It is festival time in Edinburgh at the moment and the whole city has a really happy and cheerful look about it.

The festival attracts performers and tourists from all over the world and there are lots of shows, theatre, and musical concerts happening all over the city.

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, the santoor maestro, was here for a day as well. Apart from the actual festival, they have what is called the "fringe" going on all around the city.

The people who are not able to perform at the actual festival still come and perform in small halls, parks, gardens and basically anywhere they can find a place - there's even a comedy performance in a cemetery.

If you walk around the city, it's like there's a street party going on all the time. The summer, though, is coming to an end and Kaif, Yuvraj and I will play our last couple of games next week before joining the boys at the camp.

I hope that they would have gained something from the experience and along with Sehwag (who unfortunately had to go back earlier, just when he was beginning to show them his "special ability" as one of his teammates called it) and will be better off for it.

Both Kaif and Yuvraj may not have scored the volume of runs that both they or their Counties would have liked but just talking to people on the circuit, both of them have not been found wanting in effort or attitude.

It's very easy to lose interest and give up when things aren't going your way but they have worked hard and tried their best and have been good ambassadors of Indian cricket. People tend to forget that Kaif and Yuvraj are just 22 years old and with not much of Test cricket experience behind them (you can play any number of one-day games but it's just not the same).

When I first played County cricket for Kent, I had already played four years on the international circuit and had toured and played lots of Tests and one-day cricket.

Even then I didn't find it easy. You learn a lot when you are constantly being challenged and forced out of your "comfort zone" and the experience of staying and playing in a different environment could only have been good for them. All the three of them are very talented and hopefully have a long future in this game and this will have made them tougher characters.

One of the great joys of playing in a team sport is that you get a chance to build friendships and relationships with the people you play with and it will be with mixed emotions that I'll leave Scotland next week, it will be sad to leave the new friends that I have made here but I am really looking forward to catching up with all the boys and reviving some old friendships when I meet up with them in Bangalore, where from all accounts, they seem to be having a tough but enjoyable camp.