Namaste!: Transportation

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning we got up bright and early because we had to catch a train at the Agra train station. Last night’s henna painting was fun, and then of course so was happy hour. Everyone showed up for drinks, including Anil, the henna guy, and Push, Abhi’s colleague. We found out within minutes that Push is actually Abhi’s cousin! He is very charming, and the two of them bantered and told fun family and OAT stories. The two of them, Linda, Tim, Paul, and I were the last ones left; eventually we said goodnight to the cousins and went down for dinner.

I had a bit of a headache from the Indian rum this morning, and turns out Tim was sick again. ☹️ The train experience was really interesting. The platform was filled with passengers, people begging (including children), stray dogs, and monkeys. Abhi told us once we boarded that our luggage, which was supposed to be loaded on a first come, first serve basis, didn’t make it, so it was going to be loaded on the next train, which would arrive in Jhansi 2 hours later than ours. We would take a bus to our final destination, Khajuraho. Abhi figured out a way to kill time in Jhansi—first we had lunch, and then we went to a Catholic Church and wandered around, met the priest, etc. Mother Teresa had been there at one time. We killed more time by walking across the street to where they ere setting up a wedding. Then we just waited in the shade. Soon the bus arrived with our luggage and we were ready to hit the highway.

The train ride was 2 hours and the bus ride was 5.5, so it was a long day. The journey was certainly not boring, though! Everyone should experience riding on an Indian highway. First, the condition of the roads is not good. Sometimes it’s just a dirt road, always it’s a bumpy road, and it’s full of “diversions.” Our bus driver pretty much stayed in the lane of oncoming traffic until there actually was oncoming traffic, then he would either move to the correct lane or honk and pass the vehicle in front of him. So much honking and squeezing expertly past someone! At times it was terrifying! And so many cows in the way, sometimes just lying in the middle of the road. And people walking on the side of the road. Never a dull moment.

We reached Khajuraho at 6:30, had dinner (including a special vanilla cake for Thanksgiving), and don’t have to meet in the lobby until 9am!
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