Greetings and Salutations, good people of Earth!
IT has been far too long since i was able to see my way clear to posting and writing here, on this, my account of experiences out in the wide, wide world; and now i hope to return, with renewed fervor and fortitude, to the inscription of my time here on this plane and planet! My "adventures in Thailand" and across northern India last year will have to remain as yet unwritten for now, as i must simply jump back onto my present-time narrative for the sake of proper contemporaneity....
~~~~~
Wow, as i sit here in seat 17C on the IndiGo plane, waiting for takeoff out of Thailand; even as i attempt to remain scrupulously attentive to the moment, i cannot help but recall a November night shortly before Thanksgiving of 2011, not so long ago really!, when i sat in a similar plane on a similar runway in Guangzhou, unable to believe that my dreams and plans of a solo journey to India were manifesting in front of my eyes as an enmeshed and uber-dramatic partner-travel with Tiffany, who had NOT been initially booked on my plane.... Bizarre to the max
i was, as i recall, so livid and in such a shock of disbelief that i could not really process what was going on around me; only trudging forward with a hazy awareness that Tiffany and i were going to India together, whether i liked IT or not, and who the hell could know what was coming next....
Despite the relative insanity of the events which have led us all to be where we are currently, in this loopy year of 2013, i am thankful and feel very blessed to have the opportunity of a lifetime happening right now: the experience i hoped to have had a year-and-a-half ago is finally happening! i am on a plane headed (in a few minutes) to India, on my own and not particularly attached to anyone or anything, oh except for my guitars and the G3X! i'm SUPER attached to them! :-/
i have the chance to explore what is going on for me, and where the fuck i'm at, without regular minute-by-minute distraction by emotionally-demonstrative partner-people! And i get to do IT in India! Wow, I'm sleepy.... and we're about to take off.... And they're gonna make me turn off my electronic device in a minute.... Well.... Avanti! See u on da flip side dogggg
And here.... We.... Go!
~~~~~
.... i'm back!
IT's 7:00 in the morning as the sun seeps out through the soft orange polluted haze over Delhi; 400 rupees is taking me in an airport taxi/familyvan back to the only home i know here in Delhi, the Little Wonders Playschool....
Sign on side of Delhi truck: "Tool Boox"
"The drinking will continue until the economy improves" - Old Delhi man's t-shirt
- An excellent re-meet with my ol' friend Karan Jain, the Emperor of Little Wonders Playschool in New Friends Colony of Delhi; i am officially embarking (after a week of solemn deliberations to figure out what shape the whole thing should take) upon the creation of a "school of rock"-type music school, to be housed here in the Little Wonders building, adding a USP (Unique Selling Point) to the already-full array of educational ventures packed into the same place (Day Care, Spoken English, Standardized-test tutoring, Martial arts studio, Flow India educational NGO).... This opportunity is one which no one has ever afforded me back in my country of origin, and dang if IT doesn't sort of feel like the kind of thing i was wondering if i might find, out here in the big world when i started these journeys - somewhere where someone ACTUALLY WANTED me, with my peculiar skills and talents, to stay and do something really cool! And i feel SUPER GRATEFUL for this opportunity, and i hope that i am expressing this enough to Karan and everyone involved!
So now i live in the basement corner office, and when i say office i mean office! IT has a big official glass-top desk at one end, with a big black official office chair behind IT, and that's IT! i sleep on a green kiddie futon chair that folds out flat into a bed of sorts, and pack IT up every day so that IT can go back upstairs so the kiddies can take their naps on IT....
The ladies who work the preschool upstairs seem to find IT bizarre and somewhat unseemly that a ferengi is living downstairs in trippy shirts and Thai fisherman's pants, and coming upstairs barefoot every morning to brush his teeth and take a kneeling faucet shower under a rusty knobless tap in the locked "executive washroom"; yet they silently accept that their job description now includes bringing me chai and toast in the mornings, and a vegetarian lunch of any combination of potatoes, dal, red beans, okra, roti, and/or rice in the afternoons, where i generally eat with "KaranSir" in his Imperial Office and talk about the state of the world, why we STILL haven't seen "Iron Man 3" yet, and discuss how exactly one goes about creating a music school from scratch....
By day, i go guitar-in-hand and plinking away into a roomful of wide-eyed three-year-old summer camp kiddies, and wow them by making weird and funny noises, that generally (i hope) communicate the high and low sounds involved in music; they follow suit, and soon i have a roaring and raucous cacaphony of kids singing IT up as best they can, followed by some songs (i have only learned one Hindi kid's song so far, Lakdi Ki Kathi) and a little version of musical chars without the chairs, where everybody sits down ON THEIR BUTTS! ON YOUR BUTTS! Come on, ON YOUR BUTTS! :-D i do this for three different classes for 10 - 15 minutes each in the late mornings, Mon - Thurs, as recompense for my generous free housing in the prim basement office; before which, on one or two days a week, i go down in the basement common area to conduct an hour-long music class with the summer camp for Flow India, and the cute little kiddies they entertain and educate down there....
By night, i venture out into the dusty and choking air of Delhi, the metropolitan capital of India, to find out where the cool people congregate and where the live music happens.... A hard-won autorick ride, only to be had after waiting on a deserted nighttime corner in New Friends Colony (NFC) and haggling over the price with the crafty driver, brings me to Hauz Khas Village, where most of this town's fun folks and musical happenings seem to converge; the pricy nature of the nightlife ensures that only a certain, um, class of people make their way out to party the night away in Hauz Khas, and between the low-cut dresses and shiny shirts and impeccable hairstyles evident in thronging numbers on the saturday night backstreet strip, i begin to wonder if Hauz Khas is really REALLY the cool spot to hang out in Delhi.... But after several weeks of exploration, the verdict is in: you're not going to find a larger collection of artistic and cultural events all in one place, and contrived for the partying masses, even at 350 rupees for a beer with 43% taxes added to round IT out at an even 500 rupees! Never seen anything like these "taxes" ever in my ever-lovin' life.... :-/
~~~~~
Mihir, the cheesy solo acoustic classic rock guitarist from the Raasta Bar in Hauz Khas Village - come to his next cheesy solo acoustic show in Cafe 79 near Saket on Saturday at 5 pm!
Ash, hand drummer; like brother to Joy, owner of Raasta Bar in Hauz Khas Village, call him for gig May 1st!
Meraz birthday boy salsa dancer! Call him for a good time! :-D
Note To Self: Google Maps, while being super-handy and sometimes a lifesaver, is NOT the gospel of our physical reality, and is actually quite fucking wrong sometimes! Take everything Google Maps says with a grain of salt! You'll be happier for IT!
That's just how life goes! Translation: i just (while walking along a darkened parkside street in my first week in Delhi, playing around on my new tablet and paying no attention to my surroundings) fell into a giant open sewage hole, smack in the middle of an otherwise flat sidewalk.... i sprained my left foot, covered myself in diseased offal, and dropped my $250 new tab into the liquid shit.... IT is dead and i am in a state of shock, trying to head home as fast as i can, covered in smelly shit, limping, trying to laugh about the comedy of IT but too in pain and busy feeling like an idiot and an asshole to really pull IT off.... But that's just how life goes! The only positive is that my acoustic guitar that was on my back is (i believe) unharmed by the incident.... Which is really really good! Because i would probably be crying for sure if I had damaged my guitar as well in this act of complete idiocy and pathetic dunderheadedness.... Aaand upon my non-triumphant return home, i discovered that my guitar had indeed received a nasty blow to ITs bottom sideboard, and has a baby-fist sized crunch that looks gnarly and made me freak the fuck out when i saw IT.... IT isn't probably that bad though, mostly cosmetic and not affecting the playability at all.... Anyone with superglue and a will to repair can probably make IT happen....
Wow, i just remembered that in my dream last night/this morning, i learned how to levitate! IT was pretty easy, as i recall; a sort of combo of breathwork and physicality, where with each breath i took a little "oomph" upwards, sort of like yoga but going up one rung of air each time, until finally floating and dangling many feet above the ground.... Not exactly flying, but good enough, i'd say! :-)
Rumi, older richy furniture-designing lady, pretty uptight and seems like she throws down a lot of vodka at night! Nice lady, though.... Met while picking up new furniture for Karan's house
Performer's Collective in GK-2, Jack Thomas - director, go visit!.... Recommended by my man, luthier Karan Singh of Bigfoot Custom Guitars in Delhi, who is attempting to fix my axe....
Wow, i had a lot of really vivid dreams last night! A lot of running and hiding, but not the dire nightmare kind.... Heading out from a nice deck seating area at night to hide, out into a darkened waterless ocean floor, with all kinds of naturally luminescent flowering plants, and crawling around among them.... Trying to hide Tracy Chapman's dismembered body parts with Eric Hoaglund by the ocean at night, on the beach with lots of people walking around; i got her head down to the water and buried IT in the sand just before someone saw me.... Eating various fruiting parts of various cacti, as well as edible parts of other cacti.... Making a birthday gift bag for my deceased Uncle Dan, trying to keep out anything in IT having to do with Obama, to discourage Uncle Dan from smoking.... Fucking bizarre
Met Vikram from Delhi band "Philosophy Of Life" on the metro, he said find them on ReverbNation! Recommended Furtado's Guitar Shop in Lajpat Nagar
Global Music Insitute Delhi, where Adhir, guitarist of Five8 teaches
Ravi, Waiter @ Hard Rock Cafe who invites me for heavy drinking at his place in North Delhi
Surita, mom of keyboard student; recommended me to set up a young kid's music program at Performer's Collective
Shelley Delhi - super cool somewhat-squat Brit lady, working for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Delhi for eight years - met at 39 Restaurant for the Syncopation show, keep in touch for further shows!
"While i was musing the fire burned" - quote in brass letters across the fireplace mantel in 39 Restaurant in Hauz Khas Village
Wow, two winners in two nights! Last night, an original band called Five8 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Saket, great singer, players, a Miguel-Ramos-people-type named Shiv on keys, bass player Steve's birthday, guitarist Adhir may have hooked me up with a job at the place where he teaches, their jam rock originals were sweet! Then tonight, Syncopation rocked my world at the 39 Restaurant in Hauz Khas Village with their Schofield-esque original trio instrumentals.... Not often I get two improv-rock treats in two nights! Yay Delhi! :-D
Pavan Buragohain, luthier and creative director of animated film "Arjun - The Warrior Prince".... This lovely gentleman patched my acoustic so well that i just might forget what an idiot i was to fall into that hole in the first place! :-D
"Seat reserved for Senior Citizens & Differently Abled" - Delhi Metro sign
- Personal and "People" Space seems to have a very different set of meanings in India than i am used to from back home in the States.... A total stranger will think nothing of halfway holding your hand while holding onto the same pole in the Metro, or halfway sitting on your lap if you have a seat in a row of sitting people, squeezing themselves next to you into a non-existent seat-space.... On the Metro, people will cluster together as though the train car is over-filled, while bizarrely leaving a large pool of standing space empty and ignored over on the side; and when the train stops and the doors open, the simple action of people who are waiting for the train standing to the side to let the passengers off DOES NOT HAPPEN! Everyone stands directly in front of the doors, preventing passengers from disembarking, while beginning to insanely push their way forward into the crowded train car.... People who wish to get off the train have to fight their way off, through an incoming wall of crazed metro-riders, just to get off at their desired stop! And of course, if they were just let off first, there would be no need for the crazed push forward by the impatiently-waiting mob; but this particular concept and act of sanity has not yet entered into the popular consciousness, IT seems, and men in uniform enforcing space boundaries are utilized in some Metro stations to create a sane and functional space for the public on their transit..... The transit workers must grab and shove people, acting as human walls to make the crowd on the platform stand to the side of the doors, rather than right in the middle, as the train pulls in.... Enforcing actions which i have seen subway riders undertake themselves, of their own volition, a thousand times and more back in New York City....
.... Taking a short trip to Baroda for a week to visit Vinali and Shanth and Bhumika, and wow, amazing.... Somehow, i managed to forget how incredibly backward and confusing train travel is here in India! i got so used to thinking about IT as cheap and easy over the past year, that i neglected to remember the giant shoving, crushing crowds; the train numbers and track numbers that aren't posted on the big board (today's sampling showed only trains scheduled to leave at noon or one o'clock at four in the afternoon).... The one guy behind the glass at the big information booth that is talking on his mobile and paying no attention to anyone behind the window who might have questions; the many different train numbers listed on the electronic sign at Platform 5 (supposedly the correct platform, verified by both the uninterested information guy and a policeman) - none of which displayed are for your train, a mere twenty minutes before the train is supposed to leave; the throngs of sitting, standing, moving people on the platform, so many that one can barely walk around for the feet and bags and hands and heads that one may step upon or smash into if one ventures forth at any faster speed than a snail's pace - almost none of whom speak any english, and who stare in blank and silent horror if asked in english about the train schedule; the trains that pull in to the correct platform at the correct time, which some people around you then assure you is your correct train, and then upon further examination, turns out to be headed to Maharastra and would have produced a travel nightmare if you had gotten on; and of course, the eventual understanding and verification from multiple sources that your train is three-and-a-half hours late, and all the last-minute stress has meant nothing....
Epilogue: The Paschim Express to Baroda finally was changed to Platform 4, arriving four hours late and pulled into ITs slow halt followed closely by a few hundred consternated people.... i, too, followed the trail of cars, hoping for a glimpse of my Sleeper 5 car and having seen a descent of Sleeper car numbers pass me by; i lumbered down the line, through the hordes of impatient passengers - Sleeper 9, 8, 7, 6.... Luggage car? And there was the front of the train, not far ahead.... And a kindly soul informed me, no, Sleeper 5 is behind AC class, pantry car, and general admission.... As well as behind H class, B class, and Sleepers 1, 2, 3, and 4.... Aaaall the way at the back of the impossibly long train! Breathing a heavy breath and turning back around, i began my time-sensitive march through the pungent smells of urine and feces all the way back down the platform from whence i had come, and farther.... Much farther....
And so finally, the longest train walk of my life came to a merciful end, all the way at the back, with me installed in the dirty and dusty upper berth # 19, writing these lines lying on my back and needing to poop but lacking the strength to take all of my stuff with me to the bathroom so IT doesn't all get stolen.... :-/
IT has been far too long since i was able to see my way clear to posting and writing here, on this, my account of experiences out in the wide, wide world; and now i hope to return, with renewed fervor and fortitude, to the inscription of my time here on this plane and planet! My "adventures in Thailand" and across northern India last year will have to remain as yet unwritten for now, as i must simply jump back onto my present-time narrative for the sake of proper contemporaneity....
~~~~~
i was, as i recall, so livid and in such a shock of disbelief that i could not really process what was going on around me; only trudging forward with a hazy awareness that Tiffany and i were going to India together, whether i liked IT or not, and who the hell could know what was coming next....
Despite the relative insanity of the events which have led us all to be where we are currently, in this loopy year of 2013, i am thankful and feel very blessed to have the opportunity of a lifetime happening right now: the experience i hoped to have had a year-and-a-half ago is finally happening! i am on a plane headed (in a few minutes) to India, on my own and not particularly attached to anyone or anything, oh except for my guitars and the G3X! i'm SUPER attached to them! :-/
i have the chance to explore what is going on for me, and where the fuck i'm at, without regular minute-by-minute distraction by emotionally-demonstrative partner-people! And i get to do IT in India! Wow, I'm sleepy.... and we're about to take off.... And they're gonna make me turn off my electronic device in a minute.... Well.... Avanti! See u on da flip side dogggg
And here.... We.... Go!
~~~~~
.... i'm back!
IT's 7:00 in the morning as the sun seeps out through the soft orange polluted haze over Delhi; 400 rupees is taking me in an airport taxi/familyvan back to the only home i know here in Delhi, the Little Wonders Playschool....
Sign on side of Delhi truck: "Tool Boox"
"The drinking will continue until the economy improves" - Old Delhi man's t-shirt
- An excellent re-meet with my ol' friend Karan Jain, the Emperor of Little Wonders Playschool in New Friends Colony of Delhi; i am officially embarking (after a week of solemn deliberations to figure out what shape the whole thing should take) upon the creation of a "school of rock"-type music school, to be housed here in the Little Wonders building, adding a USP (Unique Selling Point) to the already-full array of educational ventures packed into the same place (Day Care, Spoken English, Standardized-test tutoring, Martial arts studio, Flow India educational NGO).... This opportunity is one which no one has ever afforded me back in my country of origin, and dang if IT doesn't sort of feel like the kind of thing i was wondering if i might find, out here in the big world when i started these journeys - somewhere where someone ACTUALLY WANTED me, with my peculiar skills and talents, to stay and do something really cool! And i feel SUPER GRATEFUL for this opportunity, and i hope that i am expressing this enough to Karan and everyone involved!
So now i live in the basement corner office, and when i say office i mean office! IT has a big official glass-top desk at one end, with a big black official office chair behind IT, and that's IT! i sleep on a green kiddie futon chair that folds out flat into a bed of sorts, and pack IT up every day so that IT can go back upstairs so the kiddies can take their naps on IT....
The ladies who work the preschool upstairs seem to find IT bizarre and somewhat unseemly that a ferengi is living downstairs in trippy shirts and Thai fisherman's pants, and coming upstairs barefoot every morning to brush his teeth and take a kneeling faucet shower under a rusty knobless tap in the locked "executive washroom"; yet they silently accept that their job description now includes bringing me chai and toast in the mornings, and a vegetarian lunch of any combination of potatoes, dal, red beans, okra, roti, and/or rice in the afternoons, where i generally eat with "KaranSir" in his Imperial Office and talk about the state of the world, why we STILL haven't seen "Iron Man 3" yet, and discuss how exactly one goes about creating a music school from scratch....
By day, i go guitar-in-hand and plinking away into a roomful of wide-eyed three-year-old summer camp kiddies, and wow them by making weird and funny noises, that generally (i hope) communicate the high and low sounds involved in music; they follow suit, and soon i have a roaring and raucous cacaphony of kids singing IT up as best they can, followed by some songs (i have only learned one Hindi kid's song so far, Lakdi Ki Kathi) and a little version of musical chars without the chairs, where everybody sits down ON THEIR BUTTS! ON YOUR BUTTS! Come on, ON YOUR BUTTS! :-D i do this for three different classes for 10 - 15 minutes each in the late mornings, Mon - Thurs, as recompense for my generous free housing in the prim basement office; before which, on one or two days a week, i go down in the basement common area to conduct an hour-long music class with the summer camp for Flow India, and the cute little kiddies they entertain and educate down there....
By night, i venture out into the dusty and choking air of Delhi, the metropolitan capital of India, to find out where the cool people congregate and where the live music happens.... A hard-won autorick ride, only to be had after waiting on a deserted nighttime corner in New Friends Colony (NFC) and haggling over the price with the crafty driver, brings me to Hauz Khas Village, where most of this town's fun folks and musical happenings seem to converge; the pricy nature of the nightlife ensures that only a certain, um, class of people make their way out to party the night away in Hauz Khas, and between the low-cut dresses and shiny shirts and impeccable hairstyles evident in thronging numbers on the saturday night backstreet strip, i begin to wonder if Hauz Khas is really REALLY the cool spot to hang out in Delhi.... But after several weeks of exploration, the verdict is in: you're not going to find a larger collection of artistic and cultural events all in one place, and contrived for the partying masses, even at 350 rupees for a beer with 43% taxes added to round IT out at an even 500 rupees! Never seen anything like these "taxes" ever in my ever-lovin' life.... :-/
~~~~~
Mihir, the cheesy solo acoustic classic rock guitarist from the Raasta Bar in Hauz Khas Village - come to his next cheesy solo acoustic show in Cafe 79 near Saket on Saturday at 5 pm!
Ash, hand drummer; like brother to Joy, owner of Raasta Bar in Hauz Khas Village, call him for gig May 1st!
Meraz birthday boy salsa dancer! Call him for a good time! :-D
Note To Self: Google Maps, while being super-handy and sometimes a lifesaver, is NOT the gospel of our physical reality, and is actually quite fucking wrong sometimes! Take everything Google Maps says with a grain of salt! You'll be happier for IT!
Wow, i just remembered that in my dream last night/this morning, i learned how to levitate! IT was pretty easy, as i recall; a sort of combo of breathwork and physicality, where with each breath i took a little "oomph" upwards, sort of like yoga but going up one rung of air each time, until finally floating and dangling many feet above the ground.... Not exactly flying, but good enough, i'd say! :-)
Rumi, older richy furniture-designing lady, pretty uptight and seems like she throws down a lot of vodka at night! Nice lady, though.... Met while picking up new furniture for Karan's house
Performer's Collective in GK-2, Jack Thomas - director, go visit!.... Recommended by my man, luthier Karan Singh of Bigfoot Custom Guitars in Delhi, who is attempting to fix my axe....
Wow, i had a lot of really vivid dreams last night! A lot of running and hiding, but not the dire nightmare kind.... Heading out from a nice deck seating area at night to hide, out into a darkened waterless ocean floor, with all kinds of naturally luminescent flowering plants, and crawling around among them.... Trying to hide Tracy Chapman's dismembered body parts with Eric Hoaglund by the ocean at night, on the beach with lots of people walking around; i got her head down to the water and buried IT in the sand just before someone saw me.... Eating various fruiting parts of various cacti, as well as edible parts of other cacti.... Making a birthday gift bag for my deceased Uncle Dan, trying to keep out anything in IT having to do with Obama, to discourage Uncle Dan from smoking.... Fucking bizarre
Met Vikram from Delhi band "Philosophy Of Life" on the metro, he said find them on ReverbNation! Recommended Furtado's Guitar Shop in Lajpat Nagar
Global Music Insitute Delhi, where Adhir, guitarist of Five8 teaches
Ravi, Waiter @ Hard Rock Cafe who invites me for heavy drinking at his place in North Delhi
Surita, mom of keyboard student; recommended me to set up a young kid's music program at Performer's Collective
Shelley Delhi - super cool somewhat-squat Brit lady, working for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Delhi for eight years - met at 39 Restaurant for the Syncopation show, keep in touch for further shows!
"While i was musing the fire burned" - quote in brass letters across the fireplace mantel in 39 Restaurant in Hauz Khas Village
Wow, two winners in two nights! Last night, an original band called Five8 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Saket, great singer, players, a Miguel-Ramos-people-type named Shiv on keys, bass player Steve's birthday, guitarist Adhir may have hooked me up with a job at the place where he teaches, their jam rock originals were sweet! Then tonight, Syncopation rocked my world at the 39 Restaurant in Hauz Khas Village with their Schofield-esque original trio instrumentals.... Not often I get two improv-rock treats in two nights! Yay Delhi! :-D
Pavan Buragohain, luthier and creative director of animated film "Arjun - The Warrior Prince".... This lovely gentleman patched my acoustic so well that i just might forget what an idiot i was to fall into that hole in the first place! :-D
"Seat reserved for Senior Citizens & Differently Abled" - Delhi Metro sign
- Personal and "People" Space seems to have a very different set of meanings in India than i am used to from back home in the States.... A total stranger will think nothing of halfway holding your hand while holding onto the same pole in the Metro, or halfway sitting on your lap if you have a seat in a row of sitting people, squeezing themselves next to you into a non-existent seat-space.... On the Metro, people will cluster together as though the train car is over-filled, while bizarrely leaving a large pool of standing space empty and ignored over on the side; and when the train stops and the doors open, the simple action of people who are waiting for the train standing to the side to let the passengers off DOES NOT HAPPEN! Everyone stands directly in front of the doors, preventing passengers from disembarking, while beginning to insanely push their way forward into the crowded train car.... People who wish to get off the train have to fight their way off, through an incoming wall of crazed metro-riders, just to get off at their desired stop! And of course, if they were just let off first, there would be no need for the crazed push forward by the impatiently-waiting mob; but this particular concept and act of sanity has not yet entered into the popular consciousness, IT seems, and men in uniform enforcing space boundaries are utilized in some Metro stations to create a sane and functional space for the public on their transit..... The transit workers must grab and shove people, acting as human walls to make the crowd on the platform stand to the side of the doors, rather than right in the middle, as the train pulls in.... Enforcing actions which i have seen subway riders undertake themselves, of their own volition, a thousand times and more back in New York City....
.... Taking a short trip to Baroda for a week to visit Vinali and Shanth and Bhumika, and wow, amazing.... Somehow, i managed to forget how incredibly backward and confusing train travel is here in India! i got so used to thinking about IT as cheap and easy over the past year, that i neglected to remember the giant shoving, crushing crowds; the train numbers and track numbers that aren't posted on the big board (today's sampling showed only trains scheduled to leave at noon or one o'clock at four in the afternoon).... The one guy behind the glass at the big information booth that is talking on his mobile and paying no attention to anyone behind the window who might have questions; the many different train numbers listed on the electronic sign at Platform 5 (supposedly the correct platform, verified by both the uninterested information guy and a policeman) - none of which displayed are for your train, a mere twenty minutes before the train is supposed to leave; the throngs of sitting, standing, moving people on the platform, so many that one can barely walk around for the feet and bags and hands and heads that one may step upon or smash into if one ventures forth at any faster speed than a snail's pace - almost none of whom speak any english, and who stare in blank and silent horror if asked in english about the train schedule; the trains that pull in to the correct platform at the correct time, which some people around you then assure you is your correct train, and then upon further examination, turns out to be headed to Maharastra and would have produced a travel nightmare if you had gotten on; and of course, the eventual understanding and verification from multiple sources that your train is three-and-a-half hours late, and all the last-minute stress has meant nothing....
Epilogue: The Paschim Express to Baroda finally was changed to Platform 4, arriving four hours late and pulled into ITs slow halt followed closely by a few hundred consternated people.... i, too, followed the trail of cars, hoping for a glimpse of my Sleeper 5 car and having seen a descent of Sleeper car numbers pass me by; i lumbered down the line, through the hordes of impatient passengers - Sleeper 9, 8, 7, 6.... Luggage car? And there was the front of the train, not far ahead.... And a kindly soul informed me, no, Sleeper 5 is behind AC class, pantry car, and general admission.... As well as behind H class, B class, and Sleepers 1, 2, 3, and 4.... Aaaall the way at the back of the impossibly long train! Breathing a heavy breath and turning back around, i began my time-sensitive march through the pungent smells of urine and feces all the way back down the platform from whence i had come, and farther.... Much farther....
And so finally, the longest train walk of my life came to a merciful end, all the way at the back, with me installed in the dirty and dusty upper berth # 19, writing these lines lying on my back and needing to poop but lacking the strength to take all of my stuff with me to the bathroom so IT doesn't all get stolen.... :-/
I loved reading this! I love the school of rock thing :-), sounds like you are feeling like you have a place there.
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