Pramod Ojha went to Lahore [Images] last year hoping to see the Indian cricket team thrash Pakistan. By the end of his trip, he had lost his heart to a country he had been brought up to dislike.

"It was an overwhelming experience. We hear so many negative things about Pakistan but the love and affection we got there was touching," said the 36-year-old businessman from New Delhi.

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"Everywhere we went, we were treated like royalty."

Indians now feel obliged to match Pakistan's hospitality in the Test and one-day tour starting next Monday, the first time Pakistan will play a full series in India since 1999.

The hosts, however, got off to a bad start, with the tour delayed by three days because of a dispute over one of the proposed venues.

Ojha was not the only Indian swept away by the warm welcome in Pakistan during last year's March-April cricket series, an emotive symbol of a thaw in relations between the neighbours.

Apart from a common history and culture, the countries share a passion for cricket which is akin to a religion in South Asia.

There are countless tales from the tour of bonhomie between people of the two countries who hugged, exchanged flags and painted each other's faces in their national colours on the terraces of Karachi's National Stadium during the first match.

India won the Tests 2-1 and the one-dayers 3-2 on their first full series on Pakistani soil in 14 years.

MEETING RELATIVES

Pakistan issued some 8,000 visas to Indian fans, many of whom used the rare opportunity to trace their roots and meet relatives they had left behind after partition in 1947.

"The tour gave us a chance to show how we're actually the same people," said Imran Butt, a Pakistani who works in the Pearl Continental hotel in Lahore.

"We have no hostility, no enmity, that is for the politicians. We, the people, share a bond that goes far beyond a line on a map."

For the return visit, the bone of contention was a Test in Ahmedabad, the main city of Gujarat, which in 2002 witnessed the worst Hindu-Muslim riots for a decade.

Pakistan refused to play a Test there after a security review. The matter was resolved only when they agreed to play a sixth one-dayer in the city as a compromise, after persuasion by Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh.

Some hardline Hindu groups demanded that the tour be scrapped if Pakistan did not play in Ahmedabad and members of Shiv Sena attempted to dig up the pitch at Mohali, venue of the first Test, as a protest.

"They gave us such a grand reception and here we are trying to make trouble. This is not on," said Samir Rai, another Indian fan who went to Multan last year to watch a Test.

India is expected to issue 10,000 visas for the series.

A year of peace talks between the countries bore fruit last week when the two countries agreed to start a bus service.

SHARED PASSION

Cricket has always been twinned with bilateral relations: the tours became possible only after India revoked a ban on all home and away cricket with Pakistan, imposed in 2000.

Work comes to a standstill when their teams play each other, with thousands of fans thronging roadside shops to watch the match on television or listen to radio commentary.

Gunfire increases across the restive frontier in Kashmir and the expectations of millions of volatile, cricket-crazy fans put tremendous pressure on the players.

Crowd trouble has been a major issue in the past.

Pakistan beat India in an Asian Test championship match in Kolkata in 1999 before empty stands after rioting spectators were ejected from the Eden Gardens.

A one-dayer in Karachi in 1997 was marred by spectators throwing stones, before India returned after the interruption to complete their win. Captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth's shirt was torn by a spectator at the same venue in 1989.

Last year's tour, however, went off without a hitch. India's victories were graciously feted by Pakistanis, marking a watershed in relations between the people of the two countries.

"There were problems before, people had bitter memories of partition," said Lahore tour operator Imran Qadir. "But we're the new generation, we have no such issues with India."

"It's time to bury the hatchet."