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Published: January 12th 2006
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My family
Johnson, Joel, Jibi and Jessy, my family. Two days on a train in India? A good way to see the country or sheer madness? Well both.
Firstly buying tickets for Indian railways is an experience in itself. I knew that I had to book ahead for a long journey but didn’t account for the post New Year traffic. So when I arrived at Trivandrum railway station and saw the large reservations hall full of people I knew that I might not get the seat I wanted. I pulled a ticket from the machine to get my number and found that there were 106 people ahead in the queue. So I went to enquiries counter and hussled my way slowly to the front. Are there any 2-tier air-con seats are available for the 8th of January to get to Jaipur? No, only sleeper class (no air-con) and there is only one train a week, luckily on the 8th. Looking at the queues I decided it was better to get back to the peace of Varkala and book my ticket at the station there, which I duly did. Costing 857 rupees (12 pounds) for a two-day journey.
So at 7pm on the 8th I arrived at Cochin station with a
the platform
The brothers take a walk and buy food at a station along the way. bag of bananas, oranges, cashew nuts and water, plus backpack. I found my carriage on the mile long train and falling over suitcases, carrier bags, boxes and people found my berth already occupied by an Indian family. I shook hands all round, waved my ticket and found a space to sit while the bags, boxes, etc were stored under lower berth, on the top one or on the floor when space ran out. Chains appeared to secure the more important bags against potential thieves.
A third (3 tier) berth was the backrest for the lower seats during the day. Two more berths ran across the window next to the aisle to make 8 berths in our ‘compartment’ although there are no dividing doors in the carriage. I think it wasn’t until early the next morning that I decided that there were 9 in the family group, including grandma and two children, plus me and an Indian gentleman all booked for the 8 berths.
For the next hour people came and went and the train filled up and, at 7.55, the whistle blew, a few strays jumped on or off the train, and we headed into the darkness. ‘My’ family for
last south
Sunset over southern India the next few days spoke little English and I could communicate best with the two children and a little with their mother. After about an hour some of the bags reappeared and rice, curry and pickles were divided out and, still feeling rather scared of what I was doing, I ate a banana and a few nuts. Soon after the feast the middle berth was set up, sheets pulled out of yet more bags and we all took our places to sleep on the blue vinyl seats. I had a lower birth and, tucked into my sleep sheet with my small rucksack as a pillow for safety, I surprisingly fell quickly asleep.
I woke early the next morning and headed to the waterless toilet compartment to clean my teeth with bottled water. Soon the rest of the family woke and the berths were returned to seats for the day. I breakfasted on bananas and cake that the family shared with me. Vendors walked up and down the carriage and cries of ‘Chai, chai, chai’ or ‘kafi, kafi, kafi’ soon became familiar. The chai (tea) was a brew of water, milk and sugar in an urn with the tea bag added
first Rajesthan
First views of Rajesthan to individual cups.
I turned my attention to the landscape and even after twelve hours it was still very lush and green with the coconut palms and waterways of Maharashtra and Goa. Later in the day we went up into the hills of the Western Ghats with many tunnels that blew fumes into the open windows.
The day seemed endless as I struggled to sit in my small space although we took turns to stretch out and occasionally sleep. I started to make better friends of the children, Joel and Jibi, and drew some pairs of picture cards for the memory game which they loved, although Jibi, the little girl was good at cheating by examining the pictures through the back of the paper. They were also fascinated by my digital camera and had fun taking photos of all the family.
More vendors thankfully appeared at each station selling samosas, pani (cold water), and at lunchtime a delicious thali (rice and curry) for 30 rupees (40p). Rubbish was disposed of in the usual rubbish bin of India - out of the window.
The next night the performance of setting up our berths was repeated soon after we left Mumbai station. Half way through the night the cold woke us all and extra blankets and in my case sleeping bag were extracted. The muggy hot nights of the south were far behind. I continued to sit huddled in my sleeping bag through most of the next morning, much to my family’s amusement.
Despite not having much common language, I think the family adopted me during the journey, particularly as I kept Joel and Jibi entertained much of the way. At one station on the last morning when I had a rare empty seat next to me a man sat down and started trying to chat. “What is your name?” “Where is your husband?” “How old are you?” “Are you a ‘happy’ person?” .. moving closer .. I shrug him off and the father and mother opposite quietly stare at him till he moves away. It was nice to have the feeling of being protected.
The landscape had now changed considerably to wide open spaces of fields. Some fields looked familiarly like the yellow oilseed rape we see in Britain. Later as we entered Rajesthan it became drier with areas of rocky semi-desert. Other features that became more noticeable were ox ploughs, camel wagons, brightly coloured turbans and hill top forts.
Finally at 3pm on the second day (only an hour late) we pulled into Jaipur station. I was sad to leave my new family but said goodbye as they pulled out their assorted belongings and tumbled out onto the platform. Thank you to them all for their warmth to this lone English traveller.
I was soon caught up in the mayhem of Jaipur rickshaw drivers. I sensed that Rajesthan was going to be harder to deal with than the warm, friendly regions of southern India.
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