Sept 26, 2008
Sleeper Trains in India
We’re taking the train from Jodhpur to Delhi. Shahi hotel has gotten us a driver to take us to the train station in Jodhpur. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of the blue architecture of Jodphur city but arrived just in time to settle into our station and just in time for me to use the bathroom. The station bathroom was scary-disgusting and I was forced to bring out The Freshette. It is my new travel weapon! Oh yes!- a cup with a spout allowing women to pee standing up like a man. Holding my nose and my cup presented a weird feeling. It seemed so wrong to cross Adam, but overall a genius female James Bond device- I’m grateful to the inventor!
Time to board, we took the SLEEPER TRAIN to Delhi & finally, I got to experience public transportation! I loved it.
The sleeper train compartments house 6 births (bottom, mid, top on both sides) and one mirror. Riding on it, I could finally meet and talk with the local people who were sharing our cabin. This is their advice…
Train ettiquette- When you start out, all the bunks are folded up and you just have the 2 rows of seats and everyone sits in their assigned ones. Then, there is a time when the people in the cabin all decide to eat- the food vendors on the train periodically go around selling food but most of the locals in our cabin bring their own food.
Dentist Dan offers me an interesting travel device to brush my teeth with, which is better than the local twigs.
A little later in the evening, there is a silent agreement amongst your “cabin mates” that it is sleep time and everyone pulls down their bunk and sets up their beds. M & I wiped ours down with baby wipes. I couldn’t sleep immediately, so I brought out my iPod and split my time between looking out the window (it was near my head) and watching some Bollywood music videos I brought along. The young boy was sleeping in the middle bunk across of me, recognized one of the videos that I had from the movie, Guru. He leaned over and I shared a bit of my iPod with him.
In the morning looking outside of the train,
the poor paint line the railway tracks in a LONG procession. Shack housing stretched out for miles! Most are going through their morning routines- brushing their teeth with the twig of a tree, bathing with buckets of water taken from a community faucet, doing the ritual of sun salutations, or…
taking a squat dump by the side of the train tracks. Yeah… squat dump! Sometimes, you see a procession of men squatting with their pants around their ankles. I didn’t see any tissues. Most housing accommodations don’t boast much, neither a bathroom nor running water, but a public /community facet to share. Men are walking to and from along the train tracks… I think it’s to do their morning business.
I accidentally got this shot- the men squatting on the side are taking a dump. (their faces are blurred for confidentiality)
that goes on for miles….
finally, we arrive at the New Delhi station
