Stuck In

​Today, we spent a large portion of our day in the company of the Jungle Crows. This incredible organisation is a rugby club founded here in Kolkata, which uses rugby as a medium for social development. To give you a concrete example of the work they do, in a few weeks time they will be holding their annual Winter Camp, which sees over 1000 kids from around Kolkata journey into their Headquarters to get involved in the game we love. We have been lucky enough to spend extended periods of time with members of the Crows on previous tours as well, and have had some of the senior staff come out to New Zealand to visit. You will be hearing a lot more about these great people as we head on. To read more about what they do, have a look at their website - http://www.junglecrows.com/index.html​ 

Finally, before I get into it, a massive happy birthday to 2015 tour participant Bennett Chapman for yesterday. We hope you enjoyed it big fella. 

Wednesday 6 December

7:50am​ - the boys are woken up by the two morning warriors, Tom and Mr. Jordan, with the latter particularly chirpy as always. As mentioned, our lovely abode was apparently only re-opened for business on Friday. Clearly, this was a week too soon as any attempt at a morning shower was met with a pitiful dribble out of the tap. This could be a smelly week. 

8:20am​ - the group walked down to Blue Sky Cafe for breakfast. Now, let me tell you, this place is an absolute institution. While Hotel Emirates appears to have wisely invested the bank rolling that the India Immersion Programme has been to it, Blue Sky Cafe has employed no such wisdom. As Mr. Jordan muttered, "the only thing that has changed in the last 6 years is they've wiped that window". That said, their breakfast is second to none in Kolkata, and a mixture of chocolate-banana pancakes, omelettes and the famous Tibetan bread were consumed. Of particular note, poor old Michael Derevianko consumed the bravest meal so far, a breakfast vege burger, with some tap-water washed lettuce adding some crunch (good luck to that man). We were joined by Harinder Singh and Paul Walsh, manager and founder of the Jungle Crows rugby club, respectively. Great to see them both again! And more to come on the Crows later. 

10:30am​ - we arrived at Newmarket. Yes, Newmarket. Visually, I want you to imagine 277 Broadway, in Auckland. Are you imagining? Good. Now, go as far from that as you can, and then a little bit further, throw in some 'fresh' meat markets, an accompanying overwhelming stench, a bunch of proud 'emporium' owners, and, sadly, a number of beggars, and you have Kolkata's Newmarket. The boys were given 500Rs (approx. $10NZD) and a challenge - 40 minutes to barter and contend with the various store owners, in order to come out with the "most beautiful gift for you". Highlights were another questionable purchase from Benjamin Lerner (this is becoming a theme), and Rowan Burns with the best bartering technique of the day - give your initial offer as all the money you have, then be forced to pay this price (we hope the small wooden elephant is a great momento, Rowan).

11:40am ​- we set off on a walk around the block. We stopped at various sites, including Kathleen's Sweets (yes, Kathleen makes a great sweet) and finished at the Maidan. The Maidan is the Auckland Domain equivalent and, as you can imagine, is filled with various cricket games. The boys take in a high-level high school game, with a middle order batsmen crushing 30 off one over. The outfield is covered in rubbish, there is no boundary indicated, and the main batsmen doing the hitting refuses to wear a helmet - a bit of a contrast to the pitch out from the Old Boys' Pavilion back home. In the background, a political rally roars - groups upon groups of people march, sing, chant and toot. The juxtaposition of the two scenarios was not lost on the boys. 

12:40pm​ - Hot Kati Roll's were enjoyed on Park Street, the Kolkata equivalent of Queen Street. These delicacies somewhat resemble a a burrito, with a fried naan bread wrapped up and filled with spiced chicken, paneer, onions, some special sauces, and a squeeze of lime juice. From here, the group returned back to the Hotel for some well deserved R&R. The boys were given the options of blogging, sleeping, or hanging out on the rooftop garden listening to the tour playlist. 

3:20pm - the group met on the rooftop of our hotel to hear from the first two experts in the field - both Zac Morrow and Aaron Wyllie delivered superb speeches about Kolkata and Indian Customs respectively. 

4pm ​- after leading the group around the streets of Kolkata so far, I decided to take a back step and let Tom take a turn. A five minute walk to the Maidan turned into half an hour, but we eventually made it to the Jungle Crows' rugby field. There, 20 of their most promising rugby players were mixed in with our 22, and a lengthy game of touch ensued. MVP must go to Rowan Burns - the bloke was everywhere! Sam Lindberg walked off claiming to have taken the opposition to 'whack city' - whatever you say mate! From there, we moved to the Crows' club house, the Ranger's Club, for some Sprites and chats. Stories were shared and laughs had as the group learnt about the life stories of those growing up in the City of Joy. In the midst of all this, we had our first sickness casualty, poor old Leo Smith. Despite what you may think, this is an extremely prestigious moment (I was the first to get sick in 2015) and hence a celebratory ceremony will be had tomorrow morning. Absolute champion, Leo, as he was smiling straight after. 

7:20pm - we said our goodbyes to the Crows and made our way from the Ranger's Club to our destination for dinner, Arsalan. Biryani was the specialty dish, and the highlight of the evening saw Lachie Dickson consume a deadly little green chilli, after having his toughness questioned by the duty manager. Thirty seconds later and the joke was on Lachie as he wretched in pain, only to have his prayers, and pities answered, with a bowl of creamed rice to soothe his mouth and ego. 

9:30pm - the group returned to the hotel for debrief. Given the eye-opening and fast-paced day we'd had, discussions were lengthy, and centred on what they had observed. We asked the boys to share their highlights, lowlights, things that had surprised them, excited them, and everything in between. The level of candour and honesty was outstanding, a real credit to the boys given the levels of tiredness.

10:15pm​ - straight to sleep, with some relieved bodies knowing another hectic day is in store tomorrow.

Thought - the concept of pride is not foreign to the boys of Auckland Grammar School. Today, as we waited for our Hot Kati Rolls, there were a group of workers painting the railings that partitioned the road from the footpath we stood on. About a metre in height, these railings had no doubt been around since the British were in India, and had seen better days. Clearly employed by the government, the workers were using an old rag to re-paint the railings into a new shade of metallic blue, which ultimately did little to rejuvenate them. At the foot of the railings lay piles upon piles of rubbish. It occurred to myself, and a number of the other boys watching, what a pointless exercise of government power this seemed to be. Yet, you could see the detail and time these workers were spending on their task and the value they placed on their role in this enormous city. Later, the conversations we had with the Crows demonstrated again the enormous sense of pride the people have for this city, and country as a whole. We are all proud of certain things, but the people of this city are brimming with it. 

MVP - Hotel Emirates' plumber. As previously mentioned, this hotel has had quite the renovation. Now, usually, one would expect that upon re-opening, all t's would be crossed and all i's would be dotted. However, the lack of shower pressure (by lack I mean zero) resulted in the plumber being summoned, and what a great man he was. He first journied into the staff's room, turned some taps, had a bit of a look at the shower head, and came to the conclusion that "technical difficulties" had struck the hotel and that further advice would need to be sought. Fast forward an hour and we had a minor flood on the roof as the water tank overflowed. The front desk was informed, and the helpful man behind it accompanied me to the roof to inspect the issue. The urgency of the situation was stressed upon him, as we let him know that his great plumber would clearly be required again, or risk his hotel being flooded. Where was the plumber, good Sir? "Ah, no, he has taken lunch" was the reply. Shortly after, the leak stopped flooding, and our showers started working, all without the help of the plumber. A great bloke indeed, hope he enjoyed his lunch!

Reuben