The last 10 days took me on a roller coaster ride-fun, scary, unpredictable yet thrilling. It all started with a simple plan to visit my university in Rajasthan to discuss my research progress, attend classes, take tests and make presentations in seminars there.
I took my husband along, hoping to visit a few tourist spots during the weekends. I was told at the university that if I am confident enough I could take tests even without attending classes. I completed all my work by Wednesday and had enough time to explore.
My aunt's family lives in Delhi and they were happy that we could visit them. This was completely unplanned and we had not reserved any tickets. There was no direct train after 5 pm. The only option was to take 3 trains and travel in the general compartment to reach Delhi. I had no idea what I was setting myself up to.
I took my husband along, hoping to visit a few tourist spots during the weekends. I was told at the university that if I am confident enough I could take tests even without attending classes. I completed all my work by Wednesday and had enough time to explore.
My aunt's family lives in Delhi and they were happy that we could visit them. This was completely unplanned and we had not reserved any tickets. There was no direct train after 5 pm. The only option was to take 3 trains and travel in the general compartment to reach Delhi. I had no idea what I was setting myself up to.
Train 1
The Samaritan
The person at the ticket counter in Churu told us that we might get a direct train to Delhi if we get down at a particular station. We got in that train. The first thing that hit me was the stench- or in my husband's words the right verb is not 'hit' but 'kick'. The poor people in the interior villages were mostly illiterate without any idea about basic hygiene. The stench was a crude mix of dried sweat, urine and tobacco. I tried to reason that the poor could not afford to wash themselves with the water scarcity situation in Rajasthan. I opened my bag with stealth and pressed the deodorant to release some freshness in the air. My husband joked that I should try spraying that on everyone around.
A thin, tall guy sat in front of us, started eating some nuts/fruits and was conveniently spitting the pits in front of him. At that moment, all my reasoning left me and the only emotion I felt was 'disgust'. I suppressed my anger and started conversing with Sanju in malayalam. The tall guy was intrigued and asked us where we were from and that question sparked off a discussion. He was surprised that we were a married couple and exclaimed that wives in Rajasthan wear Bangles, Sindhoor and mangal sutra. He also had a certain element of curiosity about other cultures and asked us a deluge of questions, about how women are treated, how 'love marriages' happen, education, opportunities, art and traditions.
My contempt gave way to a new found respect. He also claimed that he was an electronics genius who could fix anything. I told him in my broken hindi that only when women are educated, a culture can come up. He expressed that women are usually not permitted to study in his village since they believe that a woman becomes part of another family after marriage.
I told him that it's not necessary that the scenario should be different for a woman, a man and woman can start a new family and yet be part of their respective families. My husband said that many women choose to retain their names (like me ;-)) and the change they experience after marriage could be just what the man experiences after marriage. He was intrigued and shared tales of male domination and mentioned that he understands why women should also be financially independent. He was still spitting the pits in front of us but for some reason it ceased bothering me.
When we were about to leave he told my husband 'We created a friendship of 200 years in 4 hours'. We didn't expect that emotional outburst and were deeply touched. He even offered to stand in the line for us and also see us off. We refused politely but left the train station with an admiration for his curiosity and innocence.
A thin, tall guy sat in front of us, started eating some nuts/fruits and was conveniently spitting the pits in front of him. At that moment, all my reasoning left me and the only emotion I felt was 'disgust'. I suppressed my anger and started conversing with Sanju in malayalam. The tall guy was intrigued and asked us where we were from and that question sparked off a discussion. He was surprised that we were a married couple and exclaimed that wives in Rajasthan wear Bangles, Sindhoor and mangal sutra. He also had a certain element of curiosity about other cultures and asked us a deluge of questions, about how women are treated, how 'love marriages' happen, education, opportunities, art and traditions.
My contempt gave way to a new found respect. He also claimed that he was an electronics genius who could fix anything. I told him in my broken hindi that only when women are educated, a culture can come up. He expressed that women are usually not permitted to study in his village since they believe that a woman becomes part of another family after marriage.
I told him that it's not necessary that the scenario should be different for a woman, a man and woman can start a new family and yet be part of their respective families. My husband said that many women choose to retain their names (like me ;-)) and the change they experience after marriage could be just what the man experiences after marriage. He was intrigued and shared tales of male domination and mentioned that he understands why women should also be financially independent. He was still spitting the pits in front of us but for some reason it ceased bothering me.
When we were about to leave he told my husband 'We created a friendship of 200 years in 4 hours'. We didn't expect that emotional outburst and were deeply touched. He even offered to stand in the line for us and also see us off. We refused politely but left the train station with an admiration for his curiosity and innocence.
Train 2
The thief
More travel and even more stench. A big family was seated in our compartment and they reeked. At one point, the lady even stood up and held on to the upper berth for support when we were helplessly positioned under her arm pits. I sat closer to my husband to get a whiff of his deodorant. A dirty child curled up near Sanju and that wasn't pleasant. We did feel guilty about getting disgusted at a small child. But at that moment, senses won over values and principles.
After a while that felt like eons, the family left and I tried to get some sleep. I put my head on my husbands lap and dozed off. Suddenly I got up with a jolt only to find two 'new' burly men sitting in the seat in front of us. One man's hand was too close to my bag. I gave him a frown, got up and sat straight. There was another person fast asleep, sprawled across the seat in front of us. I saw this man's fingers poking that person's pocket as if he was just swaying to the train's movements. We were watching that hand, thinking of confronting him if ever his hand got inside the pocket. The other hand was covered under the folds of his shawl. In another 30 seconds he left and we immediately woke up the person sleeping there to make sure that nothing was lost.
Apparently, the thief had used his other hand to flick a mobile and some money while using the weird poking actions as red herrings. The person who lost the mobile was with a few friends and they all set off to different compartments in search of the thief. The thief and his accomplice got caught and like a scene straight out of a masala Indian flick, some army people traveling in another compartment joined these guys to beat up the thief and the accomplice to pulp. The person wholost got back his mobile waited with us in the next train station and bought us tea and biscuits. We bought him a sweet pack. That felt like Christmas.
After a while that felt like eons, the family left and I tried to get some sleep. I put my head on my husbands lap and dozed off. Suddenly I got up with a jolt only to find two 'new' burly men sitting in the seat in front of us. One man's hand was too close to my bag. I gave him a frown, got up and sat straight. There was another person fast asleep, sprawled across the seat in front of us. I saw this man's fingers poking that person's pocket as if he was just swaying to the train's movements. We were watching that hand, thinking of confronting him if ever his hand got inside the pocket. The other hand was covered under the folds of his shawl. In another 30 seconds he left and we immediately woke up the person sleeping there to make sure that nothing was lost.
Apparently, the thief had used his other hand to flick a mobile and some money while using the weird poking actions as red herrings. The person who lost the mobile was with a few friends and they all set off to different compartments in search of the thief. The thief and his accomplice got caught and like a scene straight out of a masala Indian flick, some army people traveling in another compartment joined these guys to beat up the thief and the accomplice to pulp. The person who
Train 3
This was the worst experience. The train was overcrowded and we didn't even get enough space to stand straight. Finally we reached Delhi after the long, adventurous travel.
The Religious man
We paid the fare in a prepaid auto stand to get to my aunt's house. The auto driver was chanting a prayer throughout and would stop only if he needed to speak with anyone. He performed some rituals before starting the auto. He stopped his chanting to tell us very rudely that he would leave us on the street since he had no idea about the house number. On the way, he stopped his chanting to use 'curse words' at another vehicle's driver and after the verbal diarrhea promptly resumed chanting. And then he stopped his chanting mid way only to spit on the street. I was amused and started laughing. Some how, the auto driver had a change of heart and left us at the door step. I gave him 10 Rs extra (for the entertainment) and he performed some ritual on that 10 rs note too.
After getting pampered in my aunt's home, we made a brief visit to Jaipur since our flight was from there (this time we were able to reserve a ticket ;-)) and then got back to the 'real world' and 'real job' on Sunday.
