7/25/08
Part 1: Kanyakumari to Madurai
It's my first train ride in India and I'm excited. I hop onto the train, and immediately strike up a conversation with a friendly PHd student headed to Chennai. Ticket man comes, turns out i have a general ticket, but my new friend manages to get me bumped up to sleeper class without a fine. I chat with my new friend as we look out over the passing landscape. It's beautiful. Tall rocky mountains meet with billowy white clouds that are so thick, you don't know where one ends and the other begins. I stare at bright green paddy fields that look like they've been color corrected in photoshop. I lazily click some photos as the rocking of the train lulls me into a type of trance. We pass over a lazy river that cuts through the rocky landscape. I look down to see men and women on the edges of the river washing and bathing. One lone man stands bare chested up to his waist in the middle of the calm water. The train rattles on. As the sun sets I make out the outline of a woman in a sari gliding along a dirt path, the rice fields behind her. She balances a bale of hay on her head. the train rattles on. As it becomes dark and the full moon rises, i lay down on my birth and am rocked to sleep by the swaying of the train.
Part 2: Madurai to Ooty
It's after midnight, and I'm still sweating, the Madurai heat hasn't let up. A few dozen mosquitoes buzz around my head as I wait on the platform. I'm tired but am looking forward to my second train ride. To pass the time as I wait for my train to arrive I start thinking off all the great train scenes from movies. The old black and white movies with well dressed women making witty conversation with dapper men in dining cars, old westerns with cowboys jumping from their horses onto moving trains....
I don't have a sleeper car ticket, but am unconcerned as my last train ride went so smoothly....My train arrives... "FULL" the ticket man says abruptly brushing me aside. "But i have a 7 hour journey, I need a bed" "FULL, go to general car" One look in the general car with it's wooden benches that are already packed from wall to wall with sweating passengers (and if i'm not mistaken a few livestock), has made me determine this is not an option. The ticket man tries to usher me out of the sleeper car, but it's too late, the train is already moving....This is not going to plan...My only option is to sit on the floor between two of the cars. I sink down into the corner, and stare out the slats in the door at the black night. I then catch a whiff of the urine....yep, i'm 2 feet away from the train's bathroom, I squeeze closer to the door trying to catch a breeze. The jolting train hurts my bum. I don't even want to think about the last time this floor has been cleaned. All images of my romantic train movies quickly disintegrate as I catch another whiff of my accommodations. I try hard to remember a movie that had a train scene that took place next to the urinals...nothing comes to mind....I might have to reconsider my take on buses...it's a long 7 hours
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
sunrise
7/18/08
I'm wiping the sleep from my eyes as i wander through the winding streets. It's 5:30am and the town, Kanyakumari, feels fast asleep. I pass a flower seller and catch the scent of jasmine as i make my way to the point. Past the stone temple, with its elaborately carved gods and around a corner and then I see the crowd silently looking out over the ocean. The sky is still dark so I buy a cup of chai from a boy on his bike and then silently wait with the crowd. The sky begins to turn orange and red and then there is a collective gasp as the sun first peaks out above the Bay of Bengal.
I am in Kanyakumari, at the southern most tip of India. This is the spot where the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal all converge into the waves crashing at the rocky shore. Within 5 min the sky is light and I wander down to the ghats where men in white lunghis and women in saris are bathing in the sea. I climb down the stairs, wade up to my knees (contemplate going all the way in, and then decide holy water or not, it's freakin cold) and then settle on washing my face in the salty water. It's the tip of India, I've seen the sun rise from the southern most point on the sub-continent...And while I'm the only western tourist in sight, for at least this moment no one seems to take notice. I dry my face and walk back to the stone temple to pay my morning respects to the gods.
My journey through southern India continues, I've finished my work in Bangalore, have traveled down through the state of kerala. I've seen holy trance dances where priests become gods, I've floated in a bamboo house boat in the palm lined back waters of Kerala, I've drank toddy (palm alcohol) from a tin roofed shack, sat on the cliffs over looking the beaches of Varkala, slept in trains, and not slept in buses, weathered the monsoon showers and am atempting to manage the south Indian heat... And I've made it as far south as i can go. Now my journey continues north. I hope to send at least another update before I'm back in Bangalore, if for no other reason than to assure my parenets i'm alive. I'm loving life and treasuring the adventure.
All the Best,
Karina
I'm wiping the sleep from my eyes as i wander through the winding streets. It's 5:30am and the town, Kanyakumari, feels fast asleep. I pass a flower seller and catch the scent of jasmine as i make my way to the point. Past the stone temple, with its elaborately carved gods and around a corner and then I see the crowd silently looking out over the ocean. The sky is still dark so I buy a cup of chai from a boy on his bike and then silently wait with the crowd. The sky begins to turn orange and red and then there is a collective gasp as the sun first peaks out above the Bay of Bengal.
I am in Kanyakumari, at the southern most tip of India. This is the spot where the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal all converge into the waves crashing at the rocky shore. Within 5 min the sky is light and I wander down to the ghats where men in white lunghis and women in saris are bathing in the sea. I climb down the stairs, wade up to my knees (contemplate going all the way in, and then decide holy water or not, it's freakin cold) and then settle on washing my face in the salty water. It's the tip of India, I've seen the sun rise from the southern most point on the sub-continent...And while I'm the only western tourist in sight, for at least this moment no one seems to take notice. I dry my face and walk back to the stone temple to pay my morning respects to the gods.
My journey through southern India continues, I've finished my work in Bangalore, have traveled down through the state of kerala. I've seen holy trance dances where priests become gods, I've floated in a bamboo house boat in the palm lined back waters of Kerala, I've drank toddy (palm alcohol) from a tin roofed shack, sat on the cliffs over looking the beaches of Varkala, slept in trains, and not slept in buses, weathered the monsoon showers and am atempting to manage the south Indian heat... And I've made it as far south as i can go. Now my journey continues north. I hope to send at least another update before I'm back in Bangalore, if for no other reason than to assure my parenets i'm alive. I'm loving life and treasuring the adventure.
All the Best,
Karina
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