Wednesday, August 23, 2006













16 hours to Bilai...

so the train ride - the train ride was fun. it is the best way to get around India - it takes time, but overall it is worth the trip to see all the parts of india that you can't get to by car or my plane. it is amazing how vast the country side is and where people live. it is no wonder that 80% of this country is dominated by farm land. each place you go, there are rice field, wheat fields and all sorts of other vegetables going. it turns out that most people take the train everywhere they go. we measure distance here in time it takes to fly to a location - they measure it in how long the train ride is. most people can't afford to fly around here and the train is the next best option. some towns, you have to travel up to 50 -60 KM to get to the nearest airport, while you will only have to travel 2 km to get to the nearest train station. trains are so accessible here that it is amazing. they are not the most reliable when it comes to time, sometimes that can be a hit or a miss - but in getting you to your final destination and closes to it - there is no comparison. lets talk about what you see - the rolling hills of india, the flat planes, the people working all around not knowing what a computer or the internet is. simple lives where as long as they can make enough to put food on the table, they are content. most often you will see people traveling by foot, sometimes bicycle. the rich people travel on motorcycle - and most of the time you will see people traveling with the animals they will be using on their land. from the train you will see everything - the land is green and the water is plenty. people are laughing and enjoying their day to day chores. the train lets you sit back and relax - enjoy life and not worry about traffic jams, pot holes in the road - nothing. you do worry about one thing - and that is your bags. luckily on my train ride, i was sitting with people that were really chill and super fun to talk to. in fact, we bantered the whole way. the people you can meet in the train are amazing - each has a story - and in 16 hours, you can get to know your neighbor really well...

that is one thing i like about india, people here are nice and enjoy talking to you. they are interested in who you are, more out of their own curiosity, but also to just get to know you. people love to chat with others around them and tend to smile quite a bit. i am not sure if this is the case in other compartments - but in mine it was the case - it is funny, being a single male on a train everyone asked if you are married (always the first question), where are you going, do you have family there, where are you from, are you studying, what work are you doing...they ask personal questions - for some people this makes them feel uncomfortable - for me, i find it amusing - i enjoy talking to people, you can learn so much about different people - which to me is great...the people i sat with in my compartment were from Orissa, which is an area that i know nothing about - so i got to learn more about them and their culure - plus to hear their language was amazing, it was similar to hindi, but just different enough that i couldn't understand it...


another beauty about the train and my family in india, is that it is guaranteed that i will go through a town where i have family - such was the case when i was going to Bilai, the train stopped in Naghpur, I have a cousin sister who lives there - so she gave me food for the remaining part of the ride! haha! gotta love india, i don't think i could say the same about the states - if i travel by train anywhere, i doubt that in a town that i stop in i would find family or someone that would come out and give me lunch! haha! another great thing - almost anywhere i go, there is family...


if you have never done a train ride in india, then i would highly suggest it - go nice, not third class or farther - at least do an AC sleeper car - you will enjoy your time - watching India go by and seeing all the colors - you will enjoy it...take a nap, wake up and you will have someone offereing you chai or coffee - the people next to you will take care of you - it is amazing - traveling by train is fun, so much that it actually makes traveling by air seem cumbersome and annoying...but there is one major annoyance that you have traveling by train and that is storing you luggage - often times you have to place it under your seat or near by...and if you haven't traveled in india or with indians, the you will not know this - but they like to bring their ENTIRE home with them - with the exception of the kitchen sink...so often time, there is no room left for your bags to go...in fact, i had to move someone elses bags around to place mine in and then sleep on my back pack! and then on top of that, i had a family of four's bags all around me...but for all the inconveniece, it is worth it...


till later...

posted by ravi @ 9:53 PM

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