Chandigarh is called India's cleanest and greenest city. But interestingly not through any result of its own policies and plans, but rather through that of a French architect. Le Corbusier was given a dream commission - design a city from scratch! What city planner or architect would not jump at the chance to start with a clean slate and design the perfect city?

The result of his design and thoughts and philosophies is Chandigarh. The city has big broad boulevards more likely found on the Champ d'Ellyes or in Buenos Aires 9th Junio Straza. There are trees galore and parks and other open spaces and even an artificial lake and almost no traffic lights. Apparently it is like Swindon or Milton Keynes - just in India! It seems that no expense was spared and the architect went berserk! At the time concrete was de rigueur and in amongst the trees, parks and green spaces are buildings of the 50's and 60's boldly built in grey and boring concrete!

Le Corbusier decided that each city block would be a mini-city all of its own and totally self-sufficient. The facades of the blocks are the shops and other residential services and the interiors are the residential areas themselves. It is said that his philosophy must have worked, because the property prices are the highest in India for this property sector! We had a look, and relative to what we had already seen, it seemed pleasant. But we don't know enough about the Indian property market to comment with any real seriousness....

But a very surprising aspect of the city is Nek Chand's Rock Garden. This man had a vision to take rubbish and re-cycle it into art pieces that eventually took the shape of today's Rock Garden. There is simply nothing like in the whole of India and makes for an interesting afternoon out to wander through the tunnels and alcoves and buildings and separated areas of the Garden. It certainly seemed like a well visited place as Indians spent plenty of time here too. But the disappointing part was that there was rubbish in the water features and tucked into nooks and crannies with plenty of obscure graffiti where it could go. It just seems that nobody really cares about something as unique as this.....it just seems that it was made, hijacked by the politicians and then left to rot. There just seems to be no thought to the future or preservation or care for future generations. Just enough to get by seems to be the mantra that India lives by. Sad, but true.

Since we were here, and India cricket fans are renowned for their passion for the game and their support for the national team, it seemed that it would be an amazing experience to be in the seething cauldron of a Test cricket stadium! But the stadium was in nearby Mohali and a rickshaw ride away......it might have been on another planet.

The difference between Chandigarh and Mohali is stark and that difference became apparent the minute you left the precinct of Chandigarh. One Aussie we met told us that you knew you were in Mohali when the roads became third world! How right he was. It seemed they had never EVER been repaired since they were made! The just-enough-to-get-by syndrome again....

Two day of the test started and the stadium was empty. Surprising really when the Little Maestro Sanchin Tendulkar scored his 12 000th run and become the highest scoring test cricketer ever (for non-cricket fans, this is a big deal)! As the day went on, and the sun beat down ferociously, the stadium was only a 1/3 fill! Most of those were school kids bussed in for the day. It turned out not to be the most inspiring cricket as the Indians massed a huge amount and began to knock the Aussies over before the day was out. The Aussies just seemed to melt in the sun.....but that was not such a bad thing, really! No wonder the Indians stayed away.

But we were left with a problem. We could only buy tickets for the whole 5 days. Even though we only wanted to watch just one day! There was just no facility for anybody to buy a ticket for one day. And they were not the cheapest either. In other cricket countries, you can buy a ticket for one day and the tickets for the last two sessions are sold at half price. Other countries seem to recognise how to entice supporters/customers/consumers through the gates. But this problem was not just confined to this test match. Each test stadium was virtually empty and the reason being, certainly voiced by many commentators, was that the administrators were trying to match a fast buck, but had badly misjudged the cricketing public! Funny that....get as much as you can for employing the just-enough-to-get-by syndrome again....