Cricket by the Ganges

Varanasi has been a truly restful place, particularly after our experiences in Kolkata. The spacious grounds of the hotel allowed us to sit outside in the sun playing cards and ordering drinks. The comfortable beds, with mattresses far more spongy than the rocks we slept on at the Hotel Emirates, were places we looked forward to sleeping upon as opposed to the previous methods of torture designed to cripple our backs.

The beautiful Ganges, which we floated down at sunrise yesterday and again (for eight of us) this morning, was almost on a different planet to the one we have grown accustomed to these past ten days. Even the roads seem less chaotic than those in Kolkata.

But some things in India never change. No matter where we go, we are always confronted with a group of locals playing a game of cricket. This morning, while walking back up river from a cremation pit, we found a couple of boys rolling the arm over on the steps on the bank of the river. Shortly after joining the game, there were many more Indians surrounding us. I managed to pick up a wicket and enjoy a decent bat, before returning to bowl again. I was then dispatched for two of the biggest sixes I've ever seen. Then we had to go. That's what I love about India.

Chris