Can Anyone Hear Me? by Peter Baxter

Author:Peter Baxter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cricket, test match special, bbc, sport
Publisher: Corinthian Books
Published: 2012-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Tuesday 2 February 1993

As I was leaving the hotel for the ground, Bob Bennett was doing the same and expressed an interest in the walk across the Maidan, which he had never attempted. So I advised him to take his blazer off and fold it to hide the England badge to avoid being mobbed and off we went, across Chowringhee Road, through the alley to the bus and train station and onto the Maidan. We crossed the foul-smelling ditch by the shack that is the Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club, arriving at a busy junction.

Yesterday, when I was trying to cross this junction, I queried with a policeman the use of the traffic lights. ‘What does red mean?’ I asked.

‘It means stop,’ he told me.

‘Why does nobody stop?’

‘Because all Calcutta’s traffic is controlled by hand.’

Thankfully we got across without delay today and Bob thanked me for the experience as we arrived at Eden Gardens.

Passes are always a problem in India, because everyone seems to be after them. On recent tours one accreditation from the board has usually been sufficient for all matches, but in 1993 every game required hours of negotiation and trying to establish who the key person for issuing passes was.

By the time we got to the third Test in Bombay I had had enough.

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