Post Card from India: `Reality hits home with just one bus drive'

The fact that I have been on a few trips to the sub-continent, has probably helped me deal with my first real INDIAN experience. When you sit in your hotel room or by the pool, you are sheltered from the harsh realities of the world outside. However, this reality really hits home with just one bus drive through the heart of the city or the surrounding areas!

When we were in Mumbai, I was privileged enough to visit some of the not-so-pleasurable areas of the city as an "AIDS Awareness Outreach Through Sport" Project. The aim of this trip was to visit the kids of these areas and give them a bit of positivity in what can be a very negative environment. My eyes were opened to the sadness of a situation where youngsters are openly exposed to drugs and prostitution.

This is technically my second trip to India (my first cricket tour) as I was in Calcutta for 3 days for the opening ceremony of the '96 World Cup. Expecting the worst, I was pleasantly surprised to find the first test wicket had a bit of bounce and carry. The balls they play with in India, which are very similar to the English Duke, fit very nicely in the hand and swing tends to be a bowlers main weapon when playing on the sub-continent.

Our bowlers have done a fine job exploiting this swing and have allowed us to take the initiative and win the first test of the series. As I sit here on the balcony during the second day of the second test, we are quite satisfied with our performance in the field for the first innings of this game. The wicket is a lot flatter than the first test and it will require a seriously good effort from us to bowl them out again.

Last night at 2.30 am in the morning something went awry with my body clock. After 2 hours of tossing and turning, the only possible solution seemed to be to go for a stroll along the treelined pathways outside the hotel, much to the amazement of the security guards. TV was not an option as my roomie Zulu seemed to be quite contently sleeping

I see that my team Man. United have swept aside Bordeaux 2-0 and seem on track to hopefully put some more familiar silverware in their cabinet. Now its Liverpool this weekend and this is sure to be a crunch game with the old arch-rivals and a victory would see us well on our way to the league trophy.

We are really missing the luxury of watching the super-12 rugby over here and I was most disappointed to see that the sharks lost their first encounter with the Hurricanes. And talking about sharks, we've seen some amazing footage or editorials of sharks on our favorite TV channels in India, the Discovery and National Geographic Channels.

Wishing you well form India, Shaun.

p.s.: And I have just witnessed the first SA batsman to score 4000 runs in test cricket, namely Gary Kirsten.