Ahmedabad

The largest city in Gujarat, in western India, and where Harry went for the 2023 Cricket World Cup final. He returned a month later to film there, so the page covers both trips.

First impressions in passing: some pollution, camels on the roadside, which he wasn’t expecting, and a visibly Muslim population alongside the Hindu majority. Local dress is the kurta, and the kediyu for men.

The stadium

Vast. The man beside Harry puts capacity at 110,000; Harry guesses closer to 130,000. The seats feel near the pitch despite the scale, drinking water is provided, and the crowd is not exclusively Indian — South African, Dutch and English supporters were in the stands.

Two things he singles out. The crowd cheers Virat Kohli as an individual in a way he says he has never seen for one player. And there is a fighter jet flypast that he does not see coming at all.

The stadium samosa is not, in his assessment, a good samosa.

Going for a big match

The practical content of the video, and it generalises:

• Hotel prices multiply. A room normally 3,000 was 5,750; another opened at 10,000 for two nights and settled at 7,000. Harry’s read is that roughly $80–100 for that room is supply and demand rather than value, and he says so without complaining about it.
• Places fill up. One hotel was simply full; four were tried in total.
• Haggle anyway. His successful line at the fourth was that Hinduism holds that you treat a guest as a god, so he should be treated accordingly.
• Flights are the other cost: about £115 booked last-minute, five hours delayed to make way for charter traffic, with the whole aircraft going to the same match.
• Tuk-tuks quote high on match day. 900 asked, 400 paid, against 300 on the ride app.
• Buy the fake shirt. 200 rupees against 1,000 for the official one, plus 200 for a flag — about three dollars for the full kit.
• Security is heavier when the prime minister attends, to the point that accredited press were unsure of their access.

Alcohol in a dry state

Gujarat prohibits alcohol. Visitors can buy on a permit, and the shop Harry used was in the basement of a hotel, entered from outside — he describes it as a secret shop. Indian whisky ran 1,100 rupees, about $15, on top of which he was charged a 100-rupee processing fee that did not appear on the receipt and which he could not get explained.

Drinking in the street will get you moved on.

Gujarati food

Entirely vegetarian, and not by preference. The explanation Harry is given is religious: eating meat is a sin, and so is drinking. Tobacco is not.

The nine-course tasting menu he ate runs nasta with dips, a chaat course including a deep-fried leaf under a sweet sauce that he calls the best thing he has eaten in India, a steamed course, a palate cleanser, a thali built as a pyramid, dessert, and a ninth course that is a betel-leaf digestive. The kitchen works with 24 different vegetables and no two diners get the same plate; a printed book is supplied to explain what each thing is.

His own rule for eating it: mix everything together and be creative, because there is no wrong way.

Other things in the city

• The Science Park was recommended to him as one of the best things to do here. He rates it two out of ten. The nature park contains no animals and the penguin enclosure he describes as a jail rather than a sanctuary.
• Weddings happen in the street with cars, drums and a DJ, and Harry walked into one uninvited without difficulty.
• A Tibetan market: Tibetans displaced by the Chinese occupation live and work in India with the government’s permission.

Barbers

A salon Harry used was 55 years old, started by the current barber’s father in 1967, when a haircut cost one rupee. The barber has cut hair for 35 years, trained by his father after leaving school at ten.

The price list: haircut 200, shave 100, head massage 200, face massage a further 300. The head massage escalates into a full-body treatment with oil, a vibrating machine, the ears, the neck and the nose — which Harry describes as freaky and fun in the same breath, and which he says you cannot get anywhere else.

Harry’s tips

• Book the room before the tickets. This is the whole first half of the video.
• Check the ride app before agreeing a fare, even on a day when everything is inflated — see haggle with a reference price.
• Support the home side. Harry’s own note is that having no stake in the result made the day far more enjoyable than watching England would have been.
• Get the permit before you look for a drink. Gujarat is dry and the shops are not obvious.
• Ask for the book at a tasting menu. He had no idea what he was eating until they handed him one.

Source

• Flying to India for the Cricket World Cup Final 🇮🇳 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQaykEs5goo
• James Bond Finds Love in India (Bollywood Edition) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih1ch75Y2Gc
• $1000 USD Street Food in Delhi, India 🇮🇳 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTuWzwwsTks