Rose early to pack and take breakfast. We leave the hotel at 9:15 and Muhtu picks up “Wing Commander” Senuwasen along the way, who chats a lot but ultimately does little for us.
We check-in, buy some cancer sticks for the Duchess and hunker down in the club lounge, where I write up quite a lot.
Board early, Take off early and land early. We actually make contact with the driver, Tuma, before the time we were even due to land!
Some confusion over our destination (41 Lighthouse Street, wheras he thought the Lighthouse Hotel). Then a money stop, water stop, and several attempts to borrow a knife or scissors to liberate Daisy’s medicaments.
Daisy spends much time on phone to Aranthi (a.k.a. George).
Met by Prageeth and Roshan at 41.
We have booked dinner at Galle Fort Hotel. Lovely ambiance, but set meal – still quite a good one. Thai fishcakes, followed by chicken malaise style (not) with a gado-gado salad with corn fritter, prawns, and kerpuk, followed by sorbets (home-made) washed down with a Rose D’Anjou – probably will eat in from now on though.
Then a quick once around the Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple– a dead or ruined temple but in reasonably good condition.
Leaping locals at Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple
Ged [that’s me] downed a drinking coconut (fleshless). Then on to see jacquard silk saris being made – we bought three cotton shirt/kurta things there.
We arrange extra trip to cricket, so agree to do edited highlights of Mahabalipuram. First stop, Bhagriratha’s Penance and the Mandaras, bas-relief’s in rocks and in some porticoes respectively.
Daisy eyes up the Mandaras
Then on to Pancha Rathas (Five Rathas) very elegant ruined temple site which we explored quickly.
Pancha Rathas
Then we set off for the MA Chithambaram stadium. Sanjay points out highlights of Chennai proper on the way (e.g. Saint Thomas’s Church and the ultra long beach).
Then the stadium. Sanjay helps us find the gates for the best seats (Rs.500 not the 200, 100 or Rs.50 seats for us) and takes his leave of us. Unbelievably putrid smell from the toilets. Mr “No Smoke, No Photo” on security and waiting. Loads of people taking photos so we join in only for Mr No Photo to challenge us. Daisy sorts him out.
We see the end of the Zimbabwean innings – and start of the South African innings. Then leave to find Muhtu.
Lots of traffic and interesting scenes on the way home. Find lots of gifts in our room and rapidly a call from the manager who tells us dinner is on him!
Of course we have been moved to the front table as requested last night. He comes down to meet us, everyone (staff) fawns over us while the guests all gawp at us.
We try bouillabaise, then I tried lobster, Daisy tries Khuta fish and we get mash, fries and lots of veggies, just as we asked for them.
As well as the Wasabi mayonnaise we tried yesterday.
The unlisted pictures from Chennai are in the album below:
Rose early at Gateway. Packed grub arrived (chicken sandwiches). So did Jolly & Abhichek on time, as we were for a flight.
We got to the airport right time for check-in to start, in theory. In practice, check-in open half an hour late.
Much haggling over excess baggage with nice check-in man and horrible female enforcer who increases the amount from nine hundred and ninety six to one thousand and sixty rupees. We’ll get by.
After the flight from Visag to Chennai and a drive…
Arrive at Fishermans Cove thanks to driver Muhtu and less so Wing Commander “Chamindavass” (Senuwasen).
Check in and orient ourselves at Fishermans Cove.
Here is a rather weird promo video about the place – worth 18 minutes if you like or are intrigued by this sort of thing:
https://youtu.be/6neUqtr6yM0
Following a light pasta lunch – carbonara Daisy & mushroom asparagus Ged – have a stroll around looking at facilities, cottages et cetera. Arrange to eat at seafood restaurant.
Clean up and skeeter up (navigating two power cuts) and then go to lobby to back up photographs etc. Decline invitation to cocktail party.
Ask for our table to be held for half an hour but we are bounced to a rear table – oh well. We start with prawns and Daisy moves onto prawns well I try parrot fish. Minuscule potato and veggies (remedied) but risk the ice cream yummy.
I flake but Daisy endures another power cut and invasion of the power police who blame the toothbrush! Not funny.
We find a suitable spot to see the Bonda women come down to market. Lots of photos. Not too many tourists.
Once Daisy gets bored with that, she starts to play with the local urchins. Skipping and racing with the children. Also chatted with one young bow and arrow man against the best advice, but no one seemed aggressive or rude towards us.
Sooner be playing with the other kids?
Then down into the market stopping at school to shed the last of our pens. Some confusion over the pens here, as the principal thought I was trying to sell them rather than donate them . Huge thank yous when the staff realised that the offer was a gift.
We see Gadaba and Didayi women down there and perhaps a little more rudeness, but still not much. Bitterly disappointed with the lack of rudeness – not – we head back to Jeypore.
Gadaba womenDidayi woman
We draw money and buy some flowers, glimpsing at the local movie house showing some Chinese movie. Then on to visit Rajesh and Shobha Toshniwal. She excitedly shows Daisy her arts and crafts wares – a mixture of commissioned work based on tribals and tribal antiquities.
Meanwhile we take Rajesh’s coffee (he is Karaput’s “King Coffee”) and Shobha’s commissioned some samosas for us (veg but not Join – she is Jain).
Daisy buys a choker, a belt, a hairclip and an artwork.
Late – we dash back to the Hello Jeypore to pack and say “goodbye Jeypore”.
Long drive to Visakhapatnam, with comedy cattle in Orissa and race for a pre-dark peepee stop.
Amazingly – roads improve one in Andhra Pradesh – we get to Gateway before eight, despite Jolly and Abhishek not knowing the exact location and Cheten the fixer not fixing!
We have a huge double room suite. The dining room lacks ambience but does have chicken satay, lamb biryani, black daal, spag bol and Suma wine.
A further 120+ pictures from Orissa (unlabelled) can be seen in an additional album, though the link below:
The main album of 65 photographs for Orissa can be seen through the link below:
Early start – up and out by six – kerfuffle over light breakfast due early (Mr Tutu said last night) but the boys didn’t turn up – no matter – dash off at six without breakfast.
Seriously early start
A vista stop and a peepee stop, then the really bumpy road gets us to Chatikona market.
A local helps us to find the right place to spot the women arriving. They are Kondh people – Dongria Kondhs (nose ring middle) and Desia Kondhs. Not unfriendly on the whole, but not too friendly either.
Dongria Kondh, then.Luxury transport? You’ve been Kondh!There are two types of Kondh
Daisy buys the bangle from the helpful man.
We then explore the market properly for a while – Daisy buys a book on the local arts and crafts.
There are two types of Kondh
Back to hotel for wash, disgusting cheese sandwich, beer and check out.
Long bumpy drive back to Jeypore.
Ged needs a nap. Daisy tapes up the massive gap between terrace door on suite floor in the “White House”.
Here we do dine in the semi garden – Jolly dresses in a red kurta korner for our last meal together – Cheten joins us at the table.
The last supper
Becardi kebab (chicken). Tandoori chicken. Then chicken butter masala, mixed veg, daal fry and rice. Beer. Not too bad – perhaps we should’ve stuck to Indian yesterday
A further 120+ pictures from Orissa (unlabelled) can be seen in an additional album, though the link below:
Our album of pictures from Orissa (Odisha), 65 of them, can be seen through the following link:
Long drive today but no great rush to get up so we don’t rush. I do write-ups on restaurant terrace. Breakfast of Dhokla (gram – Gujarati sponge – two varieties).
Fond farewells to all and we are away.
Scenic
Just the odd scenic and peepee stop until Jeypore, where Jolly seems to be in the “Hello” an inordinate amount of time, but when we find him chatting to the owner/manager it’s “no problem”.
Also see a French “friends” from the Rainbow in the midst of negotiations.
Soon after that (past Koraput) we find a suitable picnic swap spot using a lari for shade. We eat the last of the Bastar “home cooking” – Jolly’s chicken samosas, which were excellent.
Don’t tary too long in the lari
Long drive on to Rayagada, where we have a little trouble finding the Hotel Tejaswini but it is a small town so problem quickly solved. Presidential suite is a bit OTT and windowless, but large.
Jolly let slip that he is a Maharajkumar (brother of a Maharaja) so we are offered the mosquito garden (no thanks) or private dining room (yes please) to have beer with our supper – a rather poor choice on our part of Chinese noodles (two types) but we were “rice & daaled out” by then.
Over dinner we learn that Gerard and Raj had a barney over the missing cardamoms from Raj’s desert last night!
In addition to the Orissa album, linked above, there is a collection of over 120 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:
Our album of pictures from Bastar, more than 100 of them, can be seen through the following link:
Reasonably early start – didn’t get much writing up done. Off this morning to see the caves.
Jolly get several calls to say that we are in the state papers – he arranges copies for us. The Bastar Sun has a detailed article on the back page with all material details wrong…
…whereas The New India has a picture of both me and Daisy on the front page with less detail.
We were supposed to see Kailash caves, which are supposedly easy, but they are not open, so we go to Kotumsar cave instead, which, judging by the Bastar book, is a more interesting cave. It was a little tricky, but just a little.
Then to the Teerathgarh Falls or rapids (as Jolly calls them) where we meet lots of monkeys.
Picnic lunch in a rudimentary café (they don’t seem to mind) and then into town work out the meaning of cowrie (shells used as jewellery formerly used as currency and religious symbols) but the manager explained it to us at length. Yes, at length.
While this cowrie business was being explained to us (at length), the door attendant excitedly pointed out me and Daisy beaming out from the front page of The New India, so we discussed that at length as well.
We returned early. Ged ducked out of cricket in favour of reading up and some R&R before dinner.
Dinner comprises tomato soup, chicken steamed in bamboo, caullie, carrots, potatoes, rice, daal and roti. Raj keeps us company (whether we like it or not) and serves us his kheer (rice pudding), which Ged thinks would benefit from sweet spice but Raj and Daisy disagree. Jolly attended to his business and we furnish him with Nurofen later.
In addition to the Bastar album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:
Our album of pictures from Bastar, more than 100 of them, can be seen through the following link:
I got up and out a bit earlier than Daisy this morning – did write-ups and took breakfast ahead of her.
Got away 8:30 to visit Nayanar, (speaking Halbe, Gondi and Bhatri). Bison Horn Maria village.
No school today – Sunday – but plenty of kids who enjoyed the skipping rope.
Then the tribal dance – older folk do the dancing in this tribe (no ghotul system) and so it is a slower, more sober affair (they’ll be drinking soon enough in the market).
The chief came out to welcome us and after the main dance & invited both of us to join the respective female and male roles – good photo fodder and we both seemed to amuse the locals.
After a stroll through the village we were all dressed up with no place to go – 11 o’clock in a place where the market gets going at 2:30 to 3 o’clock. We decided to go back to Jagdalpur.
Daisy donated Jolly’s skipping rope to the children, which was very kind of her/him.
A girl from the village has been feverish and sick for some time and a fever has returned so we agreed to take her to the local village hospital which turns out to be a rudimentary doctors clinic but better than the shamen stuff as she probably has typhoid or at least some form of dissentry. Uncle comes with her and touches Jolly for some money, which looks dodgy to me and turns out later, via Chetan (Jolly’s fixer) to be just that.
On to Jagdalpur.
First stop, The Palace, site of the Jagdalpur massacre in 1966 and home of Jolly’s cousin Hari. Hari isn’t there but we look around.
Then Jolly phones Hari to say we’ve been, only to find out that Hari was arriving home, so we have the whole thing explained to us again by Hari who seems very sweet.
Next stop the Rainbow Hotel, Bunty’s place. Primarily for toilet and refreshment (coconut water) but it transpires that Bunty’s restaurant overlooks the local cricket pitch and there is an Interstate 25 over match in progress.
Bunty suggested that I might help out with some commentary, which I thought was a joke, but it turns out they like English commentary and a semi-pro commentator is announcing away over the PA in immaculate English.
Soon enough there is a kerfuffle and I am told to get on the back of a motorcycle as my commentary stint is due to start very soon.
I am welcomed into the chair while the commentator quickly summarises the game so far, then the scorer keeps whispering the score and key facts to me.
Daisy is also biked around to join me.
Soon I’m in my stride, but towards the end of my five over stint I can hardly see what’s happening on the field of play as I’m surrounded by reporters and photographers.
When a wicket falls, I am two balls shy of my stint and I decide to handover (heck, I can’t see) and am then taken aside for interviews at length for the local TV cable network City Cable Jagdalpur & quizzed by some other reporters. Daisy is also interviewed. Tremendous fun.
We say our goodbyes [to our new friends the cricket commentators and jourtrnalists] and walk back round to the hotel. Jolly is thrilled too.
We set off back towards the market, stopping at a Dhaba – Keslur Dhaba in Keslur – daal fry, chicken curry (half), tandoori roti.
Then on to the market, which is named Pamela market and is far more of a fun fair than a market. Cock fighting is the centrepiece. Stalls are mostly food and booze and the people are almost all very friendly, some drunkenly so!
Back through Jagdalpur, where we buy a couple more hard tennis balls and another skipping rope, +3 pairs of sandals for me. Then back to the resort late, but Jolly and the lads all seemed keen for a quick match.
Ged made a bad decision to field in a fading light game, but in any case Jolly and his team are much better today scoring 54 and Ged’s team manage a paultry 14. Jolly top scored with 30+.
Then some time to wash and change. Chicken supper (hot and sour soup to start) and Gulab Jamun desert.
Relatively early night. That had been some day.
In addition to the Bastar album, linked above, there is a collection of over 200 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:
Strange things can happen when you travel in India but this event, from Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, in the central plains of India, must qualify as one of the strangest things that has happened to me in my entire life.
I reported this story at length on the King Cricket website, under my nom de plume, Ged Ladd. Janie and I have nicknamed each other Ged and Daisy for as long as anyone can remember. Click here or below for the story and further links.
Frankly, some of the comments are better than my report – it is worth reading for them. King Cricket can be like that.
Below are the two newspaper articles that appeared at the time. First up, the front page of New India:
Front page news in New India
Ameya from the King Cricket site has kindly translated the substance of the above article as follows:
The New India headline says ‘Bastar weather is great for cricket’. The article mentions you saying that Bastar has conducive weather for cricket. I’m assuming you were simply commenting on the weather that day.
Article goes on to say that you and Jenny (they get your names right for the most part, except you are Iaan) are foreign tourists, that you are cricket fans, that you encouraged players, and that you did commentary on the game ‘in English’.
Next up, the back page of the Bastar Sun, which got a great many of the material facts about the event wrong. I recall us having quite a laugh with Jolly about that article at the time. I shouted out to the King Cricket community, “perhaps someone now would care to translate it for us in full”…
Back page news in The Bastar Sun
…and Ameya kindly obliged with the following:
The Bastar Sun is where things get more interesting. The bold black font headline says ‘London’s John Harik does commentary’. The smaller red blurb says ‘Foreign player does commentary’.
You are John Harik and your ‘associate’ is Revis Harik. No mention of marriage or professional commentary anywhere. [apologies – that was my inaccurate recollection]
The article says you (cricket lover from London) and your associate were enjoying the match when the organisers spotted you and requested you to do commentary. You proceeded to ‘enjoy the responsibility’ for about an hour, and also chatted with and encouraged some senior players.
As for the match itself, Konta Chhattisgarh won the toss and chose to bat. After making 172/8 in their 25 overs, their seam bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Bhavanipatanam Orissa’s openers. While the spinners did apply some brakes, the match was over within 22.2 overs. Rinku top scored with 77(71). The writer was puzzled as to why Konta chose to bat first, to which one of their officials said that they didn’t want the pressure of a chase and wanted to set a high score.
