In April 2018 Aaron toured India with a group from tri-force cricket. He had a great time but it was actually his second time in the country.
His first time was when he and Deb travelled with me on a short business trip. I think he was probably 5 or so and we thought it would be great to have the meetings and then spend some time in India. It didn’t quite work out that way but it was a great experience anyway.
We landed in Chennai Sunday afternoon with the car trip to the hotel being a wonderful introduction to the country. A 6 road intersection sums up the order from chaos that is life in India. Car separation as we know it doesn’t exist, they were so close that the car door would not open and in case of an accident the only way out of the car would be through the window. From the front passenger seat I could have reached into the car next to us and scratched the drivers left ear.
Car trip safely negotiated, and having checked into the hotel I later walked back to the intersection to watch, transfixed, as the people and cars threaded their way through an intersection designed to carry a fraction of the traffic. But they all made it though without incident. A testament to the people.
The next day was another reminder of life in India, a huge water pipe ran past the hotel and we were greeted with the sight of a man having a shower under a spray of water leaking from one of the seams in the pipes. On the inside a luxury hotel, on the outside a spray of water from a leaky pipe is a communal shower.
After a day of meetings we were then on a plane to Mumbai and more insight into life in India. The next morning during the car ride to our hosts offices, I glanced to the left and looked straight into a family home, where a small child was sitting in a bucket having a wash, a floor of dirt and a tarpaulin for a roof but the home was clean and tidy. To the right was a world class data center, air conditioning, suites and expensive watches. The distance from the haves to have nots, one narrow street.
We would have liked to have spent some more time in India, but I only had a week and due to school holidays could not make it back in time for work. Instead Deb booked us 4 wonderful days in Phuket. Aaron spent every minute on one of the many water slides that dotted the resort. One afternoon, Aaron, now being the water slide aficionado spotted a young English lady going slow on his favourite slide. He raced off and helpfully suggested that if she took off her rashie she will go much faster. One small problem, it was a bikin top Aaron suggested she take off, not a rashie. A little embarrassing at the time but funny as.
On his favourite slide in Phuket.