The boys tried their best!
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2006
1
7
85
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Mumbai,
India
Thursday, March 16, 2006
After enduring the heavy snoring, and drooling of an elderly Sikh couple for the duration of the long journey south, we finally arrived in Mumbai, jumped in a taxi and headed over to backpacker central, and Colaba - after a brief stop at McShite where Hussey was able to swill down a gallon of Strawberry milkshake. We found a cramped room at the Maria Lodge, neither as welcoming or hospitable as my mothers place! Colaba was brimming with English fans, doubling or tripling the numbers evident in Chandigarh
01 - On way to Mumbai
.The following day, myself, Hussey and Matt met up with Pippa and Nik, freshly arrived from a whistlestop tour of the Golden Triangle. I'd previously met Pippa and Nik in Sri Lanka in 2003. We also met up with Ross, and Martin, freshly arrived from Chandigarh, and Warrington respectively. Off we went to the Wankhede Stadium to buy tickets for the game. Learning from the experience in Mohali, 5-day tickets for the reasonably priced North Stand were bought for 800 roops; we then headed over to the Brabourne stadium for a Barmy Army XI game, including notable ex-players - ex Indian skipper, and cheating git, Mohammed Azharuddin being amongst them. Doughnuts and beers were the order of the day. After watching some very average cricket, we decided to take a pre-sunset stroll up to Chowpatty beach, bumping into Mr P D Long on the way, armed with a batch of Korean footy shirts, after a shopping trip at Crawford Market. This was followed by an excellent post-sunset meal. topped off with a few beers.
The day after, the test started, not before myself, Hussey and Matt and numerous others had spent 30 minutes in search of the right gate to get into the ground...organised chaos, a feature of cricket in India. Finally in the ground we met up with Pippa, Nik and Ross. [Bell and Strauss opening after Cook had a touch of the Delhi belly, and Anderson in for Plunkett]
The Indian crowd in Mumbai proved to be the most obnoxious, abusive set of teenagers encountered - too much testosterone - and the afternoon session, enjoyed with Longy, involved myself attempting to shift a late teen Indian fan from our vicinity. Like many of Indias teen fans, he was camp as Christmas, more interested in eyeballing England fans, making Hindi jokes with his mates instead of watching the game.
02
Anyway, back to the cricket, England enjoyed a decent first day. Days 2 thru 5 took on a pattern; breakfast with Long, Hoover and his mates from up North, eating omelettes, parantha, drinking chai and perusing the mornings papers, before heading on to the ground.(Hoover being particularly interested in the 'facts' section of the Times of India, "a quarter of the worlds people are Chinese farmers", being one example)As the match went on - striving as always for a better view - I ended up blagging my way, along with around 20 other, into a better section in the North stand right behind the bowlers arm, excellent views, and fenced in nicely from the testosterone-loaded Indian fans to our left and their repertoire of songs ('Hoggys a doggy', 'Monty is a homo', and Freddie go home' being the best on offer.)
Most night throughout the test were spent in the Gokal bar, in Colaba, on the piss local-style, with excellent food on offer to boot. After Englands superb win on Day 5, skittling India for 100 - with an inspired spell from Udal, and Monty taking a catch second time around - sparked jubilant scenes in the North Stand, that would continue into the night...Welsh Steve being in particularly good voice!
The day after the Test, myself, Matt, Nik and Pip daytripped over to Elephanta Island from the famous Gateway of India, involving a nice boat trip; Elephanta island contains caves with lots of rock carvings and sculptures which are impressive, although offset by marauding monkeys and tourist tat on sale. After returning to the mainland, myself, Pip and Nik took a long walk up to Crawford market, a amazing mess of bazaars, indoor and outdoor market stalls, selling a vast array of goods and food products....the indoor veg and fruit market being particularly impressive. After a chai, we headed back to Colaba by a well-deserved taxi ride
03 -Sikh Snorer & 'Sudoku' Hussey on way 2 Mumbai
.The day after, we gathered again with Darren and Hussey joining the four of us from the previous day, on walk up past Chowpatty beach, and the Zoorastrian temple, where vultures allegedly swoop on the dead corpses....suffice to say, foreigners weren't admitted, and there was no sign of any vultures anyway. On the way we stopped off at Pherozshah Mehta Gardens, which are distinguished by the hedges cut into shapes of various animals.
After a stop for lunch, we headed to Gandhis house in the afternoon - Mani Bhavan - where Gandhi spent time between 1917 and 1934. The house was under renovation, so we wandered in. The house contains a huge wealth of information on Gandhi and his life, including a pictorial gallery, figurine-displays on Gandhis life story, and a make-up of his study and bedroom; well worth a trip.
In the evening we all met up for a final meal with Pip and Nik who were heading home the following day, and after bidding farewell, myself, Hussey and Matt met up for a beer in a strangely quiet Gokal bar, shorn of boisterous England fans.
The day following day we bid goodbye to Matt, then I met up with Darren for a leisurely wander round Mumbai. On the final day in Mumbers myself and Hussey caught a flick at the local cinema, passing through the Maidan Ovals - awash with young Indians playing cricket - before a late afternoon train up to Delhi.
