Since i’m back in India, my Dad’s given me his digital camera. I take it everywhere.
The view from my window
Independence Day Celebrations at the school where my mom works: You can tell
what these two think about it.
Monsoons = Lots and lots of Rain. Even when its not raining my mom likes to be prepared.
The Great Wall of Khushalpur
Can you spot the Corn?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Train, Tea and Travel
So I’m back in India, and right now I feel exactly like a marine animal that is released back into the ocean. It’s going to take a while to get used to being back here again.
Most of my first day was spent in trying to sleep off jet lag an in a five(almost six) hour train ride from New Delhi to my town Dehradun. It’s something I’ve done I’ve done countless times before, but the gap of two years makes it a strangely familiar yet weirdly alien journey.
Indians traveling by train are a strange breed of people. Unlike plane rides, trains have no available form of entertainment, which makes the interest/boredom level of the journey depend solely on the strangers you happen to be sharing your train compartment with. Its interest to watch the interaction between the people. Its like they’re all trying to find that fine balance between being neighborly and fulfilling their own self interests.
A perfect example would be the woman who sat in the seat beside mine. From almost the minute she took that seat she and I indulged ina non-verbal contest of will over the armrest between us. Every time I put it up she put it down; and every time she put it down I put it up again. We could have continued that the whole six hours. But about halfway through the journey she decided that borrowing my i-pod for a while was worth the sacrifice of losing the armrest battle. So I let her borrow the i=pod and she left the armrest alone. Shobana :1, Lady 0.
On the whole, Indian train travelers are quite friendly towards their co-passengers. If traveling alone, they’re willing to switch seats with each other so that family members can sit next to each other despite being separated by their ticket numbers.; they’re thappy to give out extremely personal details about their lives to perfect strangers, just to pass the time. They’re especially nice to foreign nationals, giving out bits of advice and information,
When I was little, it wasn’t uncommon for people to share their packed lunches or dinners with anyone and everyone in a 2 feet radius. Of course, now the fear of getting robbed by a fellow passenger is much stronger than the natural hospitality of the food loaded Indian.
Unlike traveling in Indiana, staring out the window while traveling in India is actually quite enjoyable. Fields of paddy, wheat and sugarcane give way to trees, small ponds, houses, big towns, small cities, railway crossings, rivers, temples and the occasional herd of cows and goats.
The best thing about traveling by train? For me it’s a tie between staring out the window, and the Chai. Indian chai is very different from the imitations tht I’ve seen in America. I’m not usually a tea drinker (coffee being my poison of choice), but there’s something very special about the chai served on trains. As a child I used to love tea, especially while traveling by train. It used to be served, piping hot, in tiny clay pots. (very environment friendly) In winter you could wrap your fingers around them to ward off the cold. Now these clay pots are virtually extinct. My dad claims that the tea and coffee served on the trains taste exactly the same, but I suspect he uses that as an excuse to have a cup of each instead of choosing between them. I’ve drank them both and the coffee leaves a very faint but very distinct caffeine taste on your tongue.
Trains between Delhi and Dehradun are especially full at this time of the year: its kavadh season. Every year, at the end of July and beginning of August a number of Hindu men and woman travel to the holy city of Haridwar (translation = gate to god) and collect water from the river Ganges. Theoretically the water can be collected at any point in the river, but getting it from Haridwar is worth extra points. The water is taken back to their villages and homes and during the festival of Mahashivratri (translation = the great night of Shiv) the water is poured onto figurines of Lord Shiva. Since Haridwar is en route to Dehradun and Delhi ebign the closest major city, the number of people traveling on that route increases exponentially in the weeks leading up to Mahashivratri.
And now its time to get off the train and head home.
Most of my first day was spent in trying to sleep off jet lag an in a five(almost six) hour train ride from New Delhi to my town Dehradun. It’s something I’ve done I’ve done countless times before, but the gap of two years makes it a strangely familiar yet weirdly alien journey.
Indians traveling by train are a strange breed of people. Unlike plane rides, trains have no available form of entertainment, which makes the interest/boredom level of the journey depend solely on the strangers you happen to be sharing your train compartment with. Its interest to watch the interaction between the people. Its like they’re all trying to find that fine balance between being neighborly and fulfilling their own self interests.
A perfect example would be the woman who sat in the seat beside mine. From almost the minute she took that seat she and I indulged ina non-verbal contest of will over the armrest between us. Every time I put it up she put it down; and every time she put it down I put it up again. We could have continued that the whole six hours. But about halfway through the journey she decided that borrowing my i-pod for a while was worth the sacrifice of losing the armrest battle. So I let her borrow the i=pod and she left the armrest alone. Shobana :1, Lady 0.
On the whole, Indian train travelers are quite friendly towards their co-passengers. If traveling alone, they’re willing to switch seats with each other so that family members can sit next to each other despite being separated by their ticket numbers.; they’re thappy to give out extremely personal details about their lives to perfect strangers, just to pass the time. They’re especially nice to foreign nationals, giving out bits of advice and information,
When I was little, it wasn’t uncommon for people to share their packed lunches or dinners with anyone and everyone in a 2 feet radius. Of course, now the fear of getting robbed by a fellow passenger is much stronger than the natural hospitality of the food loaded Indian.
Unlike traveling in Indiana, staring out the window while traveling in India is actually quite enjoyable. Fields of paddy, wheat and sugarcane give way to trees, small ponds, houses, big towns, small cities, railway crossings, rivers, temples and the occasional herd of cows and goats.
The best thing about traveling by train? For me it’s a tie between staring out the window, and the Chai. Indian chai is very different from the imitations tht I’ve seen in America. I’m not usually a tea drinker (coffee being my poison of choice), but there’s something very special about the chai served on trains. As a child I used to love tea, especially while traveling by train. It used to be served, piping hot, in tiny clay pots. (very environment friendly) In winter you could wrap your fingers around them to ward off the cold. Now these clay pots are virtually extinct. My dad claims that the tea and coffee served on the trains taste exactly the same, but I suspect he uses that as an excuse to have a cup of each instead of choosing between them. I’ve drank them both and the coffee leaves a very faint but very distinct caffeine taste on your tongue.
Trains between Delhi and Dehradun are especially full at this time of the year: its kavadh season. Every year, at the end of July and beginning of August a number of Hindu men and woman travel to the holy city of Haridwar (translation = gate to god) and collect water from the river Ganges. Theoretically the water can be collected at any point in the river, but getting it from Haridwar is worth extra points. The water is taken back to their villages and homes and during the festival of Mahashivratri (translation = the great night of Shiv) the water is poured onto figurines of Lord Shiva. Since Haridwar is en route to Dehradun and Delhi ebign the closest major city, the number of people traveling on that route increases exponentially in the weeks leading up to Mahashivratri.
And now its time to get off the train and head home.
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