Abdul was kind to get me to the train station just 30 minutes of so before we were to leave...he also stayed and bartered with the porter who with erect spine and mindblowing ease, balanced my cumbersome, heavy, bag on his head like an apple!
Through the deep and noisy, unending crowd of people we found our way up, up, up the flights of stairs to the right platform and to the car and seat that was to be my home for the next 30hrs. 50 rupees was to be the payment but since he loaded my bag into the car it rose to 100 which was easy to agree to as the troubled load was his not mine and I was grateful...It was with the assistance of a translater that I found out about the inflation!
Settling into my side of the cabin, with all eyes of interest focused as though I was waving gold, I took time to try and find a home for the bags that held the precious books of study and the comforts of home...
It was through conversation of my cabin mates that I found out I was on an express train which would arrive in Chennai late Saturday evening and not Sunday morning as I expected. Hmmmm... I wondered about the room situation...oh well, it will work it's way out I guess.
We were off just a few minutes after 4pm and the cool air, the pollution and crowds of Delhi were left behind...for now.
My cabin mates included Stanny, an Indian gentleman (my translater as mentioned!), who has just 1.5 years before entering the Priesthood and who teaches Sociology at the University in Delhi, and three gentlemen in the Indian Army. So it appeared that I was to be in good hands and free of any sins should anything happen on our adventure across the country into the heat of the south! HAHA
Numerous conversations were enjoyed together with the necessary translation! Poor Stanny, we worked him!
There was interest in my whereabouts, why I was wearing the wristband that was in honor of Shiva, what I did, how long was I to be in India, where was I next to travel and so on. I returned the curiousity being mindful of proper etiquette.
Ahhhh the train....where do I begin?
As if out of a movie set, it appeared to have been giving it's service to hundreds of thousands, for hundreds of years...Everything appears to have a history, a story and the bathroom (one's squatting and agility is tested completely!), provided an opportunity to step out and open an adjoining door with the welcoming fresh air from the countryside.
We were prepared with fresh linen, blanket, pillow and towel for journey all from a gentleman who stared just a little tooooo long and who in the evening after appearing to consume to much alcohol, decided to stop by my bunk for a look but thankfully was not alone and his friend ushered him along. Needless to say, I barely slept until the wee hours of the morning when my body could stand no more.
I had the left side, two bunks to myself, fortunately for everyone as I left my belongings on the bottom and slept on the top. The bottom converts to a bunk from 2 seats should that have been needed and I was grateful for the use of it all quite selfishly!
We left on a sunny day and although the light was only with us for a couple of hours, the views of the outskirts of the city startled the ego in me...The shantytowns seemed to grow out of the sides of the tracks with tin roofs, some thatched huts but mostly plastic encirclements housing what appeared to be multiple families. Half clothed children played by the rails, small groups of cows and pigs fed amongst the hills and hills of garbage where the locals also searched among the ravaged remains of history for that which could possibly assist in some way... The heart was heavy for this witnessing of a poverty that one has seen in photos, perhaps in thoughts or dreams and most definitely heard of but which can never be prepared for...
Meandering along the route south, we were served abit of afternoon tea (and sweet lime juice!), then dinner a little later. Conversation was welcomed as one doesn't realize that they are traveling alone sometimes until the joy of sharing with another arises and then the spilling out of thoughts and questions have found a home...
Morning I am woke by one of the service lads who has bought breakfast. I make my way down the few steps from the top bunk to set myself properly for the day and the unstable movement of the train seems to act as an alarm clock with it's jolting forward while the necessary 'squatting' session is experienced fully! Thank god for the stern handle placement in 'just the right place' to hold one with care during the deed! Our car is right beside this communal vessel and it's smells are one to linger a little to long at times along with the hacking and the spitting of all the unwanted...
And in the sunlight we move across the plains...
Small villages sprout up on the outskirts of the larger cities, most of which we stop at to pick up more pilgrams on the journey.
The earth appears to be parched and sucked of any soothing moisture, begging for the monsoons which will not soak the farmers dreams with rain for yet another few months.
Stanny and I enjoy (at least I did!) talks off India. He has invited me to Darjeeling when I return as they have a hospice, a school, farms and numerous projects for the local children there. I had mentioned that I was to head to Rajisthan but after a discussion of the heat there I have changed my mind. As it will reach upwards to 40c, I cannot fathom my body at all in that environment so after a quick stop in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, I will take the Darjeeling Limited into the terraced hillside mountain area of Darjeeling where the temperatures will be much more pleasant for me to stand. Stanny also has friends in Nepal so help while I am there may be poosible too. Chris and I can experience Rajisthan together!
Fields of mustard spread and sparkle like fireflies, lighting up the otherwise monotone land with a brightness of which only the sun could compare to...
As we move further south, the palm trees begin to appear like their own little tribe. Some on their very own and others in a hundled group around a delicious looking basin of water sheltered by their shade and enjoyed by the water buffalo, the dogs, the overheated farmers, the daily washing of the women and flocks of birds who dance on the surface. Some palms appear pregnant with coconut and others rise from the earth standing naked, offering a home for the tired migratory birds also traveling deep to the south...
Napping in the shade of the fields of corn and hundreds of banana groves, the farmers tired bodies are easily felt. The news has shared that the suicide of farmers in India is up 40%. The GMO seeds sold from the US along with the pesticides have abused and raped the soil of future crops, only after yeilds of harvest for maybe 2 years.
The woman are crouched deep into the fields of rice paddies with heads holding baskets of their future and babies playing not to far off...Some are deep into ditches along the rail, helping to create an irrigation channel for the few water basins that seem constantly diverted from their home...
And so the sites and sounds continue on the rails with stops including the exit to the chai-wallah before the steam horn bellows it's command in continuing the journey...
The train will arrive in Chennai late by one hour it seems and although this is news to most, I welcome any knowing of arrival...
As we enter Chennai the movement in the car increases as does the noise, the conversation and the singing of cellphones (most are set to a well known Indian song that is a pleasure to here over the western rap usually experienced back home!).
Stanny has kindly taken this inexperienced gal under his guidance and has helped to get a porter that carried my bags to the prepaid taxi area outside the massive train station in Chennai.
The station is an intense experience with volumes and volumes of people and movement in every possible direction with an unbelieveable stretch before you can exit. The eyes dart everywhere to the people, the colours, everywhere! People are sitting in large groups, lying on the ground with their belongings, meeting their family and friends, legions of small coffee and food stalls abound on the sides and the entire place is lit like a football stadium. Stanny said that it becomes more busy and congested like this the later the trains are.
The heat has hit me...the warm air is so different from the cold, if you can call it cold by our standards and experience, that I had in Delhi.
Stanny haggles the price down to 350rupees for a prepaid taxi to the New Woodlands Hotel where I am to stay.
Long story short, it was as I had thought that the NWH was fully booked but at least they could confirm my week long booking beginning on the 3rd. I stayed at President which was 3 times the price but welcomed as I was exhausted when I arrived.
Having shifted to the NWH I am feeling more settled and the crowds, the traffic, the horns, the heat and the smiles of India are integrating in their own speed without effort and without urgency...
The food is lovely although still abit hot for me. Why peppers when there is already so much heat in the air!
I have visited the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram and beloved Radha was at Vedavani for me to set up my lessons with the delightful Akhila. I have also set up a Yoga Therapy consult with a few classes while here to attend to certain concerns in the precious body. I will stay to study until Feb 9 when I will head south for a couple of days and I am thrilled to be here.
25 years ago, just shy of my 12th birthday I found a book on yoga. That book spoke of a legend named Krishnamacharya who bought yoga to the west in the most complete and holistic manner. It has been a dream all these years, more intensely as time progressed, that I visit the place of this great master and study in this tradition, this lineage...that day has arrived... and so I humbly prostrate and bow to the teacher of teachers who captured my attention and my heart as a child...and with that, the whispers and dreams of that child are at once silenced with this blessing...
Om Srigurubhyo Namaha
Honor and gratitude to the teachers
Hoping this finds you and yours happy, healthy and peaceful
With love
Jennifer
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