Well after a few more days in Maduari experiencing the vareity of sights (the soaring Islamic inspired domes of Sri Meenaski palace and the
bloodstained Dhoti Ghandi was assassinated in were fascinating) we decided to head off into the communist state of Kerala. Kerala is apparently the only place in the world to have an elected communist government, and is doing fantastically well for itself. It is the wealthiest state in India (very apparent when you get here), and has a literacy rate of about 97%. If that's communism, I say lets try it!
To get from Madurai into the first destination in Kerala - Trivandrum, we decided to take our first Indian train. We had only managed to book 2nd class seats (the lowest class where you had allocated seats) and were unsure as to what to expect. As was usual in this country, the train was late (Indian time is worse than Darwin time! ;) and the platform of the station filled up really quickly. To get on (especially in our carriage) was insane when the train finally arrived - it was every man, woman, cat dog and goat for themselves to get off or on. Its funny, Indians are such a polite society in many ways, but have no concept of ques (sp?!) or letting someone go ahead of them.
Anyway, 2nd class turned out to be a beautiful experience, full of heaps of friendly and curious Indians (and their children) with lots of questions, smiles, and eagerness to share food and drink (perhaps not quite the most sanitary thing in the world, but pretty heartwarming nonetheless). There was nothing in the way of the windows to block the cool breeze from entering, and we hung out the doors and windows taking in the scenery until it was too dark to see any longer. The only mild hazard of this, was the method of rubbish disposal. In India, waste is not very well managed, and the method of ridding oneself of rubbish on the train is to throw it out the window. We all did very well ducking and weaving old diapers and disposable cups, until poor Steph got a paper coffee cup and most of its contents straight in the face!
After that, deciding it was safer to remain wholely inside the carriage, we amused ourselves by playing with the little kids and observing train life. The great thing was the sheer amount of train vendors roaming up and down with calls of "chai, coppee (coffee), pal (hot milk)". There was also no shortage of deep fried foods like pakoras, chappattis and poori (deep fried rice breads eaten as a sweet).
Aaron let me read his diary so far about the trip, and its funny how many little things he mentions that I just see as normal and haven't mentioned to you guys. Stuff like the dirt roads, no gutter, open sewers, bad smells and congestion. I just don't really notice that stuff about a country anymore. I guess one thing I wasn't expecting that he seems facinated about are the animals in the streets. Not just in the country, but even in big cities, cows, goats, chickens etc just randomly wander main streets along with your usual cats and dogs. Its quite nice actually, to see a Brahmin cow with huge horns pulling a cart along next to a brand new car.
As the train pulled further and further into the night, we got tired and suddenly the hard bench seats didn't seem as fun. Local men had the best idea, as, at a certain point, as if by common unspoken agreement they all jumped up and settled themselves down to sleep on the luggage racks. They were made of hard, cold metal, but at that point in the night, seemed to be a much better option than the chairs below. :)
Finally we made it into Trivandrum
