosives. But soon the social media was buzzing with all kinds of romours about the explosion. Before the news could become a headline across the world, top police officials stepped into to clarify that a robot carried out a controlled explosion on a toolbox and no injuries were reported. Though no damage was done, the incident has definitely added to the pre-event jitters around security.

Rio’s Mother Teresa connection

Apart from being the biggest gathering of athletes and sports officials, the Olympics is also the biggest meeting of journalists. With just three days to go before the games open, Rio is crammed with journalists from all over the world. While sports journalists will be mostly based in the Olympic arena, thousands of other journalists looking for other stories will be based at the Rio Media Centre, which has been set up by the City Hall. The centre is located on a street named after Mother Teresa. Called Rua Madre Teresa da Calcuta, the street runs across the centre of the city.

Though Mahatma Gandhi is probably the best-known Indian in Brazil, the nun from Calcutta is really revered by the people in the biggest Catholic country in the world. And now Brazil has a permanent connection with Mother Teresa. The second miracle, which led to her being proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis, happened to a man who lives here in the city of Rio de Janeiro. After Mother Teresa is canonised in September, the street will probably have a new name: Rua Santa Teresa.

Food perks for working journalists

In Rio, there is nothing better than having a chilled beer on the beach. Hot snacks from the shacks along the sea make the beer taste better. But as foreign tourists arrive in the city, local restaurants and food vendors have upgraded their food menu. Close to the Copacabana beach, a restaurant called Brasileirinho is attracting quite a crowd with its typical food from Bahia, the north-eastern state with a very big population of Afro-Brazilians, and Minas Gerais, the southern state known for its rich food. Though customers can be seen polishing off various dishes at the restaurant with a beautiful view of the Copacabana beach, it specializes in a dish that is made and served in a clay pot. Called moqueca, the dish contains fish broth, tomato, green pepper and coconut oil. The other popular dish at the joint is called Bobo de Camarao, which is made with lightly fried shrimps, coconut oil, mixed with cassava mash, ginger and dried shrimps. 

For the journalists accredited with the Rio Media Centre, the restaurant is offering one free meal during the games. Most journalists, who can claim the meal on producing their credentials, are running around the city in search of good stories. But they are also finding time to make use of this small perk.