Last year (1999) I was one of the unfortunate idiots who decided to travel to India to watch the Test Match and One Day Series between the hosts and Pakistan amidst as charged and volatile an atmosphere as one could ever imagine.

With the nations at each other's throats in Kashmir and having not played each other at proper cricket (Test cricket) for over ten years, the anticipation and sheer excitement was at an unbelievable level. The first match of the series at Chennai had been one of the most tense and exciting matches witnessed in recent times and being that the team was being managed by one's father gave it a personal interest in how things shaped up.

Mian, as he is known, was called up by the foreign Office people at the behest of the Pakistani High Commissioner in Delhi who insisted that this tour ought to managed, not by the usual PCB talking head but by someone rather more seasoned at the fine art of diplomacy - and so Dad was on his way with the team to face a barrage of rabid threats by extremist groups who threatened mayhem at every step of the tour including the deployment of a deadly battalion of venomous king cobra's!

While the touring party was en route by air to the Indian capital amidst extreme tension, better sense prevailed and Bala Sahib's saffron Sainik's called off their death threats against the visitors and levels of tension came back to a simmer having reached boiling point. It was not difficult to get intoxicated by the thrill of it all and though Anal Kumble turned the tables rather with that historic spell (albeit urged on by Umpire Jayaprakash) and somewhat ruined the party.

Yet it was a truly memorable trip to Delhi, full of activity, hungama and incident. The excitement surrounding the tour rubbed off on us mere commoners and it was a trip that one will not forget in a hurry, if ever. Meeting Mohammad Azharuddin ever so briefly when I was in the company of Majid Khan the former CEO of the PCB - it was strange how his arrogance seemed to shrink and his eyes seem to drop to the floor while shaking Majid's hand. Was it because he knew that Majid knew?

Anyway, having had a ball and a half in Delhi and despite coming down with a nasty and prolonged bout of flu it was ever tempting to make a return trip to India for the upcoming One Day international in Jaipur. Though One Day cricket does not excite me in the least, I have visited Jaipur before and had some wonderful memories of the place. Secondly, the same motley team was reassembling for the Jaipur trek (cousin Fawzia, Majid and Seema Khan returning from Lahore, the glamorous Anj turning up from Karachi) and there was no reason for this part of the trip to be at least as enjoyable as the Delhi trip a short while ago.

It was nothing short of miraculous to come across Mohan Charsi the smooth-talking rickshaw-Walla who had so entertained Mr. Jonathan (Riddle) and myself way back on our shoestring budget trip to India in 1987. I had never forgotten Mohan and when I asked my Rickshawallah if he knew anyone called Mohan, it was just like a scene out of the most unlikely Bollywood film when the man spun around to reveal that he was in fact Mohan - the man I was searching for! We had a joyous, nearly tearful reunion and went and hung out with Jai Bhole Baba at the corner of Maharani Chattree where old Baba looked younger than ever and had cultivated the land with some vegetables and bhang plants. He also managed to look after and feed numerous stray animals. A man at peace with the world and well respected in the community even though he barely owns a shred - Jai Bhole Baba is one of the coolest customers there could be.

The night before the match, Fawzia and I decided to stake out the Muslim area in Jaipur known bizarrely as the "Pakistani Area" simply because we needed to devour some flesh and where else to go but where fellow flesh eaters reside. That evening we forced our hapless guests to eat at the place that we had taken great pains to discover. Not only did we end up polishing the cutlery of the filthy hole it turned out to be, but we also found that the fumes from the tandoor arrived directly into the seating area making it an experience similar to being tear gassed. Then, the food, when it finally arrived, was utterly vile. Meanwhile the word got out through the dodgy waiters that Rameez Raja was within and in minutes a crowd started forming outside. Rameez was never such a star when he was playing for Pakistan, yet now that he is a commentator, he is instantly recognized by millions around the sub continent. Within five minutes we had to flee the place as the crowd started pouring in from all sides to catch a glimpse of the great Rameez Raja! Now you can get an idea as to the hysteria that surrounds this sport in India and Pakistan.

There was tremendous excitement at the stadium the next morning as the match got underway, even though local champion Sachin Tendulkar would not be playing due to a stiff back. The Pakistani's thrashed the local team so badly that it ended up being an extremely dull affair as all one sided One Day matches are. Ajay Jadeja, visibly chummy with his Pakistani opponents, stroked a 90 odd in a losing innings and I decided to leave the match when it became a non contest early in the afternoon and shop for some more fabulous Jaipuri printed linen. I remember leaving the stadium and seeing Mr. Majid Khan failing to fight off bouts of sleep…seriously nodding off. But who could blame him, it being yet another inconsequential One Day jamboree. Pakistan won comfortably and within a day, one was back on home soil.

A year later we are told that this match in Jaipur was one of the multitude's that had been fixed by Mohammad Azharuddin and his cohorts and I feel sick to the stomach that I invested both the time and my money on that excursion only to be ripped off by a low life cheat. I traveled to another country having paid for a Visa and accommodation in hotels and air travel not only from Pakistan to India and back but also from Delhi to Jaipur and back, not to mention the astronomically expensive tickets for the "match". Actually it is only right that anyone who paid money to watch that match and who invested and totally wasted their time on that day be reimbursed for what we lost. I feel anyone who was there on that occasion has every right to demand to be compensated for being cheated by Azharrudin and friends. Would I have traveled to India and gone to Jaipur and bothered with Visa offices etc had I known that the match had been helped on its way by people who feel that the public merely exists to be ripped off?

The cricketers who were involved in cheating the public by rendering the supposed "competition" of matches quite dead, ought to be dealt with suitable severity. They were cheating not on their own behalf's but while representing their nations, wearing the national emblem of their country. Had they tanked their own personal tennis match or golf match bad enough, but to have brought down a whole team due to your despicable antics cannot be forgiven so easily. These individuals who were granted the honour of representing their nations and earning vast quantities of money and fame due to this honour (like Mr. Azharuddin and Mr.Cronje) ought to have the right to represent their country taken away for ever.

They should also be stripped of their nationality and their passports ought to be confiscated rendering them unable to travel. Then all the cheats who have tarnished the game of cricket, brought massive disrepute to their teams and their nations and ripped off the public without a second thought……let them repay the public by having penalties that will force them to serve the public. Let these cheats clean streets, or wash the public toilets or made to work in the fields or collect garbage - some community service twice a week for three or four hours a session. Let these creeps do something useful to try to pay back the public who they so mercilessly ripped off for so many years.

I for one will never again stay up through half the night to listen to cricket commentary on the radio on a freezing December night. I will never again stay up from 3am watching India or Pakistan play in Australia now that we know what went on for all that time. I shall never again waste my money on buying tickets to pay for a match between India and Pakistan. I refuse to be the idiot any longer, being ripped off and taken for a ride by people actually believe that the public are not being cheated when a match is fixed because they don't have any knowledge of which way the match has been fixed and for them it is still a fascinating contest! (as claimed by Shoaib Akhtar to a fellow air passenger).

So long as this mentality and total lack of respect for the paying spectator or even armchair cricket fan remains in evidence, it is very, very difficult to ever again part with one's money or even invest one's time in the sport.