I have in fact been away for two weeks on a most pleasant passage to India, attending a Commonwealth conference on contemporary English writing in the capital Delhi.
Among the many speakers was the amazing Arundhati Roy (photo), who - more than ten years ago - won the prestigious Booker Prize for her splendid first novel, The God of Small Things.I had heard of her - and her strong personality - before, and of course I had read the book, quite a while before it became famous. But I had never met her before. What a woman! A living example of great spirit, decency, common sense and integrity, and a vociferous campaigner for human rights as well as an inspiring writer.
She had only just returned from Istanbul, where she had spoken in the Bogazici University at the commemoration ceremony for the Armenian journalist and human rights campaigner Hrant Dink, who was murdered a year ago by Turkish nationalists. With people like Arundhati Roy alive and making their voice heard, there is still hope for the human race and this planet.
Even though this has nothing to do with Cricket, I felt it important and worth mentioning here, in my personal weblog. But when one is in India, one is never far from a game of Cricket. So I am very pleased to report that I also managed to watch a number of interesting amateur matches while I was there, especially between various university teams.
I can only say that I am highly impressed by the standard of these young players and by the spirit in which they play the game. Whatever one might say about Australia and England, for me India still is - and always will be - the greatest Cricket nation.
