The Other Religion - Cricket

Last weekend the 1st Sri Lanka vs. India Cricket Match was held at the Galle International Cricket Ground so it seemed rude not to go. Things weren't as easy as they seemed, however. Not having Ticketmaster here, getting tickets proved interesting. The best I could do was to get a colleague to phone a friend who, in turn, knew one of the security guards at the ground, to tell me when the tickets went on sale. Can you believe that they weren't available until the day before the match started?! I pitied all the Indian fans who were travelling here not knowing if they had tickets or not. In the end we managed to get 8 free tickets through a variety of sources so, with sun cream, cameras and binoculars in hand, we set off for the first day.

The centre of Galle and all around the ground was decked out with banners saluting Murali, Sri Lanka's famous bowler. Prior to the match, he already held the accolade of being the highest wicket taker in both test matches and one day internationals. He had announced that he'd be retiring after this particular game and, as it started, he was 5 wickets off securing 800 wickets. Life-size images of this google-eyed hero were everywhere. A song to him had even been written and was played at every break over the load speakers in both English and Singhala. You've never heard such a kitsch tune: "From the east to the west, the one days and the test, red ball, white ball, no ball, dead ball; the world knows he's the best."

Actually music was the theme for the day. The match was introduced by a performance from 3 school marching bands. Their first piece was, rather incongruously, the tune that goes with "Hitler has only got one ball; the other is in the Albert Hall". I'm sure you know the tune and it got stuck in my head until they they tried a rendition of something that we all recognised but couldn't quite place until someone realised it was a Beyonce number - very strange. The sad thing was that they were totally out of tune and off beat! The bands then dispersed to various parts of the grounds and the "Battle of the Bands" commenced with almost permanent music going on throughout the day.

On the TV the pitch and the grounds looks pretty professional, but in reality it's a mess! We had tickets for a specific tent but, on arrival, none of the officials had a clue where we were supposed to sit. Sarah went back on the 3rd day and was told that our seats were actually in a totally different part of the ground. Around the pitch (is that what you call it in Cricket? (sorry for my ignorance!)) there is a raised bank on which make-shift awnings had been erected with plastic seats under most. We were under a Micromax awning, the main sponsors for the test, whose tag line is "Nothing like Anything" - what they're expecting the consumer to take away from that, I really don't know. Behind the bank is just a swamp of un-draining water. On a baking hot day, to have to keep avoiding the puddles was rather odd! Many Sri Lankans don't even bother paying the 200-300 rupees to enter the stadium as they can sit on the Ramparts of the Fort next to the ground and watch for free.

The crowds certainly got into it, egged on by the bands. One tent for all the school boys in their pristine white uniforms, were the most into it as they jeered/cheered on every bowler and batsman. They kept their spirits up all day. Apart from a slightly extended lunch break, we lasted the full day, too, until things were called off due to poor light (due to the impending and very vicious rain storm that followed) at about 4.30pm. We adjourned for High Tea at the Amangalla Hotel, a very posh place in the fort, which I'm sure is how all Cricket matches are supposed to end.

Unfortunately, due to work, I couldn't go to any more of the days of the test. You'll be pleased to hear, however, that Sri Lanka won the game and Murali achieved the 5 wickets he needed so he's retired on a high. He's even going to get a special award from President Rajapakse now for his achievement - lucky guy! As you can probably tell, I know very little about Cricket, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the day and am looking forward to the next one. For anyone who is interested, the Cricket World Cup is being held in both India and Sri Lanka next February. Unfortunately Colombo is the only Sri Lankan venue but it still might be fun for any ardent Cricket fans out there.

A day in the life of...

A normal day for me starts around 6am. That isn't when I get but that is when the sweeping starts. Sri Lankans are born sweepers and there isn't a better time for them to sweep than at the crack of dawn. Most women are up at 5am so I guess it is logical to get the sweeping out of the way before going to work and, no matter how much you clean, the dust gets everywhere. Anyway, I let myself slowly wake up to the rhythmic brush, brush, brushing and then get a rude awakening with my cold shower. Most of the time a cold shower is a welcome relief here, what with the constant heat and humidity, but I do dream of a warm shower occasionally.

Breakfast for Sri Lankans is string hoppers and curry. For those of you who have read my last blog, you'll know that Sting hoppers are like vermicelli pasta served cold in little bird nest shapes. They don't do much for me at the best of times so you can imagine my delight when I found that the newly opened Keels Supermarket in Galle has started to stock Dorset Cereals. I know they are expensive but, oh, they are worth it!! Over breakfast I try to learn my 10 Sinhala words for the day. My flat is strewn with flashcards with all sorts of words, some of which will be useful, and some of which I will probably never need to now. I have an Sinhala lesson once a week so I hope my comprehension skills will continue to improve.

I head to work at 8.10am on my bike. I have a Chinese bike with no gears which, although it was new when I got it, is already rusted and the breaks are crap. The quickest way to work is about 2.5 km which includes lugging my bike over the railway tracks at one point. It is a bit of a gauntlet dodging the dogs, cows and goats not to mention all the school children and their parents (as there are no pavements here) and the tuk tuk drivers who never look or indicate. Fortunately there is no road rage here (apart from me cussing under my breath every 10 seconds) which is a good thing as blood pressures would go through the roof due to the ineptitude of the driving. Diabetes is already extremely high here, due the incredible quantities of sugar that is eaten, so it's good not to have further ailments on the nation's plate.

It takes me about 15 minutes to get to work and then about another 15mins to stop sweating. A pretty picture - I can tell you. They have recently got the air conditioning working again in our office but I think I preferred it with the fans. The office is an ugly building. Architects in Sri Lanka should be shot. It was built about 10 years ago and is already dilapidated. The ground floor and half the 1st floor are rented out to a bank and leasing company respectively. The Chamber's main office is on the 1st floor with the administrative staff, the Chairman and the secretary squeezed into a small but light office. Behind that is the board room which is a dark, dank room with a strange outcrop of rock in one corner and no decoration bar the dowdy pictures of past Chairman staring down. The 2nd floor is made up of a large auditorium which is in need of a major overhaul. The flat roof constantly leaks which means that the floor is patchy, the roof it stained, the A/C is patchy and the iguanas and rats can be seen running across the light fittings in the roof. Next to it is a large but extremely unappealing canteen with a kitchen off it which looks like something out of the middle ages. The whole space needs a lot of TLC and cash spent on it. Finally, I'm on the top floor. There are 3 classrooms for the "Chamber Academy", a bright and airy "library" (with a few token books that are arranged in the oddest order), a computer lab, some stinky loos, and the project office. Yours truly is stuck in the Project office which is a dark, gloomy space in which 5 of us are housed. I'd read about it being important where you work but have always taken the amazing facilities that I've had at P&G and then at Glendinning for granted. I've realised what a negative affect this horrible environment has on my attitude to work. I think if the room had more light, it would feel better. The fact that there is a flood in the middle of the floor every time I come in after a night of rain is less of an issue!

Work starts at 0830 and as I tuck into the "To do" list for the day, most of my colleagues get their breakfast out, along with the day's newspaper, and head to the canteen to have their breakfast. It doesn't seem to matter what you actually do here at the office but rather that you're in on time. My days are pretty stress-free with me either working with a staff member to develop a project proposal or work through the finances, or meeting with a Director to understand their business and get their feedback on some ideas for the Chamber. I've realised, though, that I need more stress, in a positive sense, to get a kick out of work. The less work I have, the less motivated I am.

By 12pm, I'm normally starving, so I head out to either do some errands in town and buy a snack to eat at me desk, or I head to "Sahana Coolspot" for some vegetable fried rice. The owner of Sahana's, Mr Saman, is a Director of the Chamber and a really nice man. His Hotel (for some reason all restaurants in Sri Lanka are called Hotels) is in the centre of town and one of the most popular. The staff are starting to get used to me now but still insist on giving me cutlery even though I eat with my hands, as the Sri Lankans do. Lunch is officially 30mins but, if I need to head to the post office and glue my stamps on and my envelopes shut (self-adhesive hasn't got here yet), I often need more time.

The afternoon continues much the same as the morning apart from the weekly English lesson that I've agreed to give the staff. I could fill my time entirely with English lessons if I wanted to here and no one can quite understand why that's not why I've been sent here. Even the Chairman only really praises me for the fact that the staff are speaking more English now. There are 2 levels within the staff - the OK and the terribly shy. I am slowly trying to work on the latter to get their confidence up but it's tough in a culture where students haven't learnt only to answer when they're being asked a question. It means that the more confident are always chipping in with the answer not letting the other speak.

Come 5pm, I'm ready to get away and, like my colleagues, clock watch for the last 15mins or so of work! Some evenings I head to the Lighthouse hotel, a beautiful place a couple of kilometers from work which was designed by the famous Sri Lankan Architect Bawa. Why he didn't teach his colleagues a thing or two, I don't know! They have 2 beautiful pools and a small but perfectly adequate gym. I've become a member and I'm trying to go 2 or 3 times a week and either swim or run. One night a week I have my Singhala lesson given by an English teacher, Geetika, who is a great teacher when she is not running around sorting out her 1 year old daughter who draws on the walls all the time. Sri Lankan mothers let their kids draw on the walls and then, once they grow out it, repaint the house and get on with life. I can never imagine you letting us get away with that, Mum! At least one or two nights of the week I'll meet up with one of my friends here for dinner. There are some very nice and expensive (although not in British terms) places to eat and them some OK and cheap places to eat in Galle and the nearby Unawatuna so we're always spoilt for choice.

Once home I either do the tasks I hate (like clean and sweep (like a good Sri Lankan!)) or enjoy like catching up on e-mails home. I then often watch a DVD. I've got really into TV series here given the fact that DVDs (copies) are really cheap. The problem is that they get very addictive and one's promise of "I'll only watch one" soon goes out the window. Someone was telling me that your brain reacts in the same way when you meet a good friend and when you watch a TV series. It's sad but true - you do start to feel the actors are people you know. I finally wind down from the day reading a book on my E-reader which I really recommend to everyone. I've been able to bring 120 books here to Sri Lanka all on something the size of 1 small paperback. The hounds of the baskervilles next door normally have their howling contest at the time that I want to sleep but, tucked up in mosquito net, it doesn't seem to matter and sleep comes easily.

Night, night all....click!