My birthday in Chennai

Last I left you we were rushing to the train station in Shoanur in
Kerala to make our way to Chennai. The travel agent we had used had
not secured confirmed tickets for our overnight train from Shoanur to
Chennai. The train we had 4 out of 12 confirmed tickets for was the
17 hour train, despite there also being a 9 hour train! So we went to
the station in hopes that our brilliant driver Sabu could get 8 more
beds for us. When we arrived our train was annouced 25 minutes late.
Sabu assured us that the train would be there for 15 minutes once it
arrived and he seemed very confident that he would be able to get
enough beds/seats. Keep in mind this also meant that he wouldn't have
to make the 16 hour drive there and back. So we waited on the
platform, all a little dismayed at what was to come next. Like a lot
of things in India if I hadn't seen the trains being used with my own
eyes, I would have thought they were completely derelict and hadn't
been used in 25 years. In fact, they seemed to run fine, if not a
little smelly and overcrowded. A train arrived on the platform we
were standing. There were some pretty funny guys who came over to say
hello, ask It wasn't our train. After 1.25 hours and much discussion
and speculation we realised that not only was this definitely not our
train, but ours was actually on the platform over the bridge. We all
hauled ass to the other platform. It was just pulling in. Sabu said
we should get on, so we got on. There were only beds with no doors
separating out the sections or even curtains. Some people were
already sleeping at 3 in the afternoon. We had all of our bags in a
very cramped area. After only a few minutes on the platform and just
as we heard the word from the person closest to the door to abort the
plan and we'll drive, we notice it's moving! Word travels, Sabu: "Oh
shit!" If it weren't for the obvious surprise and the urgency with
which he got off we would have thought it was his plan all along to
dupe us on the train and wave us goodbye.

So we all sat down, with a little help from our Indian compartment
mates, and hoped for the best. I would be lying if I said there
weren't some very nervous people in our group that thought we might be
sitting all night. There were about 8 areas with beds in them in each
car. Each area had 8 beds: two tiers of three and 1 tier of 2 along
the length of the car. The middle bed came down to make seats on the
bottom bed. We were a little spread out at first, but everywhere in
the car everyone made a huge effort to help us. Some moved to make
room for us and many made conversation where possible. I was really
touched and surprised how little they were annoyed by our crowding in
when we so clearly didn't have seats. Although they didn't know this,
we had paid for all the seats, we just didn't have them, we were
numbers 1-8 on the waiting list. There were many stops all the way up
to 10pm and even a few through the night. The ticket man, who was
called TT, knew about us and was extremely gracious about finding us
seats. There were three TTs through the night. The second one gave
us four more beds at about 9pm. Then at about 11.30 we recieved 3
more. Morgan and Davi were able to share a bed until 3am when the
(most dapper) TT gave us our final 12th bed! Just as we were all
getting in to bed and about to fall asleep Morgan, Davi, Murphy,
Ashton and Alex all came to my bed and sang Happy Birthday to me. We
spent the night of the 18th on the Train. At 6am we pulled into
Chennai. Even though it was a little scary that we wouldn't have the
beds to sleep on and it was pretty stressful, the whole experience was
amazing. The people were kind and really pleasant to talk to, the TTs
were helpful, and it was my Birthday!

I scoped out a breakfast place in Chennai. We went to a restaurant
called Saravana Bhavan. There are 17 of them in Chennai and a few
around the world, including one in Sunnydale, CA. Their food was
fantastic. They have huge dosas about 2 feet in diameter, and
everything we ordered was super tasty. Despite having Indian food for
the last 3 weeks, I still enjoy all the tastes. I'll probably be sick
of it after 6 weeks, but at the moment I'm still loving it. And for
someone who wouldn't eat it as a child, I think I've come a long way.

It's late but a quick update on the other places we have been. After
one day in Chennai, Murphy, Heidi, Luke and Liz went home to NY. The
remaining people went to Mamallapurim the next day for two nights.
Georgous stone temples and bas-reliefs but a little too many hippies
for me. Lovely little town and nice to be in for a little time,
especially nice to see the Ocean. Hilarie left to go home to LA the
same day the remaining 5 travelled to Pondicherry. After three nights
here (I am about to go to sleep on the 3rd night) we head back to
Chennai where Bob, Ashton, Morgan and Davi will be going back to NY.
Then there will be only three!

This was very quick and I certainly haven't shared all my thoughts,
but I wanted to get the basics down to let everyone know what's going
on. Please get in touch about specific things if you are interested.
I'd be happy to write more, even if it takes me a while to respond. :)
and as always, I'll try to write more as soon as I can.

Lots of love,
K