It's just not cricket

I was thinking that India would be a good place to be during the Cricket World Cup. And then they unexpectedly got themselves knocked out in the first round and so it proved to be a very bad place to be, 1 billion mourners and all that. And then, it turned out to be a very good place to be after all because, not unexpectedly, England got themselves knocked out! And so, we mourned together.

I reckon I might be able to get a game at the next world cup and so I am preparing for it. It will be held here on the sub-continent and so I have been busily getting myself accustomed to the pitches and some unusual variables that I reckon are unique to India. For instance, where else in the world would your game be abandoned beacuse of a camel sitting on the wicket? And in full, magnificent, view of the Taj Mahal?

Compared to Varanassi, this was but a minor shower. Here, on the banks of the Ganges I have played two games late in the afternoon. The first I had to abort taking a quick single due to an onrushing large, Brahman cow that wasn't too keen to give way and which sent me periliouly close to the water's edge. During the second match, I went to take a catch only to be pecked at by a gaggle of geese, enraged at my having distubeed their sleep and then later, a goat headbutted my leg when fleeing from two foaming dogs.

Only in India.