Sweltering at the cricket – Keith & John in front, Karen, Norma & Jenny behind
Our tickets for the semi-final against New Zealand were upstairs for a change, so we opted for a clutch of seats at the back in front of an open grilled area which allowed us the odd breeze during the 9 hours we were there. The atmosphere was magic – everyone so excited, and those of you who watched any of the game, would be aware that the noise is incessant – horns, drums, clappers, whistles, chants etc and whenever the noise dies down, the ground announcer exhorts the crowd to shout or do a Mexican wave or to sing along with the ads. The game looked a foregone conclusion and we were planning to leave early, but suddenly Daniel Vettori stopped the Sri Lankans in their tracks, wickets fells, runs dried up and the stadium grew quiet. There was an appeal for caught behind turned down, McKay bowled 5 wides and the game changed. We left then to avoid the crush and got a great view of the fireworks as we dashed through the tuk-tuks across the road to our bus.
The night was a difficult one for sleep – everyone went to have a shower and it was too late for us to go back downstairs for a drink, although we felt like one. The streets were full of celebrating Sri Lankans – on foot, in tuk-tuks or cars or buses. Wes forgot to turn his phone onto silent and exchanged SMSs with Frank Page, and took phone calls from Roberta Donnelly and Jeff Bain in the early hours of the morning! After breakfast I rang Viva to let her know what was happening with the orphanage, and that Barbara and Danny had also made donations, which were much appreciated and should enable the girls’ dormitory to get new linen as well.
Views of the night sky at the cricket during & the fireworks afterwards
We arrived in Mumbai early yesterday morning after spending over 10 hours getting here. We gladly left our hotel in Colombo, travelled by bus for 1.5 hours to the airport, were processed efficiently, had something to eat then were shepherded into the Gate Lounge. The incoming flight was delayed, so we watched the match between India & Pakistan until we were finally loaded onto our narrow little plane, where the Captain gave score updates. We should have been in Mumbai at 11.40pm, but landed around 12.30am and then took an hour to get out of the airport, another ¾ hour to our hotel and finally to bed around 2.30am. The Trident, Nariman Point, is a beautiful, new and ultra modern hotel and we are all very happy here.
Most of the group was in the foyer at 9am again to go on a 5 hour trip to see Cave Sculptures, but we decided to give it a miss and sleep as long as we could. After breakfast we went for a walk to the main part of the city and marvelled at the wonderful English architecture which has survived here and had an encounter with an interesting bookseller. We were exhausted by our big walk, so spent a lazy afternoon sleeping and reading, then joined some others in the bar, where we had more drinks than we had intended and ended up with room service watching the Australian TV channel.
Both cricket teams are staying at The Taj, so there is heaps of security around there. This morning, after breakfast, we did a city tour and drove past the ground which is about 15 minutes walk from our hotel. It is going to be a challenge tomorrow – no bags, food, drink, umbrellas, cameras, radios, etc – yourself, your wallet and your ticket are about all that will be allowed into the stadium. We don’t know yet where our seats are, can only hope they are reserved and under cover. Tomorrow has been declared a Public Holiday in India and there is much excitement everywhere – the news broadcasts are all full of the game and conversation flows if you are prepared to chat about the wonders of Sachin Tendulkar!
Our tour included a visit to a public laundry, Gandhi’s home, the museum, the Floating Gardens (built over the city’s water supply) and a handicrafts store. We have bought nothing except books so far – two in Sri Lanka and two here. Afterwards we had lunch with Maurie & Norma in the coffee lounge and are resting now in preparation for dinner at the Indian Cricket Club tonight, which will be our final meal as a group. We leave here on Sunday, the rest go on Monday morning, either back to Australia or to various other parts of India, except for Keith Stackpole, who is spending 24 hours in Singapore, so we may catch up with him while we are there. I’ll be in touch again once we get to Singapore.
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