India v2.2

India by train.
The evening after the Diwali celebration we pilled into 2 auto rickshaws and made our way to the train station. When we arrived, our train was delayed by 1 minute. No big deal. However, soon the delay turned into 1 hour. Our journey to Delhi was supposed to take 15 hours and that was on a "super fast" train. But in India, you have to expect the worst and then be surprised by the best. I've learned that. So it wasn't a real shocker to anyone when the journey ended up taking 19 hours total.
Due to this being my first train experience it was decided that we would ride in the air conditioned car. We had assigned berths which folded down as seats and then folded up to be beds. Also in this car you can rent a blanket, sheets and pillow set for just 25 rupees. FIL and I decided to get the set. We then divided it up amongst everyone because sleeping on extra blankets is good considering how hard the berth is. I did not think I'd be able to sleep on a train. I'm usually not able to sleep in anything which is moving. However, I slept so good!
Also on the train are vendors selling chai, coffee, chips and cookies. I'm all about Indian cookies. I love them! Nephew loves them too. The two of us ate cookies, looked out the windows and slept the whole time.

I think the best part of the train ride was the scenery. It is amazing how a place with more than 1 billion people can have so much vast, open nothingness. There is so much of the country that is undeveloped. I guess when you imagine that number of people living in one country smaller than our own, you expect to see people everywhere.
While most Indians despise the British and what was done to them and their country by the British, Husband agrees that without them the rail system never would have been built. The Indian rail system is the second largest in the whole world. You might have seen pictures on television about how crazy the trains are, with people hanging out the sides and on the roof. These are usually the local trains. The distance trains like the one we were on were not like this.

Another thing you should know about the train system is that while on board there are NO announcements made as to where you are. If you are approaching a station you best be looking out the window to figure out where you are. It is totally up to you to get on and off at your stop. If you sleep through it, you are screwed. Who knows where you going and when you'll be able to get back to where you really need to be.
This almost happened to us. SIL had our schedule printed out from a travel agent. On the night we were returning home we thought our train arrived at 11:30pm. Everyone went to sleep. We set the cell phone alarm to go off at 10:45pm to make sure everyone was packed up and ready to disembark. At 10:20 SIL woke up by some miracle and looked out the window. Suddenly she was frantically waking us up saying she thought we were arriving at the station. Sure enough...we were. We had to quickly pack up the pillows & blankets and gather up the luggage and get our shoes on. This all happened in about 3 minutes and then the train stopped. We were there! The cell phone alarm went off on our way home! The travel agent had given us wrong information and our train was actually on time. Had she not woken up, it would have been a long night for us waiting at the next train station...wherever that was!

India v2.1

The next event to happen during my trip was the Diwali celebration. I've included a link to the official explanation of the celebration. Now I'll tell you my interpretation.

It was like Christmas/Hannukah, New Year's Eve and 4th of July at the same time. It is a grand celebration. A few days before the celebration Husband, Nephew & I went "cracker" shopping. One street was nothing but vendors selling fireworks. After much negotiating and almost an hour, we left with a huge bag full of sparklers and other explosives. Fireworks scare the bejesus out of me so I agreed on sparklers. Most of the other stuff would probably be considered illegal here. I got really freaked out when Husband informed me that it bothers him that the people who work in the fireworks factories are...children. It's a problem. You want to boycott the whole thing for that reason, but then if no one is buying the crackers, these children aren't able to help their families. Total double edged sword. Then there are the safety concerns, not only for the children doing the assembly, but for yourself. I mean, you are trusting a child with explosives. The whole thing is bad.

On Diwali the tradition is that you exchange clothes. In my case, I received jewelry because the first Diwali celebration after marriage is considered lucky for the entire family. I could have chosen any type of jewelry I wanted. My FIL convinced me that I should get a necklace. We went to several jewelry stores and I chose a gorgeous 22 Karat masterpiece. It is so beautiful. It will probably live in my safe deposit box though!

In the early evening we changed into dress up clothes. I wore a traditional Maharastrian sari in heavy red silk. And my new necklace, of course. Throughout the evening, friends and neighbors stopped by to wish us a happy Diwali.

As soon as it gets dark, the firework madness begins. It goes on all night and for several nights after. We went up to the rooftop terrace and started lighting off our collection. I have to tell you, this night is absolute madness. Imagine like 1 million of your friends and neighbors all lighting off fireworks at the same time. The entire sky is filled with lights and smoke. Everywhere you look, there are "crackers" going off. It is loud! It could also be dangerous as you never know when someone else's "cracker" is going to come at you. I watched one fly through the air like a rocket and hit the building right next door. I was imagining my 9 meter long sari going up in flames. I lit a few sparklers and returned to safer ground inside!

It was definitely an experience. It makes fireworks celebrations here look weak. I'm looking forward to going back for the celebration next year!

India v2.0

A monkey hanging out at the temple


My trip to India was better than the last. I knew what to expect, people were familiar and we weren't planning a last minute wedding. It was almost relaxing this time...except for all the traveling we did in the country.
As usual, our first day involved shopping. We arrive in the morning and in order to stay awake until bedtime we keep busy. While we were in a store I finally got to see several hijra. I'd heard stories about how they go around extorting money from people by causing a big scene, usually by singing and dancing if you don't pay them to go away. I witnessed the extortion part. What I thought was a strange looking woman go up to the counter. The register was opened and "she" was handed some money and left quietly. It was moments later that I realized what just happened.

Day three was the first road trip. We would get in the car at the crack of dawn and drive 5 hours to this temple with stops at other small temples along the way. MIL loves to travel to different temples. In fact, when not traveling to visit family, she goes all over to temples. Last time I would cringe when when someone would tell me we were going to another temple. I couldn't understand why we had to go to so many. Now I actually like to go. Some of them are very beautiful. However, I still remain somewhat skeptical of the whole thing. Like when SIL told me that one temple was built around the goddess who just appeared out of the ground one day. Or the other one which required walking down very steep steps, probably 30 ft down in the ground. There was water everywhere down there. I was told the water suddenly appears every 12 years. If you want my opinion, I think it was built on top of a well. I don't think the sudden appearance of water is any miracle, just like I don't believe the image of the Pope was seen in flames or that a religious oil painting cried.

Anyway, during the road trip we passed through small villages, towns and nothingness. We shared the road with bullock carts, herds of goats, cows, women carrying water buckets on their heads. And I thought we were going to die several times. Faster vehicles are constantly passing slower vehicles/farm animals. There is no concept of lanes or lines on the road. No speed limits. Everyone is in a hurry to go nowhere. Just sitting as a passenger is exhausting. I don't know how the family's driver got us there and back alive.

Check out the link to the temple. It has some very good pictures. Most notably, the one of the stairs. That picture does not do the stairs justice. You must know that I climbed about 3,000 stairs to get up there. And it was hot. Climbing up a mountain is hot.
It was important to MIL that we go to this temple because the "family god" lives there. She wanted the marriage to be blessed by the priests there. Mostly she wanted to ask the goddess to bless us with children ASAP. We even had a small ceremony with one of the priests. It was nice. Of course I have no idea what was even said during the ceremony. I think it was conducted in Sanskrit.

When traveling in rural India bathrooms are few and far between. I've had to train my bladder to pee anywhere. Well, anywhere except a field. I couldn't make it happen because some bulls were watching. The driver managed to find me a gas station though. It was disappointing. I so wanted to come home and report my experience in the field.
I promise...this is not turning into a bathroom blog. Although after reading this post and the last, you might be thinking otherwise.
I'll tackle a different topic tomorrow.

The Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things in life that can really make your day.
This is especially true when you are traveling in a "third world country." The little thing that really makes my day is a "Western" style toilet...with toilet paper. In fact, I do a little private dance right there in the stall. Sometimes you can be fooled. You will see that "Western" style toilet and get excited only to find out there is no sign of any paper products, just the standard water faucet and small bucket. Other times you can be fooled by something that resembles a real toilet. In reality it some kind of fucked up hybrid which I don't understand. You can either sit or squat...although squatting seems a bit dangerous since you'd be like a foot off the ground. Still no paper though. In case you've never had the pleasure of experiencing "Indian" style, see this.
So you can imagine my excitement last Wednesday night when I was overcome with "Delhi belly" at the Bombay airport. I'd been in Delhi the week before and I reserve the right to blame that hell hole...I mean place a full week later. I'm sending out a big thanks to the designers of the International Terminal and whoever thought it would be a great thing for "Westerners" caught with their pants down. I really appreciated it.

Bye Bye Bye

Tomorrow Husband and I leave for our second India trip in 6 months. I've been busy unpacking boxes and packing suitcases. Talk about taking a ridiculous amount of stuff.
Check back after Thanksgiving and I'll tell you all about my train trips in the north part of the country. I'm excited to get out there and there and see everything I can.

Two

Last night was such a boring Halloween. I was so excited to finally live in a neighborhood where I've seen a lot of children. I bought several bags of candy in anticipation. I turned all the lights on downstairs and waited. And waited. And waited. Just as I was thinking, what the hell happened to the trick or treaters? The doorbell rang and there they were. A brother and sister. I gave them each handfuls of candy just in case they were the only ones. Well...they were.
Talk about disappointed.
I remember trick or treating when I was a little kid (before my dad "found the Lord" and declared Halloween the devil's day). My dad used to take my brother and I to a nearby neighborhood and we'd get so much candy we couldn't even carry the bags ourselves. Now it's my turn to give the candy and no one comes. Bust.