July 10, 2006
Yesterday I took a two trains from Delhi to Shimla, which is due north of Delhi about 150 miles. The trip took 12 hours...after about 3, my butt-bone was in so much pain that I realized I had a pillow in my bag. After putting that under me, the trip became much more comfortable. On both trains, I had a window seats. I watched out the window as we pulled slowly out of Delhi, stopping at a few stations. I was truly humbled and shocked by the things I saw out the window. And I have seen poverty before: in Nepal, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, etc.... The people in those countries are poor too, most living in huts with dirt floors and no running water. But the children always were smiling and happy. But this was different, extremely different. People did not seem to be smiling much. What we would consider "poverty" in the U.S. is something much nicer than this, even in ghettos there is running water and a roof over one's head. This was more akin to thousands of people living like the homeless on the streets of Chicago, but in huge communities along the train tracks. There were no huts, only ramshakle shelters made from plastic covers and wooden planks for walls, each small created room directly next to the next one to save the need for a separate wall. In front of the huge conglomeration of these make-shift homes, there were heaps and heaps of garbage. And all along the way, I saw people relieving themselves atop of this mound of garbage. People were laying on the floors of the train stations, thin as could be. Women used a public watering place at the train station to gather water and wash their clothing...it seemed like the only source of water around. Pigs and dogs roamed through the garbage dumps along with the people relieving themselves. The stench was unbelievable. The water these people are drinking must contain so many diseases, the lack of proper dumps and sewer systems creating the lack of clean water here.
As I watched all of this from my window, I chatted with two people on the train: a woman whose son is living in the U.S., and who had been there 4 times, and a man who wished to borrow my novel to see what it was like, and chatting with me about his job as an engineer, his salary of $666 per month + free accomodations. He told me about how he "had married" two of his children (arranged marriages for them), telling me that most people in India do not choose their own marriage partner but their parents arrange it for them. I knew this, but it was interesting to hear him tell me about it. His other son wanted to marry a particular woman whom he'd known for 9 years. This man opposed the marriage at first, but then finally agreed after his son said he would do it anyhow. He is happy for them now, but said, "She was not from our community, so I opposed the marriage." The woman was an well-educated engineer, making quite a large salary per month. He asked me if I was married, or traveling alone. I said yes to both, of course. He said that in India, it is a male-dominated society, and they believe that women need to be protected. "Don't you agree?," he asked. He was asking the wrong person! I said mildly, "Well, I've traveled around to loads of different countries on my own, and I did just fine. So I guess I would have to disagree with you." His response was that a woman needs her partner for good and bad days, and for when she is old. I agreed with that. I told him that for us, we must find our own partners, and this makes it more difficult.
Both of these fairly well-educated people threw all of their garbage out the window of the train. It all made sense after I saw that. The woman must have thrown 10 pieces of non-biodegradable trash out the window as we traveled. No one seemed to have a sense of personal responsibility for protecting or taking care of the environment. Well, with so much trash everywhere, I suppose they figure a few more pieces won't hurt anything. I suppose until the government of India makes it a priority to clean up the country and educate people about environmental issues, the problem will only get worse.
The trai n was very lively and fun. Lots of people kept getting on, cramming onto seats that weren't theirs, everyone sliding over as much as they could so that more people could sit down, even if they hadn't bought a seat. People take care of each other, there seems to be a real sense of community among Indian people. Young men, going somewhere for the weekend, crowded onto the train and stood together, often holding hands or putting arms around each other (simply friendly gestures). People laughed and talked with others they just met, and everyone got along quite well, accomodating each other. The woman, who told me she didn't like it in the U.S., said, "See, isn't it a great crowd?" And it was. Definitely a sense of community here, and I could see how difficult it would be for her to live in the U.S., where strangers don't talk to each other on trains.
The second train was packed mainly with rich Indians heading north for a holiday, and backpackers heading to the mountains. I met an English girl named Genna, who I shared a seat and stories with. The scenery along the way was absolutely beautiful, and as went north into the Himalayan mountains, the air become cooler and more refreshing. We wound around mountains on a tiny old train, seeing little towns nestled in the mountains in the distance. There were many drop-offs that would have made my mother sick, and since I was in a window seat, I could see all the way down at times. We arrived in Shimla at 6 p.m., and made our way to the YMCA, where we decided to share a room. They gave us a room with the best view I've ever had from a room. They told us to keep the windows closed to avoid the monkeys coming in, but we opened them anyhow to feel the fresh air and see the view of the mountains at night....how beautiful! The sky over the mountain turned pink, and a neon-white cloud floated between one mountain and another, with lights shining all up and down the hill from the buildings on the other side. We went and had a curry, and crashed out early.
