The Queen's Baton reached India on Friday after completing 240 days of international relay. The warm reception it received during its journey from people across the world is an indicator of the tremendous goodwill and unity that the Commonwealth Games-2010 will help foster among nations.
For a group of six photographers who took turns to travel with the Baton through its 170,000-km journey across 69 countries, it was an unparalleled experience. Attached to the Photo Division of the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry in New Delhi, the six photographers began their tryst with the Baton on October 29 last year when Queen Elizabeth II handed it over to President Pratibha Patil in London. Their brief was to document the Baton's journey through all the Commonwealth nations, and States and Union Territories of the Indian Union.
Photo Division Director Debatosh Sengupta, who is one of the participating photographers and covered Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Canada and Australia, said an assignment of this kind was a first in his 40-year career. “We were forever on the move. The Baton travelled by foot, cycle, car, boat, train and aircraft from early morning to late night. We were scrambling daily for time to process and email the photos to India,” he said.
As a result of their efforts, photographs of the Baton relay from all the countries were uploaded for public viewing on the Games' website (www.cwgdelhi2010.org/batonrelay2010) and the Photo Division archives website ( www.photodivision.gov.in) with a delay of less than 24 hours.
Mr. Sengupta said he and his colleagues Mahesh Shankar, M. Ashokan, B. M. Meena, Shiv Raj and Ashish Maitra were amazed by the cultural and geographical diversity and the interest of local communities in joining the Baton relay for an event happening in a country so far away. “The Baton passed through cities, villages, historic sites, beaches, jungles and even deserts. In Namibia we shot an athlete running up a sand dune. Everywhere on its path people were informed ahead and in many places they even organised receptions,” he said.
Mahesh Shankar, who covered the United Kingdom lap of the relay, said the Baton won the approval of the people wherever it went. “It is such a beautiful creation! People everywhere wanted to hold it and examine its engravings up close, and to the organisers' credit, they let everyone pick it up and pass it on.”
With the 100-day-long Indian leg of the relay covering all 28 States and seven Union Territories having begun on Friday, the Photo Division's men will now onward have the Indian media for company in chronicling the Baton's journey which will culminate in Delhi on October 3.
“Travelling with the Baton and photographing the people, landmarks and landscapes it passed along has been a privilege for us. We will sift through the several thousand pictures shot and organise a photo exhibition during the Games in October,” says Mr. Sengupta.
For people who can't wait until then, an image search with the keyword “baton” on the Photo Division website will yield high resolution photos of the Baton's journey.
