out of india

well we've finally come to the end. i don't know how i can possibly sum up nine months in any concise way, except by using platitudes like 'amazing experience' which are gag-inducing but nevertheless true.

people always ask me what my favorite place has been in these past few months. a fair question, and one that i would most likely ask myself if the roles were reversed, given that i have managed to visit 13 states over the course of the last few months. the problem is i just find it an impossible question to answer. india in particular is an incredibly diverse country, in almost every sense of the word you could imagine. so naturally every place i've visited is spectacularly different - in food, language, customs, dress, you name it. so how can i possibly choose a favorite place?? or trip, for that matter. was it visiting the craft villages of kutch? riding buses and trains through the jungles of kerala? getting spoiled by families in indore? taking a road trip through the desert in rajasthan? playing holi in delhi? sampling french pastries in pondicherry? tramping around the ruins of hampi? splashing in the invitingly warm waters of the arabian sea in goa? browsing through piles of books in bangalore? dancing garba in ahmedabad? gorging myself on the world's heaviest food in amritsar?

i'll stop myself there; i'm sure you get the idea.
suffice it to say that i can't possibly choose a favorite place in india, but every trip, town and village has special memories for me. (except for chennai. chennai is the worst.) bombay, of course, is particularly near to my heart. even for all its infuriating moments (two words: local trains) there are so many amazing aspects too (two words: marine drive).

so did i accomplish everything i set out to? perhaps not. but i think i did accomplish quite a bit. there's always more of india to see but i'd say i got around quite a bit. i've managed to get a pretty good grasp on hindi (comprehension-wise.. i still sound like a confused caveman when i try to speak) which i'm quite proud of. some of my prouder moments were being able to follow entire hindi movies (not counting houseful 2, since it has no plot) and managing to yell at people in somewhat coherent language (don't worry, they deserved it). and, most significantly, i've made some truly fantastic friends while here. (and so the letter-writing list grows) to the point that, while i was sitting in the mumbai airport at two in the morning, instead of feeling sad i just felt so grateful that i had such great friends who would even come to the airport just to see me off at the door or call me in the middle of the night for a last farewell.

so as i sit here in heathrow airport surrounded by gray clouds behind soaring glass windows and too-clean rows of seats and floor tiles trying to drown out the chattering brittish tweens behind me with my indian playlist i'm certainly feeling a little wistful. but more than that i feel so fortunate to have been able to make such wonderful memories in this country i love. 

and don't you worry, india. i'll be back for those other 15 states!

safe behind bars

allow me to wax poetic (or perhaps pathetic) for a moment with a few words i scribbled down on my last train trip.

i've always been enamored of overnight train journeys. there's something intrinsically romantic about being rocked to sleep by the rails as the train moves ever forward into the deepening night. it's a shame that i never experienced overnight trains in my childhood.. i'm sure i would have been charmed by them, as i was by crumbling english castles and sugar cubes at tea time. (a sidenote.. but the state of railways in america is lamentable to say the least)

as it was, my first overnight train ride was one from france to italy when i was in high school. i loved it right away. the semi-privacy of the trim compartment, every element so efficiently designed. the joy of watching as the lights - or dark - roll by.

but the indian rails have a special place in my heart. even now as i sit in my sleeper class berth, the golden light of dusk peeks in through the bars on the windows. dusty towns flit by, their residents preparing for night. in my car happy families share secrets, offer each other snacks, or play, vaulting from the metal bars or jumping between the bottom seats. dutiful vendors pass, swinging their wares in tune with their sonorous cries.

forgive me if i'm sounding overly saccharine - but it's my penultimate journey here on the indian rails and i'm beginning to get nostalgic. i mean, where else will i get a rs. 5 cup of chai delivered to my seat? or vada pav and lonavala chikki passed to me from just outside the train window?

of course trains aren't all shy toothy (or toothless) grins and wafting breezes from wood stoves. there are always the loud arguments, even louder bodily functions, and questionable smells in closer quarters. and it's pretty much the last place you'd ever want to be sick. but even with all that, my positive experiences have far outnumbered any unpleasantness.

i know i'm hardly the first person to be inspired by the trains.. but i had to try to pay some homage to one of my favorite parts of this amazing country.

even now as i post this i'm about to get on what will be my last train trip in india for some time. but i hope know there are many more voyages to come.

sleeper class zindabad!