Travel Journal - Entry 8

Overnight to Ahmedabad 2/13/2008
We have a 20 minute 'layover' in Jaipur to load food and replenish departing passengers. Having either been sitting or laying down for the past six hours I stepped out for a stroll down the platform. I bought some hot chai and walked back close to the carriage I was assigned to, sipping my tea until the train whistle yanked everyone inside like the rebound of a gigantic bungee jump.

Walking through back to my berth I noticed all of the Indian passengers eagerly but quietly supping on sumptuous local meals prepared in thin, foil-covered aluminium tins. (Regards to my Indian friends on the spelling and pronunciation of 'aluminium'). I recall the porter coming through earlier asking passengers questions and taking notes. I was not asked if I had wanted a meal however. Although the guy looked right at me as he questioned everyone else in Hindi, he passed me by. I found that odd, suspecting he was preparing for dinner but unsure since he would have indicated something to me, surely. Hmm.

Given the condition of my nose, however (don't forget my cold - nose is quite the drippy mess) I am in no condition to eat spicy food that would more rapidly expend my already dwindling supply of tissue. Since i am virtually at tissue's end I have become a conservator, ready to carry the sign and wear the t-shirt if it would mean I have enough to carry me onto my ultimate destination, Ahmedabad. Or is it Ahmadabad? Depends on who you ask. Anyways, I have taken to rolling up balls of tissue and shoving it up the offending nostril (in this case, right) in a bid to stem the avalanching tide of snot which has been more persistent than the all of the beggar children I have encountered.

I am going to take two Tylenol PM in order to sleep more comfortably. One is supposed to allow for 8 hours and I have roughly 11 ahead of me. Plus the chai and Nescafe will surely flow in the morning, in case I am too groggy to get off when I am supposed to.
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It is 7:30 AM, approximately 30 minutes to arrival. I haven't heard if we were running late or not and I probably won't if last night's dinner is any indication. The lower berths are already packed and ready to bolt once we land. The entire floor is filled with the bags of an older couple who took both sides of the bottom all the way from Delhi. Because there were several stops earlier, many passengers who started with us are gone. Many who did not start with us are now among us, waiting for our collective arrival at our final station. For now I am unable to collect my bags below one of the lowermost berths, chained and locked onto one of the rings welded to the train. This is done in order to be able to lug as much stuff off the train as one lugged onto it.

I remember being uncomfortably warm last evening beneath the thick woolly blanket the train provides this class of passenger. They give everyone two sheets as well should anyone wish to recreate the 'just like home' sleeping experience. I had kicked the blanket off me, but to the side of the berth that towered above the rest of the sleeping passengers in my compartment. At some point it tumbled to the floor, something I recall being vaguely aware of at the time but not enough to really know concern of any kind. When I became more cognoscente that I was missing my blanky some time later, I pulled one of the sheets from beneath my thin Indian train pillow to once again regain the comfort of covering up while sleeping in public. Of course I had on everything I'd worn on the train in the first place - green cargo climbing pants, maroon Old Navy fleece, maroon Campmor tee (sans shoes and socks) - but I felt that covering was the proper thing to do regardless.

Peeing does not yet seem to be a priority so as I wait for my chance to jump down and secure my belongings, I shall one last time seek the wisdom of the Lonely Planet guide to India and see what they have to say about lodging, transportation, food and what to watch our for in Ahmedabad.

Or is it Ahmadabad?