Train Thoughts

Train thoughts
A few words come to mind; filth, entrapment, discomfort and microcosm.
By the end of 44 hours Leigh and I felt like we barely remembered the outside world. Unfortunately, our seats had a clouded window, which it was impossible to see out of and so the promised scenery was out of reach for us. I did on occasion venture between cars to a train door, open it, and revel in the countryside whizzing past—it is quite stunning. The soil here is bright red, from clay or iron it is uncertain, but the contrast with the green jungles and rice paddies is beautiful. The villages and huts and nestled in among vast fields and cliffs of foliage, it was extremely exciting after the desert climate and big city ambience of Delhi.
On the train you sit four to an area, Leigh and I had foreign tourist quote tickets (only four are available per train) and so there was one other American in our arrangement. And then there was Imrat [pronounced um-rut (roll the “r”)]. Somehow Imrat, a native, was seated amongst the tourists. He spoke perfect English and was a gentleman, but he wanted attention all the time. By the end of the train ride he had completely fallen in love with Leigh and was referring to her as a princess and all the rest of it. Ridiculous really, but highly amusing. Imrat taught us how to play the Indian version of the card game “bullshit”. It’s way better and Imrat is hilarious when he’s trying to lie—you can imagine from the picture.

Unceremonious Arrival in Kochi/Ernakulam
We tumbled off of the train at 4:45AM in Ernakulam and had been told that our boss, Mohanan was going to meet us. Well, 6:00AM rolled around and we were still just being stared at by passer-bys at the front of the train station. It was too much. We took matters into our own hands, pulled out the guide book, lugged around our bags and found a hotel to stay at two blocks from the station. Throughout the next day our cell phone would ring and we’d answer and understand excerpts of conversations in pigeon English, from people we were pretty sure were from HPWDS. Finally at 9pm, Mohanan called and clarified that he would be there the next morning between 9-10 to pick us up. Thank goodness.
Mohanan arrived at 11:30. Welcome to Indian central time.