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Published: November 6th 2006
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After a 27 hour train journey we have arrived to Goa where the Sun, Sea and Sand are our new found Gods!
Train Journey;
I must breifely record the train journey, as traveling on train is one of my favorite things about India. As it was such long haul to Goa, we each had a wee bed, 6 in each open cabin. The cabins were about 10 feet high at the most, the bed 6 foot long and about 4 feet wide. My bed the highest (below were two other beds) and bascially you could stick your head out, into the corridor and see other people right down the train. There is no such thing as privacy in India. So this was our little spot for the next 27 hours.
The Indians are so friendly , and it really is like your famous here, some people get very excited if you spend time with them. We are contantly getting photos taken of us and shaking hands ect. I met a big family group who were going down to an engagement party, and sat with them for a bit, talking and improving my Hindi. Also met some guys playing cards on
the floor and spent a bit of time with them. People are constantly comming in and out of the train, selling Chai, water, food,books, really anything and everything. Lady-boys walked up and down the train asking for money as well as the usual women with their babies, and small dirty children who plead for money, and the Shoe-fixers and little boy sweepers who will csweep your area for a small fee.
My favorite part of the whole experience was when i went to have a ciggarette. Your can open the big metal doors and sit with your legs and most of your body hanging out the train. Id sit and feel the warm wind beat against me, and stare into the distance. I noticed that even in the most remote of places there are always some people, who will wave to you if they see you. Im reading a Zen meditation book at the momment, which is teaching me to effectively look at things with fresh eyes, and i was praciticing what i had learned as i hung out the train
Even without this book though, looking out, i felt reflective, inspired and insightful. a sense of
amazement and stillness washes over, despite wizzing through at high speeds, different parts of the country.
THE FIGHT
We left at 10 in the morning, and later 2 am i was wide awake, listening to music, and writing about how beautiful and spiritual India is, when i heard a man really shouting in two cabins next to us. Eventually, it got so bad that someone turned on the light, and i moved to the end of my bed so that i could see what was going on (your allowed to be really nosey in india) A man (i will call him Pradeep) was attacking other people in the lower beds and screaming. There were two policemen that were trying to pull him off. Eventually the policemen came to sit on the beds diagonaly from where we were and seemingly were very calm, as the now obviously drunken Pradeep continued shouting at the people and then turned to the officers. He was screaming and punching the walls, spitting on the floors. The policemen were trying to diffuse the situation by telling him to sit down. Eventually, Pradeep wanted a bigger reaction so started slapping the biggest and tallest policeman. Surprisingly,
the policeman blocked it but didnt even stand up. He continued screaming and shouting. This went on for about 10 minutes, but Pradeep just wasnt getting enough action, so he started to repeatedly hit the policeman again. This time, they both got up and knocked him to the ground and started to kick him really hard. One policeman held on to the two rails on either side of the halls which he used to sturdy his balance and weight as he jumped on him. They kicked him enough that he stopped fighting, to show him that he was not going to get away with this type of behaviour. The police both had guns, which were left on the bed, one of the chambers was pointing to Cubbages bed, so he was sitting huddled in a furthest corner, certain that the gun was going to go off. The policeman did shout to one of the inidans to watch the gun and make sure pradeep on anyone else was going to touch it.
After this episode, the policeman sat on the beds again, Pradeep was bit less confident but was quite free to roam up and down. Eventually after about 30 minutes he was escorted off. This is when we had it translated into english that Pradeep hadnt paid for a ticket and someone was worried that he was a theif so had informed the police. Pradeep was trying to find out who had ratted on him.
So the lesson i learned that night, although India is very beautiful and spiritual, it is also a place of contrasts and extremes. Again, its a Spicey Bombay mix of anything and everything. , We are told, by the locals throughout inida that "Anything Possible" and i agree.
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klintvaz
Clinton Vaz
interesting train ride
haha, yourdescriptive account of a trainride as quite interesting to me. do let me kniw if you need any traveladvice in goa. Clinton , benaulim, Goa, +919890936828