the first few days

(sorry about the formatting mess....feeling frustrated with technology...)

First few days

So this time India is easier being the second time around, flying into the same city, understanding a little better how things work, or don't, but remembering and trying to understand that they don't. Although your brain wants to make sense of things sometimes it just can't.

We spent the first couple of days in Chennai resting in the room, acclimating to the 11 hour time change, weather, language, money, food.... We got slightly nicer than usual rooms with wifi so we could figure out our next steps.

And... acclimating to the noise and the dirt. It has been long enough that i forgot. Sitting in a restaurant afraid to touch the menu it is so greasy, noticing the grime everywhere, and praying that the food doesn't make you sick.  Scared of touching anything in the bathroom, wearing your shoes in the shower but not in the room, showering numerous times a day, covering your nose and mouth because of the dust and smells. And I'm not really even a germaphobe. Soon, I'll be more used to it and will still have good hygiene practices, and things will begin to bother me less.

And then the noise!! The 3rd night in Chennai we moved closer to the train station and it was so noisy, I didn't sleep well. People tend to yell at each other or just talk in really loud voices. They also hack and hack and hack, expelling mucus, one time Patrick said, " there goes a kidney" to give you the idea of the magnitude.

Right  now we are in a  remote village where there is a  canyon and fort, more of an Indian tourist destination, groups of well off men and a few couples coming for the weekend, many from bigger cities. Big lesson, don't come to places like this on a weekend, no rooms available when we arrived in late afternoon after  a day of travel, but i knew there would be camping. 

So after much confusion, bargaining, etc, we got a tent which would be set up in a field. We thought we would be the only ones, but when we got there, there was one other tent with a quiet group. We went to bed early because we were exhausted from traveling all day and then one more tent went up, then another and another, with more and more people. Soon multiple conversations happening and motorcycles and cars pulling up until 3 or 4 in the morning besides the barking dogs and loud thumping music from the resort.  I know that I slept because I had some dreams, but in  spaces far and few between. 

Patrick and I commented that the group of men had the energy of a sleepover of young girls with lots of giggling. Then everyone was singing in unison and it was actually really beautiful and then quiet and I thought they were actually going to sleep but then more screaming and giggling again.

And before sunrise early morning there was a wake up call for a hike to go see the sunrise. " Mam, would you like to get up for the sunrise". "No thank you", was my reply, although other words were running through my head. So the rise of voices and motorcycles once again, then peace? Perhaps for a short moment.

I never really fell back asleep again but then the sunrise brought the heat of the sun into tent. 

So, at breakfast we are trying to see if we can get a room for the next night since it is Sunday. This place is a government run resort. I think that the British bureaucracy was never a good fit for Indian culture and has changed into something incredible to manage. 

We can't  get a room unless we reserve it online and there is no Wi-Fi here nor do they have a computer.  We have to wait until 12 for the system to open up and wait for the kindness of a stranger with phone service. At least the restaurant cleared out and it is somewhat quiet, my poor nervous system after 2 nights of interrupted sleep. But this is India.

But India is also the people we met on the train, their curiosity and kindness and good conversations. The women who smile even though we can't communicate verbally, and share their food,  the business man heading to the big city to attend to his property and his knowledge of the world and politics, a young man home for the weekend after 6 months of being away from family who shared lunch with us and helped us with transportation, a young woman studying biotechnology also home for the weekend who invited us to her home, and the couple on the train with children who also invited us to their home.  This is why we like India, the heart that exists in some people.

So, then....because of the ineptitude of the workers and the bureaucracy, we couldn't get a room, they actually said it was full, so we rented a tent again knowing it would be quieter. They said "same place?", "Sure", thinking it would be in the field.  

We met a nice Indian couple who was staying there that night and shared stories and learned about great places to travel in India. They told us they were the only ones staying there.   

When it was time to go to our tent, it was set up next to the building near the road and on cement!  So, the couple made a phone call to get us a room, I guess his standing in the military gave him the ability to do this. After much negotiation and phone calls, etc , we could've ended up in a room, but with no guarantee that we wouldn't have to pay for the tent also (which of course was way overpriced) because even though the resort arranged it for us, it was an outside person.  We didn't  want to deal with confrontation at 6 am. Patrick was tired, I was tired of dealing with this place so we just went to bed, he slept, but i didn't really, the 3rd night without sleep, and one more to go that i didn't even know about yet!...So, we were in a fairly remote area only accessible by vehicle and we arrived by auto rickshaw from the nearest town....so we were waiting for the bus at 6am in the morning, one went in the opposite direction at the correct time and then we started doubting if we should've gotten on that one or not. We waited another hour or so, and finally one came in the direction we thought we should be going in, but it was like one of those images you see with the people spilling out and sitting on top and not a single space for us to get on...so they called an auto rickshaw for us and finally we got where we needed to go!

Ok, but then once again on the next train ride we met sweet families and playful children and had an interesting conversation with a Bollywood model/actor, so again, it can be as beautiful and sweet as it is ridiculous and challenging!