Konkan Rail
This is just a little excerpt (?) from a letter to my parents:
Oct5/07, 11:30 - on the train - Konkan RAilways. Headed from Benaulim (Margao) Goa to Kochi, Kerala. 16 hours I believe. The train was a little sketchy at first. We bought out ticket but were 42 and 43 on the waitlist - “the worst ticket to have” according to Rough Guide. We were told by the travel agen to just bribe the conductor to get a seat. How much you ask? We had no idea (and neither did she). 1st job though: determine who the conductor is. We thought this would be easy, as, if we were 42 and 43, then the first 40 people must also be wanting to speak to the conductor - this was not the case. I never did figure out where all the rest of those people went. Half the people on the platform were wearing Indian Rail uniforms (Indian Rail is apparently the biggest employer in the world…also has the most train collisions in the world - but it is apparently still safer than being on the road). so it looked as if the train was goin to pull away without us. We were sitting at “S5″ where the supposed conductor told us to wait for him. He never showed. Sam didn’t believe he was the conductor anyways (turned out he was though). He had a glint in his eye thta just made me think he was getting excited to be bribed. Becaus we were so naive to how to go about doing that, he didnt’ get anything inthe end. heh hehe. So anyways, we just got on the train and sat down. I was scared we were goin to get kicked to the curb at the next station. this was the right move though. We kept our seats the entire trip. So, in my mind, I picture trains as being very clean, roomy, fine-dining - very much like in the Harry Potter movies. So you can imagine my initial reaction to this one:it looks like it was created to transport slaves all over the country. Seriously. They are open windowns with bars across them. There’s these big blue benches with plastic seats. Thankfully, we are in a sleepin compartment which means that you have people sitting only 3 to a seat, and then you have 3 different levels of these benches to sleep on at night. Cockroaches are everywhere (and I even saw a mouse climbing around later), it reminds me of that ferry in Fiji. There are people walking by every 2 minutes selling peanuts and coffee and tea and stuff. There are also people on hte train walking by asking for money. I’m not sure where they come from or where they end up cause you only see them the one or two sweeps. There was this one kid, who I don’t know if he had polio or what, but he crawled through the cabin and had a rag and was “sweeping” all the garbage from the floor. Yuck. it really made me think of the caste system. so sad. I haven’t ventured into the train bathrooms yet (I’m scared). Sam says they are pretty nasty. However, I think this is a great way to see the country. The open windows are great. Southern India looks so much like Fiji. So green and lush the fields and hills and trees. Beautiful.
15:00 - ok, so I”m sweating again. Just woke up on the train. I can feel the beads forming on my neck and upper lip. Bought some chai for 5 rupees (13cents). It is soooooo sweet. Looking outsie, it seems like we’ve entered a slightly different area. I notice a lot of the women wearing jeans and t-shirts. i’ve not seen that yet in India. I decided (smartly I think) to bare my arms today - yep, I’m wearign a sleeveless top. Couldnt’ stand the thoght of boiling over on a crowded over train. As of yet, its not crowded over THANKFULLY! Ok, I have put it off long enough. 7.5 hours on the train and I finally went to the bathroom. I took my TP and hand sanitizer. I thought all was ok…and then…I went to leave……as far as I can tell, all the doors in India so far have a lock on the inside and the outside. someone locked me in!!!!AFter a moment of freaking out, I figured Sam would eventually come to see what was taking so long. I kept jiggling the door and someone came and let me out (and said sorry…I’m pretty sure he watched me actually go in!!!!!) But folks - I am here to tell the story.
OK, so in the end, I think we were on the train for 17 hours. Then we had a autorickshaw driver try to pull a fast one and get a bunch of money out of us. However, we are too smart for that. We found a hotel at about 4 am and finally got to wash our hands with soap!!!! (always the highlight of my day). It’s now a beautiful day in Fort Cochin and we are going to take some water taxis and enjoy a wonderful day in the sun!!!
Take care everyone,
Love,
Devi
