HI Everyone,
Last time a tragic and unexpected world disaster happened I was in Oz, and although I watched it on TV, felt very remote from the collapsing twin towers. This time I literally got my feet wet.
But I am getting ahead of events. Trivial as it now seems ... I was just escaping Varanassi (a city which is everything your mother told you not to be) in north India, but it wasnt that simple. My train was due at 11.35pm for a 7 hour journey, so a nice overnight trip. I waited on the platform, and waited and waited. I got out my sleeping bag, sat on it, and waited. I fell asleep ... for hours on the platform (a large % of the population sem to sleep on railway platforms so I was far from alone) and when I woke my train had still not arrived. Finally it rolled in at 8am - my overnight trip was now in daylight and I was mighty pissed off at having wasted a day on a train when I should have been there by then! Eventually it got me 'there' over 10 hours late.
No-one else I met had had any problems with their trains, so I was confident that the next one I caught would be pretty much on time. Due at 8pm for a 14 hour journey, I waited on the platform thinking well if its an hour late thats not too bad. I waited all that evening, past midnight, got my sleeping bag out again, went to sleep, still no train; all night long there was no train; it got light, no train; all morning, no train. I asked why it was so late and, in a reply that was typically Indian, was told 'Late Running!' Not absolutelly satisfied with that I pressed further and was told 'Technical Problems!' Then I gave up asking (and probably swore loudly - most peole there didnt speak english anyway). That afternoon, just as I was thinking about how much confusion it would cause if it was 24 hours late (each train has a no. but there is one of that no. every day and no way to distinguish which days train it is) it turned up 16 hours late. Worst still, I had to scramble off the train at 2.45am (having stayed awake trying to guess the station we were passing through and trying to read the Hindi train signs in the dark) and then spent the rest of that night sleeping on the platform. At least then I got some sleep as I wasnt worried about missing my train!
Enough about trains (and I wont even mention the buses). I had theough that India is a place where loads of foreigners go, and in some places there are quite a few. But most places they are thin on the ground. This means that the enormity of the Indian male population sees fit to descend on you whenever they can. On the street they call out like little kids, and queue up to shake my hand. But it is at train stations where I was cornered and where no-one has anything better to do. I got completely surrounded by on one platform by about 50 guys all wanting to talk to me - only about 3 of then actually spoke english but they translated into Hindi for the benefit of the masses. Once you stop being overawed by the whole thing it can get pretty interesting - especially when you mention their favorite subject. One guy asked me 'Are you married?' to which I replied 'No'. He then looked at me in a very confused way and after a pause said 'Do you like sex?' Then I was a bit confused, until I twigged what he meant. In India marriages are arranged and there is no sex before marriage. I said in my culture you do not have to be married to have sex. Once that got translated it bought the house down, all the (presumably unmarried twentysomethings virgin) macho guys went mental, jumping around llike nuts. Eventually the crowd was broken up by the riot police (well, one policeman with a big stick) and I tried to look innocent and hide somewhere else on the platform.
In one small village I was cycling along and an old guy was walking the other way. Despite no suggestion of a uniform anywhere, he stood up straight and saluted me ... old habits perhaps.
Nearly all signs are in Hindi especially at railway stations. At one place the whole train info was entirely in Hindi apart from one sign on the platform in English 'Please do not spit.' Very helpful.
All this travel has been with purpose as I have been to a few tasty places:
- Khajuraho - Fantastic small stone temples 1,000 years old adourned with an enormous no. of carvings of incredible quality and almost perfectly preseved. Most are of everyday life, beautiful women with gravity defying chests and bums so flat that it looks like they're bottom halfs are pointing the other way. Amoungst these are what people really come for - a good collection of 'karma sutra' carvings - hardcore porn so old that it is 'art', explicit sex in interesting and often improbable positions (some needing a couple of helpers to help then into the start position) presented in film strip style with a row of carvings culminating in orgasm! Oh and there is the odd cow thrown in for good measure. Yes, it really is art. Yes, I can send you the photos. Just email me your credit card no and expiry date...
- Ajanta - A row of 30 Buddhist temples carved into a cliff on a horseshoe bend in a river. They date from 200BC. The largest is 20m x 20m inside with over 20 carved pillars, wall paintings, buddha statues etc. All instunning condition considering their age.
- Ellora - More caves carved into solid rock, but one of which is stunning. Instead of building a temple they started with a solid cliff and chipped away at the rock (apparently 7000 men for 150 years - although presumably not the same 7000 men) creating several floors, domes, towers, loads of carvings of real quality etc And all with just the rock that was there, exactly where it was. The concept is mind boggling. The reality is so good, and so like a normal (superb) temple, that I had to keep reminding myself that it was created like that. Must be the most under-hyped thing I have ever seen.
Now i am all caved out. Or should that be caved in?
- Matheran - A hill station perched on a flat topped mountain, which is reached by a 2 hour 'toy train' ride. The town has no means of transport other than hand pulled rickshaws, all the supplies have to be pulled around by 8 men pushing a cart up steep slopes. There is no traffic or even cycles. Is this really India?
And then to Goa. A very pleasant state which is not like anywhere else I had been - for a start there are as many tourists as locals, but Xmas is Xmas and Goa is one of the few mainly christion areas of India (Portuguese influence). Goa has miles of empty coastline withh great beaches all the way along it - so as usual nearly everyone crams into a couple of small beaches. We got an idyllic place right next to the beach and just a few metres above (the very basic shack was on stilts). Xmas passed by and then on morning of Dec 26th we heard about a tsunami somewhere in Indonesia. Didnt sound too serious then. That evening we were in a restaurant just above the beach when waves of water started coming over the wall into the restaurant. It seemed odd but I was more concerned that I hadn't finished my (milk) shake, but suddenly we were nearly the last people in the restaurant - the staff were the first to leave - and we exited rapidly onto the street behind where it was just panic. Indians drive autorickshaws and motorbikes like lunatics at the best of times but in a panic - it was mayhem, but when the locals start running you had better join them. A few people were hurt in the rush but I didnt see anything too bad. We found the tallest solid looking building in town and slept on the roof. Next morning the beach looked very different with some restaurants on the beach hit badly (but they were open again a few days later). The water had come up to just below our hut, but it wasnt the level of water that was the worry, it was not knowing what caused it and not knowing what was going to happen next. Apparently it was a high tide caused by the effects of the eathquake combined with what was due to be the highest tide of the month anyway.
It doesn't really bear thinking about, but if the Portuguese had built their trading post on the other side of India, facing East (and it had some nice beaches) we would probably now be just a statistic in the body count column of this event. I try not to think about it.
So that was Goa. Now it is back up north, another month and a half in India and then Pakistan...
Meantime: This is India, a land where nothing is unbelievable - except everything the locals tell you. If you ever ask a closed question (to check info etc) the reply is always 'Yes' even if they haven't understood the question. And it is always accompanied by that bloody annoying little shake of the head (that only Indians can do) which means 'Yes'. Or 'No'. Or 'I have 9 kids to feed, 2 water buffalo and some potatoes. How much will you give me for one of my kids.'
Ta ta from the land of the long wait,
and
Happy New Year!
Love
Pete
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