Correspondents in India

From the capital at New Delhi, India is now covered by a full contingent of newly arrived U.S. correspondents from A.P., U.P., I.N.S., CBS and NBC. Thus is created a new U.S. newsfront. Least well covered of all major countries, India was formerly a kind of Dark Continent for U.S. newspaper and wire services. Exception was the occasional flying interview with Gandhi. Until the fall of Singapore, the only U.S. news bureau established in India was TIME'S.

With thermometers soaring around 100, sweating correspondents wrestled with pronunciations of such words as Rajagopala-chariar, shopped for sun helmets attended by troops of fortune tellers, gem dealers and snake charmers. Strange too are the problems of Indian newsgathering. Press conferences are rare. Official press releases consist typically of bulletins on rice culture, assembly debates, the comings & goings of maharajahs from the Viceroy's palace. Troubling also are the country's vast distances, with prospects of a Jap attack that might come anywhere or everywhere on a 1,500-mile front from Ceylon to Calcutta.

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