Post Card from India: `No more takkies, its only kappellangs here'

My first thought that hit me as I hit the streets of India for the fifth time in 4 years was the millions of people still swarming the sidewalks of Bombay as we headed for the hotel at 2 am in the morning.

My goals I'd set for this tour were not only of a cricketing nature. I was anticipating some good bartering and hagglings over carpets and leather jackets and the cheap clothing one can pick in this lovely part of the world.

However, for this trip I'd made up my mind early on that I was going to hunt down a good pair of Indian sandals. Its no point wearing your "takkies" here while scouring the stalls for good deals as your feet get sweaty and dirty and don't breathe too well. So, the hunt for a good pair of sandals or "kappellangs" became the first mission. As luck would have it, the fizz had brought along his pair of "kappellangs" he'd bought in Sri Lanka in 1993 and had only started wearing them in the last 6 weeks. I thus sent Goolam on a mission during the 3-day warm-up game and a few days later I was the proud owner of my first pair of Indian "kappellangs", bought for the princely sum of 400 rupees, about 60 rand.

The start of the 3-day game brought the opportunity to get amongst the spinners and come to terms with the state of the wickets. It was also a good time for our bowlers to find their length and our batters to adjust to the pace of the wicket. Miles at the crease is important for the team here in India and we have definitely not underestimated our task of trying to come home with a series win and achieve our final objective for the season.

Sitting in the dressing room in the first test, the chatter has been about the number of butter chicken meals Nanty has had for lunch on tour so far. Today, butter chicken wasn't on the menu but Nanty managed to convince the caterers to hunt some down. No sooner had his portion arrived than AD and myself were in on the act too.

The dressing rooms are quite spacious here in India so as we watch and wait for Hansie and Jacques to knock off the runs, the tension isn't compounded by a lack of space. The focal point is the fizz's bed, set up in the middle of the room.

As we are batting at the moment, the teams' constitution of players keeping the same seating positions not to disturb the batting karma in the middle is taking high priority. This has meant that Fordie has been consigned to the window ledge since lunch. The only rule to whom this doesn't apply is the fizz who has to remain mobile to treat the players through the day and sometimes lumbers out onto the field to attend to a player's need.

This is Lance Klusener signing off his post card from India.