From Chennai, I traveled to the ancient ruins of a capitol city in Hampei via a twenty hour stay on the Indian railway system, the world's largest employer and possibly the largest source of delays in the world. At one point we were stopped for so long that a good number of people got off three hours in to a standing room only trip, walked to a hole in the chain link fence ringing the track and hailed a bus to take them the rest of the way. The Indian railroad company also injects an ample amount of excitement and confusion into an otherwise sedated mode of transportation. There were seldom signs posted to show which train would be arriving at which track and it was not printed on the tickets either, people just seem to know where to go. Fine for them but this caused me to move to three different tracks in an hour while waiting at one stop and the first train I got on I had to hop off as it pulled away from the station. I don't know where it was going but I knew it was the wrong way. Later I would get on the right train but only after consulting five different people and being told by three that it was going to Hospet (my destination), one that it was not and by the last that it was going to Mysore. I figured three out of five was pretty good and if I ended up in Mysore I would be just in time for the birthday of a friend who was staying there. The lack of signage is made worse by an incredibly loud automated announcement system which is under the impression that every train is on time. The 5 o'clock express to Bangalore could be running three hours late but at 5 the loud speakers will proclaim in blaring fashion that the train is ready to depart from track 1 - even though an entirely different train is sitting on those tracks probably about to take off in the opposite direction.
The saving grace of the Indian Railroad are the people on it. Those sitting in unreserved 2nd class will madly dash to any door as an incoming train slows, bumping and pushing anyone in their way and then turn around smiling to off you part of their snack once you get aboard. There was a family of girls on a train that were very friendly and kept asking me questions for the twenty mins I sat with them before having to jump off as the train began to move in the wrong direction. Probably a good thing since the mother seemed determined that I should marry at least one of them, a thirteen year age gap not being her biggest concern. On another train, a small boy of twelve or thirteen and myself wordlessly exchanged funny faces for several hours while the track caused the train to rattle and shake with deafening noise. On my first overnight train I slept a few feet away from a mother and daughter with a skin disease that caused it to flake off revealing a pink layer beneath their light brown skin. Waking up next to a bench with dusting of skin like big snow flakes and then being offered to share their breakfast was certainly one of the less appetizing moments of the trip.
Going from Goa to Mumbai I shared a berth with a young engineering couple who spoke prefect English and seemed to be doing very well for themselves judging by the plethora of gold they wore. I later learned that most of it had been given by their families at their marriage a few years earlier. Even though they married for love, her father had still given a dowry as a sign of social status that included much of the gold he wore and either a car or a house, I can't recall which. I also learned that before they began seeing each other, her family had considered an arranged marriage and set up a number of interviews. These interviews were not with the prospective husband, but with his friends. Up to a dozen of them would sit across from her while she kept her head down and never made eye contact with a single one. They would ask her questions, vetting her for their friend and then leave. They two of them seemed very happy to be married to one another.
After speaking for awhile, they told me that they very much wished to travel to Europe, specifically Switzerland and Venice. I never found out exactly why those two places but they were set on going as part of a big tour group. When I advised that they might find it more enjoyable to go on their own he responded by saying, "But we are scared."
"Why? Most westerners would be more scared to travel through India, I think."
"No you see, Indians are born scared."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since we are young we are told not to go to this part of the city or that part of the city because it is not safe. Maybe you will be mugged or kidnapped. So we are scared."
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