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Published: February 27th 2009
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Ah what a whirlwind of a week i have had. To start things off I left Rishikesh with a group of kids and held up in a little hotel room in Delhi, just 3 guys and an indian dog with prone to peeing on everything in sight . But it turned out to be such a great experience. I met some of the best people I have met yet in India, and got to see a city unlike anything I had seen yet. To me Delhi is the gigantic captil, where the East slopily tries to meet the West. Where buildings rise up above the mound of garbage, monsterously large but still stained and smelly. Where you can eat at a subway, while staring at beggars watching you eat. A city full of action and people, but still running on the typical lazy Indian philosophy. It was both exciting and overwhelming to encounter what seemed to me to be a dirty Los Angeles, with more rickshaws and only brown people. But the long nights i had sitting at a rooftop restaurant enjoying the company of some amazing people, was truly the highlight of my week in Delhi.
Another sub-highlight was
when we tried to go to our first bar in Delhi, only to be told we couldn't get in because there was a dress code and my friends sandals did met the standard. We quickly reminded them that they were still in India, but that didn't change their minds. We did meet some nice older, well-dressed Indian men though, who turned out to be a sergeant colnel and a general in the Indian army. They invited all 5 of us the come with them to go to a different bar, and when we piled in their gigantic Yukon, equipped with a personal driver, and a half empty bottle of Johnny Walker black, we knew there was something special about these guys. So instead of a bar, they decided to take us site seeing, so we went to the India Gate, which is a monument for all the people who died in one of the world wars, I am not really sure which one becuase the colnel was slurring his words pretty badly. But we got to go up to it and take pictures with the guards, which apparently you aren't allowed to do at night or something. But also i
am not sure if that was true because someone tried to sell us cotton candy even though it was 12:30 am; it didn't seem like anything too special. So then we went to this really posh hotel and took pictures on then oversized couches and then our army friends took us home. Quite a fun night, for getting rejected from entering a bar.
So then I decided to leave Delhi and head straight down to Auroville to do a little work, rather than just wandering around India aimlessly, so I booked my train ticket and left two nights later. After a wonderful send off from my travelin' friends, and from one from back home that magically was in Delhi, I hoped on the train at 10:30 and prepared for my 33 hours ride. Yes 33 hours... over a full day.. on an Indian train... when its really hot... and obviously rather dirty. But it wasn't so bad, got through most of Kafka's The Castle, slept alot and watched some scenery. And once I arrived in Chennai, I hoped directly on a bus to the main bus station, and then onto a 4 hour bus to Pondicherry. Once i arrived
in Pondicherry, I had decided to stay a night at an ashram to get myself ready for Auroville. However once I tried to check in I realized that I didn't have my PASSPORT. Merely the single most important document for a traveller. What you need for everything. Including using the internet. So I freaked out a bit, yelled at the nice people from the ashram and then appologized, and set out to fix my incredibly large problem. I realized that I probably lost it on the train while I was sleeping and the conductor asked to see it and I was too far into dream land to realize what was going on. I didn't even remember him asking me for it until I thought really hard about it at the ashram. So I ran to the Pondicherry train station and they told me they couldn't help me. Then I ran to the police station and they told me they couldn't help me. Then i ran to the immigration office and they told me they couldn't help me. The general conscensous was that I needed to be in Chennai to fix things, since that is where I lost it.
So
after 4 hours running around there I packed up my bag and got back on a bus back to Chennai. on this 4 hour bus ride I was sexually harassed by an old indian guy that kept asking questions about my sex life, drawing pictures of me while I slept, and putting his hand on my knee, until I politely, but firmly told him that if he didn't stop touching me I would cut his hand off. So then i moved seats when one became available and he followed me, but was careful not to talk to me or get too close. By the end of the ride I was at my last nerve. So after arriving back in Chennai at 9:00, I took a rickshaw to a part of town with a few guesthouses. Then i discovered that there was a convention of sri lankans in town and all the guest houses were full... except possibly for one. The extremely rude manager of that place made me sit and wait for 45 minutes while it was cleaned, and then refused to allowed me to sleep in the room because I only had a copy of my passport. by this
time it was after 10:00 and guesthouses typically close at 11 so I wandered down a main road until a creepy guy came out of the shadows and asked me if I needed a room. In desperation I said yes and followed him down a back alley, with no sign for a guesthouse. But there was one! And after agreeing to pay twice as much as I have ever paid for a room, I had somewhere to sleep. It was a horrible room though, and I watched a lizard attack and kill a giant cockroach outside my room, and then a flourecent lightbulb kept flicking on and off outside my window all night, and my bed was a board. Litterally just a board what a thin but lumpy blanket on top.
.. The next morning after visiting 5 police stations who all directed me somewhere else i obtained the police report i would need to get a new passport at the US embassy in Chennai. I rushed over there before they closed for lunch and 3 hours later had an emergency passport and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I now understand the difficulties of traveling alone, and the
reason some end up hating India. When you really need something important there seems to be not a single person that speaks more than two words of english or is willing to help you. There entire system of doing official business seems like a joke, and when there is no one around to talk you through the tough times, India can feel like a really foreign place. But once things get taken care of, and you step outside into the crazy bustle of Indians, the tear-jerking stench, the mounds of garbage and the beggar-lined sidewalks you feel strangely at home and you feel safe and you feel like you have just climbed to the top of the world (without arms or legs).
Thanks for following my crazy adventures. Namaste.
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Sandrine
non-member comment
:)
Tony! Everything sounds absolutely amazing. I bet you are meditating on your soul and only reinforcing your sweet, sweet glory. I am so happy that you are finally able to take time for yourself (I really wanted to italicize that word) I love your travel blog, I can't wait to hear more, check out this website that I made all by myself: ssy371.aisites.com It changes every week because I'm learning how to be cool online. I love you to tears. MUAHMUAHMUAH