Since we have been on the move so much, transportation has become a major theme in my journal. There are few (if any) modes of transportation as interesting as the trains in India, especially if you take the lowest class. Here's one of my journal entries from that experience . . .
2/15/08
We are sitting on a platform in Madurai, getting ready to board our overnight train to Kollam, Kerala. There is something so exciting about catching an overnight train! We got to walk around the city some, which was cool. This is the city where Gandhi began his homespun fabric campaign. So cool to actually be in the place where that happened!
Friday night - the train station is busy! We took a risk getting unreserved tickets, which means we are not guaranteed seats, much less a place to sleep. Hopefully we can at least find seats! I would gladly have paid 200 more rupees for a guaranteed bunk, but this will be interesting! . . .
Well, here we go! We made it onto an unreserved train car. It was unbelievable! When the train arrived, people swarmed the doors and began grabbing bars and jumping on before it even fully stopped! Families and business men and old folks alike made a human pile 8 thick around each opening. Fathers crammed baggage and children through windows. Feeling the frantic mood, we pushed our way onto a car, finding it of course already full. Ha! Full?! Just wait and see how many more people can cram onto a train car. People are sitting straight up crammed onto hard wooden benches, children on laps or sitting in barred windowsills for the overnight journey. Lucky old men climb onto the wooden top bunks and stretch out on a piece of cloth while 5 women sit on the equally-sized bench below. As the train gets underway, people begin to lay on the bare floor! (I can't help but mention the cockroaches I just saw skitter by - the same digusting creatures that just overtook Noah + my banana bag as their new town square and would crawl by our elbows and feet all night.)
Following others' lead, Kyle and Ryan climbed into the luggage racks - planks of wood about a foot and a half wide and a foot from the ceiling. I will have to post a pic of this soon. So ridiculous, but I happily took my turn napping up there! Noah and I settled into some hard seats below them and noticed that all the inhabitants of the neighboring bench are staring at us. "Hello," Noah said . . . nothing. In fact, I am still being uncomfortably stared at by the old man across the aisle. I suppose any other white travelers are up in the sleeper cars (I saw other bulky backpacks headed that way.) Woo! With an already numb ass - here's to a good night's sleep!
We never took the unreserved overnight again, but it was worth the experience once! Our next train escapade involved sneaking on the A/C car and eating what we thought was free food, until the conductor gave us the boot! Well, time to go! Bye!
