The beginning of our epic journey - Sidney

When we started this trip, we thought it would be smart to write down, every once in a while, the things that had happened so we wouldn’t forget and so we could share it with everyone. So while in Goa, after our first journey on a train, Sid wrote this up (with a little help from me, Brooke and some input from Trevor as well). Unfortunately we got lazy and didn’t continue writing great blog posts about every place we went, so an update on the rest of the trip will come later! This will give you an idea of how the trip started though. Hope you enjoy! - B

"Vara and Prim cooked us up a gourmet meal before we left consisting of Tiger rice (enough Tiger rice to feed an army), egg fried rice, and chapathi’s (of which we made 20 and had to take some in a ‘parcel’). She also had homemade peanut butter (sweeter than ours at home) and egg curry (guudu curra). We ate at a semi-rushed pace under the candlelit dimness of the power outage – a daily routine we’ve gotten to know quite well.

Ramana was waiting for us and urging us forward because he wanted someone to come to the railway station with us and that wouldn’t happen if we rode a later bus. We ended up going to Vempalli with Rajeev and then to Kadapa as a trio because we don’t need no babysitter. The trip began. With enlightened hearts and serious anticipation we were on our way. We made a few friends on the bus to Kadapa who helped us know which stop to get out on and how much an autorickshaw would be to the railway station. Everytime we talk about a “train station” the Indians have a look of confusion but when we say “railway station” they know exactly what we’re talking about.

                Looking around the railway station in Kadapa you’d think they’re acting as part railway station and part hostile because bodies lined the floor and we had to be careful where we stepped. Dogs snuggled closely to oblivious mummies snoring under their patterned blankets as if they knew each other in a previous reincarnation. After asking the enquiry attendant about the process of our train situation we sat down in an open area where hardly anyone was around – perhaps  a little too cautious about our belongings and paranoid every time someone walked too close to our bags. However, there were reasons why no one sat at this certain area of the railway station – mosquitoes. The war began as Brooke quickly whipped out her Cutter, while 6 gigantic blood suckers homed in at Trevor’s juicy calves. It was a massacre. The war claimed no victor but left the mosquitoes hungry and moved us to an area where we sat under a nice, cool mosquito-preventing fan. After 5 games of i-Spy and 6 games of Go Fish, it was time to board the train which was conveniently an hour late. The peculiar mix of excitement and tiredness was quite the experience. You know that feeling your brain has when you’re up too late but everything’s funny and you’re tired? Yeah, that’s what it was. If there were more people at the train station at that late hour we probably would’ve gotten some confused glances.

                Chronic laugher, dim fluorescent lights, loud snoring, cigarette smoke, narrow aisles and multitudes of buff, bald men were the dominating features of our particular sleeper car at one o’clock in the morning when we boarded. Oh joy. Picture the three of us sitting on one side berth cot that we were supposed to share for the night (since only one of our tickets was confirmed) with our bags on our laps, staring at the wall wondering what the next 12 hours of our lives would bring, or if life would even bring us 12 hours. To say the least, we were pretty scared. Not just because of our surroundings but because we were tired, we wanted sleep, and it’s almost impossible to sleep with one eye open. We eventually ended up in different berths as the night went on and people disembarked the train at various stops. The train was considerably less scary after sunrise. Sid made some great friends with the bald men who had actually all shaved their heads because they were returning from a visit to a temple in Andhra Pradesh. We were all introduced and did some Hindi language practice.

                It was good to get the first trip on a sleeper car train out of the way. With many more in our future, we would have to be prepared to meet some interesting people and smell some new smells!"

- S

We were glad that Sid made good friends with these guys. :)