No photographs that we match a face and name to, not one graphic table with the scheduled events, not one timetable for the day’s telecast — nothing but words.

Coverage: Erratic. Whimsical (based on DD’s whims), confused and often meaningless. Live feeds mysteriously disappear; we join an event midway as we did on Monday afternoon in the single sculls rowing (men) or, take a commercial break just when the fireworks were about to go off at the opening ceremony. Then, DD engages in meandering conversations between, let’s say, a presenter and Suresh Kalmadi on India’s poor track and field record at the Olympics on a Saturday afternoon when 16 live feeds were available.

And when the word play is done, what do we witness? Sunday, after patiently waiting for the feeds, it’s tennis (the visual proclaimed trampoline). One Mr. Black, USA up against Mr. Something, Australia. Why did DD choose this excruciatingly boring match when there was so much else on offer? Must be the fault of that word — Olumpics. At 1 pm, we went sailing: a beautiful blue sky, an azure sea with colorful little boats swaying in the breeze. Idyllic. But this is not a picnic, it’s the Olympics and most Indians would rather watch something - anything - else.

Commentary: If you’ve experienced difficulties in comprehending most of it ask why Doordarshan has an audio feed from Down Under that sounds as if it is coming from there instead of Beijing. Other times, we’re reduced to silence. The Sunday sailing event was telecast without accompanying commentary.

... contd.