RANDOM AT LARGE

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32126, 23 October 1969, Page 23

RANDOM AT LARGE

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Although some of the more colourful accounts of journalism max suggest otherwise, the life of the working journalist does not consist of stark drama, in daily dollops. And the Pulitzer prizes are few and far between. But journalism does take one to some strange places and we have experienced none stranger than the press box at the cricket ground in Nagpur, central India. When a test cricket match is played in India, there is no shortage of spectators, and the journalists, or undiplomatic corps, are in strength too. There were 40 or 50 all told at Nagpur, sharing a sort of tree house. The

view of the cricket is magnificent, for this strange device is perched high and offers a view straight down the pitch. One could really enjoy that, were it not for the feeling that the structure is even more likely to collapse than the batting. As one member of the New Zealand team which played here put it, the pitch and the press box were made to last no more than three days. The duration of the match was five. The thing stands on stilts and the bulk of the superstructure helps give the building the appearance of a spindly-legged but ambitious weightlifter. We feel sure that

“Consumer News” Would not approve of the quality of the string used to bind the joins of bamboo which are the main feature of the design, nor of the sheets of corrugated iron which serve as a floor. At every step of every person who moves about it, the floor dips and the structure sways and it must be something similar to an amateur riding on an elephant—a long way down and no certainty of staying on—but without a similar feeling of solidity beneath. It is fortunate that in Nagpur, with the blazing sun. there is hardly any wind. Just a puff now and then. Two would have been too much.