You Can't Always Get What You Want
Boy, do we have a story for you. We must apologise again for the lateness of this blog, but all will make sense when you read the events of the day. We always said that this country loves to throw a curve ball at you, and today we experienced that for real for the first time. Long story short, our train was cancelled. No warning, no condolences, just a man at a train station telling us we wouldn't be able to travel. So, long story short number 2, after a 24-hour ride in a coach we have made it to Varanasi, safe and sound and the boys are all showered, refreshed and tucking into an epic meal. So, for the story:
Thursday 14 December
Sickness Update – Only Cam MacFarlane remains remotely sick, but he would like to make it known it is only on a technicality.
6:30am – a combination of roosters, and Mr. Crook playing The Circle of Life off his phone, formed our early rising alarm. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Crook was then promptly fined for playing a song not on the tour playlist. It was a beautiful morning with the mist perching across the tea leaves and the sun attempting to make itself known.
7:00am – the rugby of yesterday evening proved to be merely the warm-up, as we headed about 500m up the road we had come in on, to the river banks for some sevens rugby. On the opposite side of the river sat endless plains, which herds of elephants call home. At this time of the year, water is at a premium in the village. This, however, made for superb sand rugby conditions. Soft under foot, territory and ball retention would be key, especially against such formidable opposition. Currently, 9 teenagers from the village are on high school scholarships in Kolkata, borne out of their rugby skills. On top of this, 10 girls had recently returned from Hong Kong and France after representing the Indian Women's Team. But, back to the games at hand, of note was the powerful formation that Akash and this writer formed in midfield, our team coming out victors in our fixture. The only loss of the day coming at the hands of some dubious refereeing from Rapson, particularly given he was heard saying "how many points for a touchdown?".
9:00am – it seemed as though Rapson had appreciated his refereeing was errant, so concluded the day by creating a dance battle between the two nations to compensate. Cam MacFarlane delivered a credible 'whip', only to let the group down with his 'nae nae' (a quick google may be required for some readers here).
9:30am – we headed back to the village for breakfast, stir-fried egg noodles.
10:00am – we said our goodbyes to the kind people of Saraswatipur. Each of us felt completely humbled by the experience, and even a little undeserving of the time and love we were shown. For 24 hours, we had been treated like kings, like celebrities. This 'little' village had well and truly got under our skin.
11:00am – let the fun begin!! We arrived at NJP train station to find our train to Varanasi had been cancelled. Not delayed, not re-routed, our tickets not transferred, the entire train just cancelled. After some quick running around, the highlight of which was a less than helpful travel agent, who, after we asked the feasibility of hiring a bus, said no we should not do that and instead enquire about catching a train (!!!!!), we locked in a luxury, air-conditioned coach. Roshan, the leader of the Jungle Crows rugby programme at Saraswatipur, was invaluable in translating – where would we be without these guys!
3pm – our bus was due to arrive.
4pm – our buses' new estimated time, "it's coming".
5pm – "it's still coming, Sir."
6pm – we finally set off in our private coach, inclusive of two drivers and a helper. The good start was, however, short-lived as we parked on the side of the road so that the 3 of them could take care of "documentation formalities". Mild concern struck Rapson and I as we looked up to see there are no longer any of their staff on the bus, and thoughts crossed our mind that they may have made off with our rather sizeable deposit. However, our pessimism was misplaced, as they 'shortly' (only an hour later) got back on the bus. We were off again. Okay, okay, okay.
8:30pm – with the UE Boom speaker cranking, the boys broke into Slice of Heaven by Rave Dobbyn (Dave, to his friends). After the misfortune of today, the boys were incredible, and to have them all belting out the Kiwi anthem was a moment this writer won't forget.
~9:30pm – most of the boys are sound asleep, having been rocked to sleep by the driver's foot pulsating on the brake pedal.
MVP – Ryan Donovan. Ryan is now known as simply "man". I'm not kidding, he even calls himself it in the third person – "man is sick… man had a good sleep… etc." Man is definitely not hot. Anyway, he has been well and truly hit by the 'Delhi Belly'. The poor bloke has had to deal with the old sickness boomerang as well, being hit twice. However, today was man's day. Man kicked his illness once and for all and fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) is back to his usual chirpy self. Man's a champion.
Thought – community is a powerful thing. As Tom mentioned yesterday, the members of the village each take home Rs. 132 a day for their hard work. Yet, the living conditions in the village are far superior to a lot of what we have seen in the city. Despite only numbering a few thousand people, the village consists of both a Christian and Hindu place of worship, a rugby field, a tea factory, and a number of stores. Self-sufficiency is key, with many families farming their own animals and growing their own vegetables. There are defined roles for everyone, a system of transportation into town for school and, as we've said, an extensive rugby training programme to keep people fit and healthy. This superficially poor village is immensely rich in opportunity, initiative and resourcefulness. The result is a powerful model for growth in this country.
Reuben
Thursday 14 December
Sickness Update – Only Cam MacFarlane remains remotely sick, but he would like to make it known it is only on a technicality.
6:30am – a combination of roosters, and Mr. Crook playing The Circle of Life off his phone, formed our early rising alarm. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Crook was then promptly fined for playing a song not on the tour playlist. It was a beautiful morning with the mist perching across the tea leaves and the sun attempting to make itself known.
7:00am – the rugby of yesterday evening proved to be merely the warm-up, as we headed about 500m up the road we had come in on, to the river banks for some sevens rugby. On the opposite side of the river sat endless plains, which herds of elephants call home. At this time of the year, water is at a premium in the village. This, however, made for superb sand rugby conditions. Soft under foot, territory and ball retention would be key, especially against such formidable opposition. Currently, 9 teenagers from the village are on high school scholarships in Kolkata, borne out of their rugby skills. On top of this, 10 girls had recently returned from Hong Kong and France after representing the Indian Women's Team. But, back to the games at hand, of note was the powerful formation that Akash and this writer formed in midfield, our team coming out victors in our fixture. The only loss of the day coming at the hands of some dubious refereeing from Rapson, particularly given he was heard saying "how many points for a touchdown?".
9:00am – it seemed as though Rapson had appreciated his refereeing was errant, so concluded the day by creating a dance battle between the two nations to compensate. Cam MacFarlane delivered a credible 'whip', only to let the group down with his 'nae nae' (a quick google may be required for some readers here).
9:30am – we headed back to the village for breakfast, stir-fried egg noodles.
10:00am – we said our goodbyes to the kind people of Saraswatipur. Each of us felt completely humbled by the experience, and even a little undeserving of the time and love we were shown. For 24 hours, we had been treated like kings, like celebrities. This 'little' village had well and truly got under our skin.
11:00am – let the fun begin!! We arrived at NJP train station to find our train to Varanasi had been cancelled. Not delayed, not re-routed, our tickets not transferred, the entire train just cancelled. After some quick running around, the highlight of which was a less than helpful travel agent, who, after we asked the feasibility of hiring a bus, said no we should not do that and instead enquire about catching a train (!!!!!), we locked in a luxury, air-conditioned coach. Roshan, the leader of the Jungle Crows rugby programme at Saraswatipur, was invaluable in translating – where would we be without these guys!
3pm – our bus was due to arrive.
4pm – our buses' new estimated time, "it's coming".
5pm – "it's still coming, Sir."
6pm – we finally set off in our private coach, inclusive of two drivers and a helper. The good start was, however, short-lived as we parked on the side of the road so that the 3 of them could take care of "documentation formalities". Mild concern struck Rapson and I as we looked up to see there are no longer any of their staff on the bus, and thoughts crossed our mind that they may have made off with our rather sizeable deposit. However, our pessimism was misplaced, as they 'shortly' (only an hour later) got back on the bus. We were off again. Okay, okay, okay.
8:30pm – with the UE Boom speaker cranking, the boys broke into Slice of Heaven by Rave Dobbyn (Dave, to his friends). After the misfortune of today, the boys were incredible, and to have them all belting out the Kiwi anthem was a moment this writer won't forget.
~9:30pm – most of the boys are sound asleep, having been rocked to sleep by the driver's foot pulsating on the brake pedal.
MVP – Ryan Donovan. Ryan is now known as simply "man". I'm not kidding, he even calls himself it in the third person – "man is sick… man had a good sleep… etc." Man is definitely not hot. Anyway, he has been well and truly hit by the 'Delhi Belly'. The poor bloke has had to deal with the old sickness boomerang as well, being hit twice. However, today was man's day. Man kicked his illness once and for all and fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) is back to his usual chirpy self. Man's a champion.
Thought – community is a powerful thing. As Tom mentioned yesterday, the members of the village each take home Rs. 132 a day for their hard work. Yet, the living conditions in the village are far superior to a lot of what we have seen in the city. Despite only numbering a few thousand people, the village consists of both a Christian and Hindu place of worship, a rugby field, a tea factory, and a number of stores. Self-sufficiency is key, with many families farming their own animals and growing their own vegetables. There are defined roles for everyone, a system of transportation into town for school and, as we've said, an extensive rugby training programme to keep people fit and healthy. This superficially poor village is immensely rich in opportunity, initiative and resourcefulness. The result is a powerful model for growth in this country.
Reuben
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