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Published: August 12th 2008
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Bollywood Stars!
We're holding our 500 Rupee note. Oh India! I want so badly to love you but you're not giving me a very convincing argument.
The last couple days have been a bit rough. We missed our train out of Mumbai to Jodhpur. Most trains depart from the Central Station, but unbeknownst to us, ours was scheduled to leave from Bandra - a suburb of Mumbai. One muddy obstacle after another, we made it to Bandra 15 minutes after the train had left. The best (and therefore very popular) way to travel through India is by train. Tickets must be purchased several days in advance to get a seat. We had our whole trip planned out; missing this one train meant that we will miss all our other trains. Luckily we can refund each ticket, but getting new tickets will be very tricky.
There were no other trains available to get out of Mumbai, so we decided to take a bus. We had been warned to avoid the buses in India, but we really had no other choice. I reasoned that all throughout southest Asia we traveled by bus - some were comfortable and some were not, but we always managed just fine.
How I
Waiting
We were a bit bored while we waited for hours for our scene. wish we would have heeded the warnings! The 24 hour ride was absolute hell.
Naturally, the bus didn't show up until two hours after the departure time (after all, we are in India!). The bus had both "sleeper" and "sitting" areas. We paid for a sleeper ticket, which consisted of a built-in bed on the upper level of the bus. The moment we climbed into our area, we noticed water dripping from the light on the ceiling. I told the bus driver what was going on, and he walked over to see what I was talking about. He nodded his head, and made some sort of positive sounding grunt. I was sure he was going to return with duct tape. But no, we never saw him again. We grabbed a small plastic container and placed it under the drip. Though we collected several cups of brown water, we were no match for it. After a couple hours the bed was soaking wet, which means we were soaking wet. And we stayed like that for the next 20 hours. We might as well have been strapped to the roof.
We've been on a lot of bumpy rides (the roads
in Cambodia aren't even paved!), but this ride was out of control. The bus shook so badly our insides hurt the entire way. To top it off, it's tradition to blast Hindi music on bus rides. Our bed was right next to the speaker, and I am sure that the unreasonably loud, shrill woman singing permanently damaged my hearing.
AND, the bus so was so crowded! There were way more people on the bus than there were seats. People were sleeping in the aisle way.
I will NEVER take a bus in India ever again. If we happen to fall into the same predicament as we did in Mumbai, we will fly home before we get on another bus.
This isn't the only thing that has tainted my view of India. I am absolutely flabbergasted by how pushy people are. We've taken the subway several times now, and it's a fight for one's life during the peak hours. As soon as the subway stops, a herd of yelling men pile onto the train, pushing or stepping on anyone in their way. It's entirely animalistic. Never in my travels have I experienced a more rude and dangerous occurence.
I read a couple weeks ago that 145 people (mainly women and children) died from a human stampede in India. It's inconceivable to me.
The other day Brad hopped on the train and it started moving before I could get on. Despite his yelling (and my screaming from the platform), the men at the entrance wouldn't move so that he could jump off. By the time he was able to get off the train, it was moving so quickly that he fell to the ground as he landed. Fortunately he got away with only a couple bruises and scrapes, but it really shook both of us up.
Really, there's a population problem here. I read that India's population is set to surpass China's by 2030. The poverty is astonishing. Something has to change, but what's the answer to the problem?
Ok, ok...despite all the negativity above, and did had the most fantastic time the other day being Bollywood extras!! We were recruited along with other "white people" to be in the background of a new TV show debuting at the end of this month. The scene was meant to take place at a university in London (ironically
A Birthday Party
On our walk home, we came across a group celebrating a birthday in the streets. Tons of music and dancing. enough, none of us were British. Our group consisted of two Australians, two Pols, two Germans, and three Americans). We started our day at 8AM, and they didn't end up shooting our scene till 6PM. But all the boredom from sitting around all day was completely canceled out when it was our turn to be filmed. It was a blast. And we were even paid 500 rupees a piece for our time (that's about $12 for each of us. Doesn't sound like much, but it paid for two nights in our hotel).
Our insane bus ride brought us to lovely town called Udaiper today. I think things will start to look up here. I've heard nothing but good things about the state of Rajasthan, and the plan is to spend most of our time in India exploring this area.
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