Cricket

I wake up this morning and find the hotel overrun with Japanese tourists. I know they’re Japanese because they are all dressed in white with orange scarves that say “Japan” on them. Looks like some kind of tour or organization on tour. My voice is completely trashed. I can barely talk. Later on we go to the ticket match. Everyone is very excited, this is the first international cricket match in two years in Bangalore. The crowd is loud but in general pretty polite, kind of a cross between a US baseball and football crowd. Many people have their face painted with the India flag colors, and lots of other people have India flags they wave around. They don’t allow bottled water, but they do have plastic cups you can fill from “purified” water. Looks a little dubious to me, but I have to drink something. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Most folks recommend I don’t eat the food (it isn’t the most hygienic cooking environment) so I skip lunch and snacks (“snacks” is kind of like english tea, only at 6:00 and doesn’t involve tea, just the snacks) In the evening it gets down to 68 degrees or so and people put their jackets on. No one is used to cold here at all. Towards about 9:00 it is clear India is going to win. Sudhir (my co-worker from the US) shepherds me out to dinner and later to the airport. India has the second largest english speaking population in the world (US is first) but for some reason none of the taxi drivers speak english. I get my first ride in a three wheeled “auto-rickshaw”, we got out dinner than later back to the office to pick up my bags and then finally to the airport. Turns out I’m probably an hour earlier than I need to be, so I work on the blog. It is 12:30 AM IST, now I’m up to date. An hour and half before my flight.