On our last night in Mumbai Aileen suggested we had our last dinner together, so I went about trying to find the perfect restaurant. We had a great night, especially as all the remaining group from Ahmedabad attended. I must personally thank Russell as at the end of the evening, he twisted the lyrics to “Candle in the wind” as an ode for me! Featured below.
I felt extremely emotional when asked for a response. Those close to me will know I wear my heart on my sleeve. Having spent the last three weeks with such a great group it made it memorable for all not just me!
Our tours are about enjoying every moment and having a great time. We receive thank you messages and testimonials by WhatsApp, email or just a phone call, which just makes us feel that we are achieving our goal!
In the early hours we were picked up for a flight to Aurangabad. On arrival we had breakfast and then visited the Ellora caves. These 34 temples & monasteries were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff not far from Aurangabad dating back to A.D 600-1000. It’s astounding to think they just had a hammers & chisels to create caves and towers with fine intricate detail telling a story. It is breath taking, the guide had no idea how long they took but it must have taken decades before they were finished.
The following morning, we went to the Ajanta caves – completely different to the Ellora but connected by Buddhism. They were discovered by John Smith in 1819 on a tiger hunting party. Again these date back to 2nd century BC to about 480 EC and is regarded as the world’s greatest historical monument recognised by UNESCO.
The following day we flew to Bangalore, now Bengaluru, for our next game against Sri Lanka. Once again, we arrived at the ground and went through all the usual security procedures that we have been faced with at previous grounds. I am still getting upset at the way we are being treated, this time they were trying to take headphones from us and a comb! I fought to get them back, but we lost the comb! How is a plastic comb a dangerous object?
The cricket was all too familiar to what has gone on in the past three weeks. You just feel the last game can’t come soon enough. We are of course used to this. Under Strauss & Cook we had the best team in the world just to fall apart in the Ashes and part way through it Graeme Swan retired. I think changes will be inevitable. We have four years, they planned well for the last World Cup in England this has been anything but the case. I read that leading up to the last one we played twice as many 50 over matches as this time! The ECB have a lot to think about. Do we as a nation do enough for grass roots cricket? It’s been highlighted over the last two years and all of a sudden it’s gone quiet. Here in India every park or spare patch of grass, kids are playing cricket, and in larger areas there are a few games, as you take off from airports you can see cricket fields in abundance!
After a half day sightseeing, we flew the following day to Lucknow, a match I have been dreading against India. On another day it could have been exciting seeing who comes out on top!
We eventually arrived at our hotel at 23:00 on Sunday and went straight to dinner, the following morning at breakfast it was a sea of sky blue Indian shirts with the odd England shirt in attendance. We left for the ground earlier then I normally would because it was India. As the coach approached the stadium there were hundreds of Indian fans close to the coach filming us and taking photos – this was as I expected and my reason for an earlier departure time. This was the worst experience getting in so far. It appeared that the rules were strict and what was permitted clearly printed on the back of the ticket and in the official Lucknow ground guide, we were in for another annoying entry!
On the back of the ticket it clearly said no sticks, no vuvuzelas yet there were hundreds of both flag sticks, flags & vuvuzelas this is so wrong. I was also not happy with the guy who works the tannoy from the “Mastercard Stand” in the ground who was encouraging supporters to get behind India with chants/clapping etc! On previous games it was for both teams, although I thought any opposition against England benefited slightly more! My point is surely that this is not right being biased towards India. We never had tannoys forever chanting for England during the 2019 World Cup! It just made it a hostile environment for the England team. I’m not using that as a reason for our defeat, we are an aging side, so the papers keep stressing and Morgan’s point that there is a dressing room issue might well be right. Morgan is closer to the team than most, but my thoughts are that our confidence is shot. I don’t think we recovered after the New Zealand defeat, we will have to see what happens as we still have 3 matches to play, before we reach the semi-final stage or go home.
The following two days consisted of a day & a half of sightseeing following the 4th & 8th Nawab who were the Kings of Awadh but the last of 11 interested us more having had 375 wives! On the first evening some of us ventured out in a tuk-tuk to find the best kebab restaurant. When we arrived, Dipin asked the driver how much? He replied 500 rupees, Dipin said 500? I could buy your scooter for that! We were not impressed by the restaurant so went elsewhere.
The following day consisted of an excellent culinary walking tour and afternoon tea with a member of the Nawab family! The surroundings were not what you associate with royalty as he claimed – it was more like an antique shop, but on the wall were pictures of the all the Nawabs, I am trying to research him and hopefully I will find out more about him.
Moving on to Varanasi now, home of the Ganges and the Beatles before the next England game versus Australia in Ahmedabad.
