Asha & Saahasik (Hope & Adventure)

Update #4

bmarieyoung — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:12:00 GMT

Here is my update #4 since last week...

For clarification, I successfully landed a seat on Malwa Express and settled in for a long evening and morning/afternoon on July 7th. Remind me to elaborate on the first leg of the train journey, where I basically shared a compartment with 3 separate families traveling together to Bhopal. I observed them this whole time and they were polite but very much a busy, large family trying to keep their kids together and laughing and chatting with each other while I looked on, intermittently sticking my nose out the window where the breeze flew in from the Indian countryside. Overnight was "OK" because at least I slept (the first time in a day or two, give or take), although it was on the lowest bunk and I didn't bring a sheet with me. So I improvised, wiping with my CVS hand sanitizer packs and using my dry-fast towel for my head. Oh boy was it a long journey though, without the WATER bottle I had left in the WRONG upper berth (2 cars away) and the bananas purchased for me by Jihyun :( Oh what sadness it was...however...here is the rest of the story (please note the "rupee story" that will be told in years to come!)

Train ride continues during the early morning hours; noisy but affable families leave at Bhopal stadium & I have new companions with another 6 hours (ended up almost 7) hours left until I would arrive at Indore BN Train Station. I was not prepared to be awake for those daytime hours...not prepared for Malwa Express non-AC, sleeper class. No water, left behind the previous night in the flurry of confusion & Indians boarding. Simply one bottle of a Coca-Cola brand mango drink mixed with some water the "big" family shared with me. And no food. Did not want to leave my seat, which was not even my original S5/9; and paid the price for my self-consciousness and vigilance to my belongings.

By the time I muster up courage to purchase a "garam chai" (hot masala tea) for 5 Rps, I pay the opportunistic chai-seller 100 Rps (indeed, enough for 20 chais) PLUS 5 rupees, in my complete disorientation and eagerness to get the money out of my inconveniently-shaped, under-the-clothing passport slip-bag...note I DID NOT realize that I had taken out both denominations (I must've wrapped the 5 rps with a 100 rps bill) and avoid eye contact with the ubiquitous drink/food sellers that pass by our aisle from then on.

But at last! A friendly new family with post-college daughter in Software Engineering and mother who shares their sliced cucumber with me (my new compartment neighbors starting from Bhopal station), maybe taking the hint of my water-deprived existence and thus taking pity on a poor, clueless and disoriented traveler. At an obscure stop 2 young Indian men sit down in our section. I finally work up the audacity to ask them if they are students in full-blown English and in doing so settling the speculation in Hindi that I am..."Japani"...

More miserable immobility until, unbelievably and amazingly, INDORE. Outside the station immediately confronted by another sleazer, to which I was unwilling to bear any longer after the experience in Paharanj..."NO, JA-LO!" picked up my belongings, and marched away to the other end of the exit/entrance. First autorickshaw experience (Indian traffic is notorious for a reason, and Indore's even more unplanned and lawless than Delhi's), a bit of confusion (where is 180 Bhamori), and I FINALLY arrive at the Institute...

Update #3

bmarieyoung — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:47:00 GMT

Much to catch up on since it is already Tuesday, June 14, meaning I've been here a week and 2 days. I've got to hurry this up because I just popped a Malaria tablet and now I'm starting to feel a tad queasy. Where did I leave off? Ah, yes...Malwa Express 12920...

1) I stood at Platform 3 on one of the hottest evenings of my life in the chaos of the train station, with my backpack sagging heavily onto my shoulders, shades on to avoid stares, and balancing a Mango drink, a water bottle, a bag of small bananas, and my train printout without any of them touching the floor. Waiting in anticipation for Malwa Express 12920, I started asking a man who was also waiting for ME questions about how to find one's seat once on the train, if he was also in Sleeper 5, etc. While it's usually quite beneficial to ask strangers, especially locals, questions about what it is going on in a foreign country, it could also turn disastrous because of the potential for miscommunication. Read: I ask the man about when ME 12920 would be expected, after he declares matter-of-factly that it is already 15 minutes late. Indeed. Shortly thereafter, a train pulls through the station on our platform, and I assume (because he mutters something to me about this being the correct train) that this is, indeed, ME 12920. Meanwhile the digital sign above indicated that this was the correct platform to wait for ME. The only strange part about it is that the train seems to be passing on through rather quickly, and so I surge forward about to hop onto it...until the man rather alarmingly clarifies that said train is a LOCAL TRAIN, and NOT MalwaX. Pheww...glad I didn't get on that one. Don't know how I would've gotten out of that one, either. Let's just say that was the beginning of my train tribulations, because the rest of the story, although amusing, just goes to show how much the Indian heat can mess with an individual's mental state...::nervous laugh:: To confess, I listened to the man's advice once again to head to the Sleeper "WR" traincar as the ACTUAL Malwa Express pulls in, even though my ticket indicated that I was to board at the S5 section/traincar. I think he thought that because I was questioning about seating once inside the train, that I didn't actually have a reserved seat. Nonetheless, IN MY DISORIENTATION and willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt, I head toward the "WR" traincar...where there is a line of people in a frenzy, apparently trying to board the train and where I am promptly thrusted aside by a determined woman. Nevertheless, I successfully board the train and decide to hop onto the nearest upper sleeper...to escape the confusion as people are settling down and because...there was no seating chart as there was supposed to be! I sighed with discontentment and wondered if I would really be allowed to get off this easy in the upper berth, tucked away from all the chaos below...and surely enough, no...I was no longer in S5 section, I was 2 traincars away from it, and in actually, upon pulling out my ticket, the man had written my seat on it already: S5/9. Seat 9 in car 5...SIGH. I uproot myself from the upper berth, cross through 2 traincars loaded with people pushing this way and that, and finally find my seat. Except that there are two huge families here and there is a husband and wife already seated at seats 11 and 10 and their two kids are sitting at seat 9...

To be continued...because my head is really hurting right now! I wonder if due to the malaria tablet or the day-old "mixed" milk that I drank earlier.

Update #2

bmarieyoung — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:38:00 GMT

Namaste again, here to pick up on where I left off on Thursday. It is a Saturday night in MP, but not quite the weekend because all the trainees, volunteers, and staff have to work on Saturdays. Tomorrow(Sunday) will be our first "off" day. Let me resume describing my adventure in Paharanj first!

1) Paharanj/Delhi: As mentioned, I left the Delhi airport at 7AM and upon my arrival in New Delhi at Shrivaji Stadium, I had more than my share of "friendly" Indian males offering solicitous advice on what direction I should be heading...granted that I did choose to walk to Connaught Place when all the shops were still closed in the morning and was adamantly told this by the almost-exclusively male population walking about the place. Albeit some had good intentions, but I think the rickshaw driver was just looking for business (I was promptly advised that the rickshaw driver standing over there looking at me anxiously would take me to the "right place" for ONLY this amount, etc.) Regardless of the intentions, I was determined to see my share of the mostly empty circular plaza of Connaught Place and maybe even find one of the eateries suggested in the Lonely Planet...

But to my fortune, better plans were in the waiting. Out of nowhere I spotted a fellow female traveler (identifiable by the LARGE bag strapped to her back), sun-shading hat, and sturdy but bulky shoes...walking towards me. It turns out that she was a backpacker from Korea also arriving in Delhi that day, and she was looking for a guesthouse/hostel to stay in that day. Quickly I made the smart decision to tag along with her (because after all, two IS better than one and certainly more so in a foreign country, as a female, early in the morning in a deserted section of town). Her name was Jihyun and she had already been backpacking in India for 2 months...it was obvious that she had the navigation and common-sense capabilities down too, and with her Korean version of Lonely Planet we headed towards Paharanj (the "seedy" backpacker area according to LP), but with lots of budget accomodations available. After wandering down "Main Bazaar" street where stall after stall WAS open for business, she settled on Hotel Paypal, a tight but friendly hostel catering to young Japanese and Korean backpackers...and the dormitory had a lockbox! Thanks to Jihyun, I stored my 2-ton backpack in there and was able to semi-enjoy the rest of the day, before having to catch my train at the New Delhi Train Station around 7 that evening...

Ahh...what a relief it felt to be able to let my guard off that backpack and lay down for a while! While Jihyun went off to search for a travel agent office to book a flight to Paris (she is having one long and adventurous journey this summer, and who would object to Paris?), I tried to take a nap until the afternoon but with the heat and the droning of the fan above (it wasn't very effective), it was nigh impossible. Then I attempted to at least wash my sweaty armpits with the small stream of water running from the faucet (and leaking out from the pipe below). Later in the day, sat down in my first "Indian" restaurant with Jihyun and a Japanese backpacker who seemed to have made himself entirely at home in Delhi already, and at Hotel PayPal. Unable to eat, I ordered a mango lassi and a spicy chai. Exchanged travel experiences with Jihyun and Tayoshi for a while, relaxing and enjoying the scene of Main Bazaar activity from inside the establishment...

Later on walked through MB to see just what Paharanj had to offer: more stalls/shops selling everything...from Rajasthani instruments to good-looking but startling cheap handbags, plastics whatnot(with off-English names such that I had no idea what they actually were), printing and graphic design materials and old motorcycles...rickshaws and dusty cards honking from behind me and in front of me...and burning, suffocating, inescapable heat...only with the generous assistance of Jihyun was I able to survive my first and (only) day in Delhi. At around 6:30PM, we went to the NDLS and she saw me to Platform 3 after buying me a Mazaa mango drink and a handful of bananas, where I waited for Malwa Express 12920 and an 18-hour train ride to Indore. I will be ready when I return to Delhi, but I owe Jihyun a dinner or two for saving my life, as I was completely overwhelmed and disoriented by this vaunted Indian capital on my first "real" day in India.

Next update: on the train ride to Indore, arriving at the Institute, and my first days in MP

Update #1

bmarieyoung — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:35:00 GMT

Well, I left the U.S. from San Francisco on a Sunday afternoon and it is already Thursday night in Madhya Pradesh, India. A recap of the highlights thus far:

1) After a 9-hour first leg, we landed at the Schipol Airport in the Netherlands for a 2-hour layover; I spent most of the time roaming the corridors of this stylish airport which reminded me of IKEA with its Scandinavian furniture (I knew Dad would appreciate the designs). I will upload the pics as soon as I purchase a "data"/internet card which I can use at the Institute. If you ever have the chance to stay at Schipol for a couple of hours though, make sure to relax in the rest lounges! A paradise for those who take to Mondian-resembling and retro furniture, certainly.

2) Flight: Royal KLM airlines kept stuffing me with food on both legs of the journey. Since I was marked as a "strict vegetarian", the stewardesses would magically appear at my seat with a new plate of food (which looked measurably better than the chicken and fish entrees). Overall, both flights were fairly pleasant...

3) Airport: Arrived at New Delhi airport at 10:00PM. My ambitious plan to stay overnight...was successfully accomplished, but not how I expected. To my dismay, there was little/no room for ambitious and cheap travelers (a.k.a ME)who don't want to spend a short night in a Delhi hotel. Being ambitious and confident of my ability to brave the night, however, I parked myself and belongings on a rows of seats located near the luggage pickups. Before that I exchanged $100 worth into Rupees, but they inconveniently handed me denominations of 500Rps...meaning that I wouldn't be able to buy myself a cheap drink at the vending machine that doesn't accept 500s!

And so I sat, and sat, and sat on those seats...from 10PM-6AM the next morning...AWAKE. There was no sleeping for me that night. But luckily, I met a few friendly Indians while I glued myself to the seat and had some extensive conversations with some very unlikely people, including a middle/upper-class working woman who was returning to New Delhi after a group trip to Thailand, and an Indian man who lives in Singapore but was on a business trip to South India.

4)A day in Connaught Place/Paharanj: At 7AM I left the ND Airport, eager to be away from it and see the city itself! The newly-constructed Airport Metro Express was superb. Once I stepped out into New Delhi...I was bombarded by the heat, the gazillions of people, the traffic, the dirt...and as an ignorant traveler I stepped into Connaught Place early in the morning, when the shops were still closed. BIG MISTAKE...will tell more later because my time is up!