How to Travel in India

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Hello,
I am still staying in Gokarna and will probably be here until the end of the weekend, so I thought I'd take the chance to describe the experience of actually traveling in India. First of all you need to choose a form of transport to get to your next destination. Keep in mind that distances are long and roads are slow. Trains are comfortable, fast and cheap, but always booked solid, which means you'll be stuck standing up for your entire journey. Private car hire is popular for big groups, but for one person it is expensive and unnecessary. Walking is nice for a few kilometers, but soon the sun will start beating down and you'll need to stop. This all boils down to the fact that soon you and the bus will become well acquainted.

So you arrive at the bus station. You need to travel over 500 km to a town too small for most locals at your starting point to have ever heard of. Soon you start naming off towns en route. When that receives only more confused looks, you start to name out the names of any cities you know that are north, the direction you are headed. Soon you have a crowd of twenty people all determined to help you find your bus. Unfortunately each one of these twenty people has a different idea of which bus you should take and where it leaves from. After a few hours of being led to phantom bus stands you realize its getting too late to go tonight anyways and your best bet is to find a room. You sleep.

The next morning you wake up determined to make it. You cleverly grab a bus headed to the next city north, only about 100km away. This bus is a private bus decorated in shrines to the Hindu deities Vishnu and Ganesh. Vishnu and Ganesh help to keep this iron bus safe as it careens through traffic. Hindustani Pop and Indian Reggae blare as the gods watch over the bus Unfortunately Vishnu and Ganesh show little regard to a passing Suzuki as it passes too close to the bus. You arrive a couple hours later than expected, but hop onto another bus headed north. This bus drives at a more relaxed pace. A much much more relaxed pace. Every couple kilometers the driver gets out and starts walking around trying to find more passengers to cram in. You arrive at another bus station - repeat a few more times and go to sleep in a shabby bus stand guest house knowing that tomorrow - yes tomorrow! - you will make it to your destination.

Such is the experience of traveling in India. Now you would think this of travel would be frustrating - and it certainly can be. But there is still one important thing to add - the other Indians. The people with whom you are sharing these packed careening tank-like buses not only manage in these conditions - they thrive in them. On each bus ride anything is possible and everyone is ready to chat. Fruit sellers with oranges perched on their heads. Young university students fluent in English and well versed in world affairs. Women in bright saris. Muslim women wearing abbayas and burqas.Old men in lungis. Young men in jeans. During the ride women sit up front and men in the back, but personal space is shared and of course the guy next to you wants to sleep on your shoulder. But then he will wake up and start to chat, followed by a chai stop, after which you will part ways and the whole process will start anew on the next bus.

Well, my bus adventures will probably be on hold until I head up to Mumbai next week. As exhilirating as this type of travel is, it is also exhausting and I'm just starting to make more headway into learning yoga. I still haven't found good quality AA batteries, but starting next week I am hoping to have more photos included but this is India, and anything is possible. I will post one blog about the town of Gokarna over the weekend. Also, someone seriously cranked up the heat the last few days here - its far too hot to go on the beach during midday now.

Take Care

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