It has completely dawned on me, waking up, walking out onto the roof
and looking out... I am in INDIA!! In one piece, unstressed and looking
forward to the the adventures that lay ahead in this vast country!
After
a lazy breakfast Sharon and i decided to actually be organised and not
our usual flippant 'don't know what we are doing, where we are going
and how long we are staying?' usual selves. We actually made a plan! (
though i have to admit this was brought on by other travellers passing
on some well needed advice). So we spent the best part of our first day
in Varanassi sitting in the train station sorting out a train to Delhi
and then from there to Pondicherry where we would meet friends for
Christmas.
To get to the station we flagged a tuk tuk , though
flagged i say lightly as we were bombarded by touts all vying for our
attention and our buisness. We knew it was a fair trek out and as there
were three of us it didn't seem fair to burden a rickshaw driver, it
would be quite a cycle and a half.... In hindsight though i am sure
they don't care as it is there way of income. Choosing someone to take
us was horrible, everyone is desperate to take you...its a hard
decision, in the end we just jumped in one at random and headed off
through the crowded streets making sure that all our limbs were safely
tucked in.
Entering the train station we headed for the tourist
information, hoping and praying that someone would actually give us
some advice and not spin us some lines in the hope of keeping us happy.
We were lucky, sitting at the desk an older man was ready and waiting
to dispatch his knowledge of trains onto us. He was extremely helpful
but the red stuff staining his lips and seeping out of the corner of
his mouth was very distracting, it gave him the appearence of a vampire
after dinner time, plus it made his words a little tricky to decipher.
What he was chewing is 'bettel' a concoction of nuts, seeds and tobacco
that they chew for forever and a day, occasionally spitting out the
excess saliva onto the streets, leaving a trail of what looks like
blood. Mmmmm that was going to be one to try at some point...... So
anyway after getting into his mouth stuffed lingo he was very helpful
indeed, he reeled off times, dates, train numbers...so much choice! As
non-planners it kind of baffled us! So full with information we entered
the tourist ticketting office, sat down and hurriedly with pen in hand
and notebook at the ready started jotting notes.....this actually
turned out to be complete waste of time as we were at the back of a
very long, slow and unmoving line!
Spotting fellow queuers
eating, my tummy starting to rumble i inquired as to what they were
eating and where they had purchased it, and then went off in the search
for some well needed food. Finding the little platform cafe i bought
one portion for Sharon and i to try, it consisted of a potato and
cauliflower curry served in a bowl made of leaves with a stack of mini
naans carefully balancing on a square of newspaper. I took the food
back to our same spot in the queue trying very hard not to slop it
everywhere as i side stepped trillions of people milling in the
station. I made it back with all the food intact and we tucked in,
concentraing on only using our right hand as the left hand is seen used
for 'unclean' things like wiping your bottom, though as i personally
prefer to use loo roll it doesn't really apply to me but at the same
time i don't want to be disrespectful of the culture. It was delicous
and no sooner had we tucked in, i was racing back to get more. At a
price of 25 pence a portion you couldn't really go wrong.
After
a couple of hours of sitting there playing cards and dodging the dust
that was spitting out of the air conditioning unit it was finally our
turn! Hooray! We sat down in front of the boss mans desk, pre-filled
forms of our itinery at the ready to book our trains. Now what i must
mention is in India the infamous head bobble is prevelant everywhere,
it is a similiar movement to the the nodding dogs you find in cars, a
smooth bobble that i have yet to perfect. When you ask a question it
can mean a variety of anwers; yes, no, maybe or the even more
helpful....i don't know and i don't give a monkeys so i am just going
to wobble'. It can be a little bit unfuriating and confusing at the
same time. So sitting there he went through an array of screens on his
computer, us asking questions, not really getting a response but
somehow we managed to book ourselves onto a train. Mission
accomplished. Though when he did give us his tickets he wasn't the
nicest of people, this being made as clear as crystal as he threw my
change back at me and called out "next". Grateful to be able to leave
the station we returned, tickets safely tucked away to our awaiting tuk
tuk.
It was the same tuk tuk we had arrived in. he was still
patiently waiting for us after the four hours we had been gone. We had
checked whilst our long wait and he seemed perfectly happy with this
arrangement. It begged the question of 'what was his daily income?' We
had negotiated our return fare of 120 rupees between the three of us
(1.50 in pounds) and we did tip him a small amount on returning to the
hotel but still it didn't seem very much for half a days work getting
us there and back in one piece espeically on the manic roads.....
What
i will say about the roads is that they are hectic, rickshaws and tuk
tuks dominate the roads, followed in mass by the bikes and motorbikes
and surprisingly cars at the end of the vehicle heirarchy. It does make
sense though as a car takes up too much space on the already cramped
roads roads and travelling by any of the other vehicles means you can
duck and dive to your hearts content. Sometimes though i did feel like
i was going to be an accessory to murder as we would come to a stop
inches away from someone else's vehicle or even more scary a
pedestrian. Apparently or so i have been told there are more road
accidents in America than in India..... maybe what i see as mayhen is
actually organised chaos? Along with the congestian you have the
smells, it can be quite intoxicating.... fumes, rotting, toilets
etc....i think the black boogies are going to come back with a
vengance!!! Walking along the streets i feel like i am missing
something....got it... a horn.....maybe i should buy one so i can fit
in....failing that i could ad-lib and just "ding dong" my way round the
streets...!
So we had done it, planned, followed through and
executed our way out of Varanassi even though we had just arrived.....
and it had taken up almost the whole day, unbelievable..... it is
making me learn the lesson of "slowly slowly". So from now on the pace
is staying sedate (not that i have been rushing around at all), so now
i am going to take my time exploring the sites of Varanassi...... after
i have had a cup of chai and a ciggie!
