Same again

So day 4 started went pretty much according to plan. Woke up with the noise of the staff at about 7:30am, put on my running pant and ran the 1.5 km from our end of the beach to the other side and back. Its a fantastic way to start the day. Everyone small beach resort is just starting to stir and the farmers have just led the cows onto the beach.

If you time time it right you can see the local fishing boats coming in trying to sell their catch to the highest bidder. On this day i was in for a treat as they had dropped a huge net in the sea and were busy pulling it in on either side with the help of other fishermen who were hoping for a share of the catch.

I continued my run to the end of the beach quite briskly as i was going to go back and get the camera. The end of the beach was one of my favourite places on Palolem beach as there were no huts there where the river led into the ocean and i could do my training in peace. I looked forward to seeing the resident white-bellied sea eagle perched on the coconut palm over the river searching for prey, and on this day i was in for a treat. Not only was the eagle there but an Indian gentleman was perched on the bank of the river having a daga. Not pleasant.. I did a quick u-turn and headed back for my camera (no - not to take a pic of him).

By the time got back to the fishermen with my camera they had almost pulled in the net and had drawn quite a crowd. We all waited in anticipation to see these seasoned veterans full off Indias greatest catch. Could you believe it... the nets were completely retrieved and they managed to pull in about 5kg of fish. I felt really bad for them as i am sure many years ago such an exercise would have yielded many more fish. Dejected, they folded up the 100m long net and put it back in the boat. I had my pics so i went back for some coffee.

The late afternoons on Palolem bring about a most interesting scene on the beach. The tide practically races out to sea and does not return for hours, exposing a perfectly flat ocean floor brimming with sea life. The children search for starfish and crabs collecting them in buckets while some of the locals search for clams under the sand with forks and spoonsm seemingly collecting a potential meal. I'm just there for the cricket.

All along the beach, cricket matches are being played with intensity. The wickets are hard and flat and the rivalry between the local boys and the tourists could not be fiercer. Playing with them, i soon realised that whenever i went into bat they would set a perfect field in order to tempt me into a false stroke. A hook or pull shot here would result in the ball landing in someones lap or lunch, but a ball sent flying over the resort into the trees was seen as bad form and frowned upon. I loved every minute of it and the only thing stopping us form playing all evening was the returning tide which would wash away our stumps. I took great pride in being a South African in India as they do love our people, if only due to seeing our cricketers on tv, then so be it. But i got along with all of these young boys and they invited me back every day to pit our cricketing brains against eachother.