Day 4: The Charm of Chaguanas, Doubles at Last, and Why Saurav Ganguly is The Man

Two days left for the big game against Sri Lanka. The outfits we wore to Monday's match earned us many compliments but not much press. That has to be remedied. We have just the thing to give us the edge--a made-to-order calypso thanks to Dileepan, the chorus of which we plan to paint on a banner. Our landlady, who is also getting into the swing of things, has given us a tin of white fabric paint. Nikhil and Smi spent the morning looking for cloth to match and have come back with yards of brilliant blue fabric. We plan to devote the evening to getting it ready.

In the meantime, we have places to go and people to see. We think it would be nice for the rest of the gang to meet Adrian Bharat, who lives in Chaguanas. Our guide book tells us that there is an Indian-Chinese restaurant in that town, so that settles it. Chaguanas, here we come!

Our guide book also tells us a street food we must try is "doubles." We've been trying to get our hands on some ever since we got here but our attempts have so far been stymied. You can imagine our delight at finding a doubles vendor as soon as we drive into Chaguanas, especially since the Indian-Chinese restaurant was nowhere to be found.

Chaguanas has to be seen to be believed. It is bustling and chaotic and its charm lies in the incongruity of everything around: a Chandni Chowk-esque town centre where shops selling plastic buckets jostle for space with KFC outlets, a mall where you can buy everything from toothpaste to a bright, sequinned, घागरा चोली, and young men of African descent listening to old Hindi film music that would make our parents nostalgic.

We decided to sample the doubles while we waited for Adrian Bharat. Doubles are two पूरी with चटपटा चना in between, and are absolutely delicious. Apparently triples are available, too. The doubles disappeared in a flash so we caved in and went back for more. While we were at it, we decided we may as well sample everything else on Ravi's list--aloo pie, saheena (पूरी with भाजी baked into the dough) and palourie, which seemed to be a combination of वडा and पानी पूरी chutney. The SUV had a picnic table. We set it up right there in the parking lot and proceeded to devour our food with gusto.

Adrian joined us and took it upon himself to play host and show us Chaguanas. We walked through the Trini equivalent of a सबज़ी मंडी before proceeding to a coffee shop where we treated Adrian to his first ever taste of a frappuccino-style beverage.

Returning to Port of Spain, we got to work on painting the banner, an elaborate operation that involved six people, six yards of cloth, a tub of paint, a paintbrush, and several plastic bags. Not surprisingly, we needed a break halfway.

The girls were keen on "liming," which for us had become synonymous with celebrity-spotting. I, in particular, was looking for some insight into the players as everyday people, an interaction that was person-to-person rather than fan-to-celebrity.

The natural place to start? Apsara, of course. We planned to take a quick peek at the famed guest book to see if there were any reservations for large parties with giveaway comments like "Sri Lanka" in the remarks column. We hadn't bargained for the doorman. I recovered quickly upon seeing him and asked him if reservations were available for an hour later. Veena meanwhile quickly scanned the book and then guilelessly asked the doorman if any players were eating there today.

"Who do you want to see?" he said.

We were thrown by the unexpected question and realized he wasn't going to give an inch, so we beat a retreat and proceeded to our next destination, the Hilton.

A makeshift security checkpoint had been set up for all visitors who were not staying at the hotel. I was the first to walk through the detector; the others got stuck behind a large party of guests who had just arrived. As I waited near the detector, I looked past the line and saw Saurav Ganguly walking towards us, accompanied by David Hemp (a Bermuda player) and others who I presume were Hemp's wife and child. The security guard didn't recognize any of them and held them up, asking Saurav to walk through the detector. Saurav merely smiled and explained that they were staying at the hotel, with no mention of who he was. By this time the others had registered what was going on and told the security guard who he was holding up. Since all of this was taking place right under my nose, it was impossible for me to hide my amusement. Inevitably, I caught Saurav's eye, and we exchanged "hi's."

We didn't see any other players that day but I did get the insight I was looking for. Saurav was clearly a chilled-out guy, relaxed and outgoing enough to go out for a meal with a player from another team. His reaction to being held up by the security guard was, to my mind, both unperturbed and modest. And that's why, ladies and gentlemen, for my money, Saurav Ganguly is the man!

• Who do we like?

• Ravi, the doubles vendor, coz he's cool and his doubles are hot
  
• Saurav Ganguly, coz he's the man!
  

• Not so much?
• Doormen who thwart our efforts at liming
  

• New friends?
• Our landlady, Lystra, who we owe for supporting the Indian team and our banner-making efforts
  

• Favourite activites of the day?
• Visiting Chaguanas
• Eating doubles
• Liming

Tomorrow we head to Tobago. Read about it here!