A chance reference in the Times to an Indian Professor, now living in Cambridge, brought to mind a trip to India some years ago when I first met him.
Holidaying with Don meant one might end up anywhere, sometimes wonderful sometimes not.
Once we spent a week in a Maharajaha's beautiful Summer Palace, now a hotel. Another time we stayed at Mahabalipurum near Madras. The English Test Cricket team had just spent a relaxing week there. The waiter showed me the bedroom where Prince Charles and Mrs. Bandaranika - former president of Sri Lanka - slept. "Not" he added hastily "at the same time". When I complimented the chef he took me to see his immaculate kitchen with its tandoori oven!
On one occasion we hit rock bottom. We went by bus to a small market town. The bus was already full, but at each stop new arrivals crowded on. They were obviously regulars. Don gave up his seat to an elderly lady carrying a scrawny live chicken in a basket, who fixed me across the aisle with a beady malevolent eye (the chicken not the lady).
Don went to the bank and I went to find the Savoy Hotel. It was in a small garden and didn't look very inviting. I booked a double room with a bath. Don came and we went to the dining room for a pot of tea. There were dozens of flies. We ate dinner there sitting at a table with a checked cloth - no flies! Don said they were all in the kitchen. We hoped the super hot curry would counteract the germs. Don asked for a sheet for his bed. He was brought a checked one suspiciously like our tablecloth.
Next morning we saw the aforementioned Indian Professor come out of our bathroom. We later discovered this was the only bathroom in the hotel! I hope the Indian Professor does not have to share his present bathroom in England with all comers.
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