Beppe summed it up best when he said in his thick Italian accent, 'So, this is India. Maybe next time we go to Monte Carlo'.
The airport at Kolkata was surprisingly quiet. I was expecting a heaving mess but inside the terminal is was pretty much like any other airport. The ride from the airport to the guesthouse friendly Sudder Street was hair-raising. Our big yellow taxi seemed unable to travel in a straight line for any distance regardless of whether there was traffic around or not. When I peeled myself out of the cab and donned by backpack it all began to fall into place.
Two men shepherd a herd of goats down Sudder Street, a man with no legs and withered hands gently taps my arm to ask me for five rupees, a giant poster of Sachin Tendulkar looks down from above, a beggar urinates under a tree making a puddle that trickles onto the pavement in front of me, men in cricket helmets ride motorbikes through the herd of goats, a man offers me some good hash, another busks with a one stringed guitar and another performs with a monkey that jumps over a stick. The act is awful and the stick steals the show. My senses have been assaulted. Beppe and me find a cell-like room in a cheap guesthouse and sit there looking at each other. Then we go out for a curry. The less said about the Hotel Paragon the better; we were after a cheap place and at Rs140 (about US$3) it served its purpose as well as it could.
Kids playing in the filthy water
Two days later, after an unsuccessful attempt at getting a Bangladesh visa I walked to the tourist railway booking office and bought a sleeper bound for Varanasi the following night. I wanted to go to Bangladesh first but I changed my plans and now hope to visit on my way back to Bangkok in a few months. I stopped to see the massive Howrah Bridge over the Hooghly River and walked through the flower market next to the railway lines. I carried on further south towards Fort William but I never made it that far because the Eden Gardens cricket ground stood in my way - venue for the 1987 World Cup final between England and Australia that Australia won. I had to try and sneak in somehow. I walked around the perimeter but all the entrances were closed and the guards said that if there is no match on then no-one can go inside. There was a practice area just inside the fence and about a dozen guys were bowling and batting so I watched for a while. Before long I was invited inside to join them. We talked cricket the whole time and they were amazed that I knew about the grounds history which includes the amazing partnership between Dravid and Laxman in 2001 when they batted all day against the Australians to set up a famous victory. They let me bowl a few balls but I was hopelessly out of touch and was in danger of embarrassing my country. I declined to bat. Afterwards they insisted I join them for refreshments - toast with butter and sugar, boiled eggs and some sticky sweets. The lads were all employees of India Radio and played for the company cricket team. Whenever a game was on at the Gardens they were always there. Although we were inside the broadcasting area of Eden Gardens there was no direct route to the ground itself so I couldn't actually walk out to the playing area.
The human rickshaws of Kolkata
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