Navrattan Korma - a tale of fans

Hi folks , my apologies for the lack of updates , but I have been away from all media for a long time ( including computers) . after all one needs to enjoy his holiday as well.

The beaches in Barbados are gorgeous , but not as good as the ones in Antigua. barbados is a very vibrant economy and the richest of all the islands , as a result it is extremely commercialised and a bit like mini england , which is one of the reasons I didnt take to it very well. Being away from the UK and watching the lager louts in action and full flow makes one realise how uncouth, un intelligent and insular the chav english are , all the fights in the bars were instigated and started by these so called ''supporters'' if it hadnt been for all the very good friends I have made in england , and the fact that a lot of my friends are english , if I had been an outsider who had never visited england I would have made an assumption (incorrectly ) that all english are the same , unfortunately cricket fans (from england) seem to have taken a leaf out of the football hooliganism (to a smaller scale) hope it ends soon , the only reason they are welcome as tourists are because of the strength of the pound and the fact that the english are without a doubt the most prolific travellers in the world.

Fans - One thing amazed me and reaffirmed my faith in the camaradarie of the subcontinent is the fact that I met many fans from all three countries except eenam who was the only bangladeshi fan in the windies, (more about him later). When I reflected back at the hatred and religious abuse that one suffers in the anonymity of the internet I was amazed at the friendship and warmth that all people feel for each other in the enviorns of real life , out of all the fans I met the best I got along with was a mirpuri from newcastle called irfan , without a doubt a good human being and genuinely warm , met 5 sri lankan fans in a club and had a long chat with them , all were intelligent people with great insight into cricket and all plied me with free drinks all night long :) , we then all went for a meal in the st lawrence gap area ( where im staying ) and had a meal at an indian restaurant called APSARA , which has undoubtedly the best indian food outside india and is owned by a multi millionaire from pakistan called sharif mohammad , Mr Mohammad has spent at least 4 million on ther decor of the place itself !! I will reccomend this place to anyone without fail , very expensive but worth every penny.

Enaam the lone Bangladeshi fan is from chicago and a software engineer originally from Dhaka, for some reson he assumed that being from the subcontinent he is impervious to the equatorial sun , at the bangladeshi game we kept telling him to get out of the sun and get in the shade , but he refused and took off his shirt to get a ''tan'' ..... as a result that night he lay in bed screaming in pain from 40 degree burns ( he didnt use sunsceen) and twisting and turning from a very very red and sunburnt (badly) skin , anyone who has had major sunburn will attest to the fact that it is very painfull indeed , ... so while we were all partying well into the night ... enaam was screaming in his hotel room lol.

before I end this particular post , I will request my friends and foes from the forum ... wumming is very funny and enlightening , but please keep personal stuff and religious abuse out of the loop , this is something I learned from the great friendship and warmth between all communities in the WC , there was no malice .. only friendship between hindu , muslim , sinhala,christian,english,aussie .. ... and enaam the roasted bangladeshi.

off to have a drink ... more later

cricket is a great uniter of people of all faiths , vocations and back grounds .. that is why i love the game so much

Liat - On a wing and a prayer

Arrived in barbados today , the world cup in Antigua has pretty much ended and all available flights out of ANU are at a premium.
Woke up at 2AM to catch the first flight with LIAT the carribean airlines to Barbados , the flight was scheduled for departure at 5.15 AM , and I duly arrived at the airport at 3 AM to find myself the 6th person in queue. People started arriving and soon there were about a 150 people in line. the person right behind me was angus fraiser the ex england cricketer and now BBC reporter. On hearing a lot of screaming and shouting as the counter finally opened , I discovered the LIAT had offloaded about 17 passangers the night beefore off thir last flight ( mr fraser being one of them !!) these people were actually kicked off the aircraft just before take off!!

Things in the carribean happen at their own pace and in their own style , a perfect example of their 'immigration and security'' is that a group of england fans actually were passed thru immigration inspite of the fact they were carrying each others passports !! as in no one had their own passport but their mates !! ( an honest mistake by the fans , but man !! thats worrying)
The plane was finally loaded up at 7.15 AM , we later discovered that the reason for the delay was that the air hostess had forgotten it was her shift and didnt turn up for work !!, just before take off one lady passanger was hustled into the aircraft and seated on the co pilots seat ( she was a passanger ) and the reason was that she had been offloaded 2wice and was actually getting married today in barbados, so they made an exception for her !! ( man i love the carribean) , I advise people never ever to fly LIAT , the aircrafts run on rubberbands , chewing gum and a prayer!!


Angus finally made it to his flight after speaking to his online producer and giving LIAT a few choice abuses , The cricket continues as does the drinking , I was in the party stand in the eng v aus game , drunk as a monkey and happy as a bunny , im off the catch a little shut eye now , before indulging in the sights of barbados in the evening .

later folks ...

Cricket - Antiguan Style

England V Sri Lanka - Wow !! what a match !! , finally got to see a proper game of cricket , last ball tension and all that jazz!! , The atmosphere was unbeleivable , I was in the party stand with all the poms , if you guys saw all the jumping around in the pool when england hit runs in the last few overs , it was me !! and a few other drunk , pissed poms ...
once again !! a handful of sri lankan supporters , which is a bit sad , because the atmosphere was being created by mostly indian , aussie and english fans , ther was one solitary sri lankan flag in the whole stadium !! . when ravi bopara was facing the last ball the tension on the faces of the pom fans was unbelievable!! a lot of them turned their backs to the pitch and couldnt watch it !!. great game all in all !!
on sunday im off to the aussie england game , that should be a great contest as well.

Beach Cricket - Went to Sandhaven beach yesterday, because there was going to be a cricket match between the legends and the travelling journalists , things here happen on carribean time .
The match (15 overs per side) was supposed to start at 12 noon , but eventually got underway at 3 pm !! which is all cool as all the people were well and truly wasted on rum punch and carib beer by then !! , the beaches here are stupendously beautiful as there is no pollution of any kind , the reason being there is no industrial factories and the mainstay of commerce is tourism and tourism only.
Chilled out on the beach and finally the cricketers turned up , sir viv richards being one of them !! , there was absolutely no security of any kind !! ( unlike the travelling circus that indian and pak cricketers have) , walked up to the great man and introduced myself , asked him if it was ok to have a photograph with him , he bought me a beer and said '' thats cool maan '' lol ... the person next to him was the minister of tourism and sport , a certain mr lowell .. of course i didnt know this , so I handed him my camera and said '' do you mind'' ??.. and he didnt !! , he took our pics with a smile ( only later did I find out who he was , as he was the captain of the legends side )!!
The HIGHLITE of the evening was .... bowling an over to Sir Richards .. and getting SPANKED FOR 4 SIXES !! in a row .. man what a guy !!
That is one defining difference between cricketers in rhe windies and ones in the sub continent , ... the legends of the windies . drank beer and punch and partied with the crowds till 9 pm .. always with a smile and true carribean attitude , sir viv was hitting on all the beautiful bikini clad women and dancing to the music .. not a security guard in sight !! , jumping into the ocean and playing aussie rules rugby .. it was a great great day !! .. i can now say I have played cricket with the master blaster himself :)

right im off now .. more later

Saffron - The colour and the restaurant

....... Here we go again, There seems to be a little India everywhere, am sitting in a casino in Jolly Beach in antigua , waiting for the saffron restaurant to open . The casion is full of Indins gambling. Spoke to a few locals here , and they reckon that Antigua has lost millions after India got knocked out due to cancelled reservations.

On to the cricket -
Australia V Bangladesh - What a damp squib that turned out to be !! got to the stadium at 9 AM, but it had rained a LOT the night before and the pitch was still wet , match eventually started at 145 pm , the stadium was full of Aussie and Indian supporters .... there were only 4 !! (and I counted them ) Bangladesh supporters in the whole stadium !! I met those 4 at the Coast night club in the evening , they were as surprised as everyone else to be playing the super 8's.
Antigua is distinctly lacking in bangladeshi support ( there are none around) . The place is full of indians and other nationalities.
Met Brian Lara and Courtney Walsh at the Coast night club , courtney signed my shirt , he was thereplaying with his band , which consists of Ritchie Richardson as well , The music is great as are the antiguan women !!bloody beautiful !!

West Indians seem to detest Brian Lara with a passion , an blame him for the decline in the West Indian Team.

Bangladesh V New Zealand- same story !! loads of indians , a few kiwis ... and 4 Bangladeshis.
even the asuusies and the kiwis are missing India in the comptetion , they wated to see a contest .. not a thrashing !! No one believes that India and Pak were beaten by these minnows who are now getting shafted by every team !!.

Right !! off to the bar ... will add more later

In Antigua - Rastaman

Im Now sitting in an internet cafe , next to the fed ex building in St John's.

.... The plane trip from gatwick was pretty uneventful , except for the fact that I couldnt drink because was on my last dosage of antibiotics, everyone around me was getting wasted , and I was drinking ORANGE JUICE !!! (despecable)!!, Landed at barbados at about 1432 hours and caught a connecting flight to Antigua at 1645 hours with Liat airlines , my original flight was at 1930 hours , but the carribean people are incedibly helpful and friendly , all I had to do was request an earlier flight and I was prepared to pay extra for it , but they didnt charge me a penny!!! ( are you listening british airways!!). Landed in antigua at about 530 pm , the people from my hotel were there to pick me up even tho I had arrived 4 hours before schedule !! (once again a phone call and no extra payment)!! , I was given a ride to my hotel by 2 incredible Antiguan women Ann & Heather, who talked non stop and kept me entertained through out.

Antigua is a beautiful little island, and the feel of it is very indian , I almost felt like I was back home !!. There is music all around , every car , every house has reggae blaring from it , some of the cars have their volumes up so loud with boom boxes that they set off the alarms of cars as they pass by ( no kidding!!).

Went to Kings casino in st johnsin the evening where I met up with a few of the bharat army fans I had tied up with over the internet . the seem ok , except for a bloke called balbir , who is obsessed !! with sex and women , he kept asking every woman he saw to marry him !! and the drunker he got the louder and more ''pls marry me '' he got !! ( I soon ditched him) lol.

There is partying all around , even though the feel of the island is very indian , the youth atmosphere is very ghettoish , I felt i was in some rocking reggae filled ghetto in upstate new york and expected someone to pull out an uzi and start having pot shots at me !. but no, they are all incredibly friendly people even tho they all look bloody mad .
Ended up in a club on the waterfront called ''Coast'' , the bar was a pick up truck OUTSIDE coast , which was probably more well stocked than any bar in the world , and the barman was a cool ass MF , who when I asked him where I could sit promptly offered me the drivers seat so I could sit and chill. (thats how nice these people are)

There are a lot of Indian fans here even now , all looking a bit lost and sad , my brother arrives from cleveland today , and I will meet up with him . The first game is tomorrow , and I shall be supporting Bangladesh even tho I know Aussies will absolutely murder them !!

...right!!! now its 930 am , and Im off to have breakfast .... more later.

Train to Destination - Gatwick

Right folks !! after years and months of anticipation and waiting the time is nigh!!. I remember paying for these tickets in a lottery system last year , hoping that I would get one !!. little did I realise that after the exit of pakistan and India from the WC, tickets would be going at throw away prices on Ebay. but such is life eh?

On the brighter side I will still get to see Australia knock the stuffing out of Ireland (what a mouth watering prospect) come on the irish !!

back to the nitty gritty , Since none of my ''mates '' are willing to drop me off to gatwick at 4 AM in the morning (lazy fekkers!!) , I have to now catch a train at 4 change at clapham junction , then catch another one to Gatwick (told to me by a robotic voice on the automated system, for some reason they are always scottish voices).

Even though India is now out of the cup , Im still going to have a very wild time , have tied up with fellow countrymen  to meet up with them in antigua, my brother is flying down from the USA with 5 fellow doctors ( no chance of alcohol poisoning then), And my girlfriend is flying down to barbados to be with me on the 10th . so all in all I have about 12 days to go completely crazy befor she gets there :) .

My India supporters shirt is packed , my Indian flag is packed ... a few t shirts ( about 20) a few shorts (about 10) , sun protection cream (never used it before) , flip flops .... and away I go

If Chris and the rest of the team are reading this , I also have the club shirt with me !! along with the duck hat !!, keep an eye out on your screen guys , I will be in all the games in Antigua and Barbados. look for the signs for ''The DADDY'' , or as a few of my other friends know me ''Desi_Daru''

next addition shall be from the sunny shores of Antigua.