I left Kolkata early yesterday morning after a few hours of sleep and got to the airport with more than an hour before my flight. I walked up to the security area because the man at the airlines said I needed to hurry because my flight was leaving soon when in actuality it was delayed for a half an hour. Its a given that Americans and Indians have different definitions of space but I had also heard that they have a tendency to cut in line if you let them. This woman sort of shimmied up in front of the line and I told her that I was in line. She smiled and said “of course”. My bag went through the xray and then on the other side there was a bit of a tizzy as they quickly realized that I had no arms, someone was summoned to take my bag for me to the ticketing counter. In the beginning of my trip I resisted such things insisting that I could do these things on my own, now I just succumb…its easier. I get to the ticket counter and they want to check my bag, the same woman who I thought was cutting in front of me in line asked me if I wanted to check the bag or carry it on. I told her to tell them that I just wanted to carry it on and insisted to them that it was ok, she explained this to them and I thanked her(also felt really guilty for thinking she was rude earlier). The airline employee asked me if I wanted an aisle seat and I asked for a window if it was possible, she asked me to wait a few minutes. Before I know it, I am whisked away to the elite lounge and served coffee while I wait for my flight..I’m thinking…I love India!! After about 45 minutes someone comes to escort me to my flight and they seat me in first class…I’m thinking I really love India.
The woman from the line is sitting next to me and her name is Uma and she is great!! She used to live in the Middle East then Canada and now Chennai in which she works for an intl telecommunications company. We had a really great chat and I was able to finally get the answers to all of my niggly cultural difference questions. You can learn a lot from the internet but I have found that there are a lot of little things that I wasn’t quite sure of. Plus we were able to chat about India in the context of international development and politics. As much as I’ve loved all of the people I met it was nice to have a chat that goes beyond my armlessness 
When we landed in Chennai, Uma gave me a ride part way to the train station. We made a stop at a swanky hotel to pick up her sister and while we waited we toured a wedding exhibition. The jewelry in this place was crazy!! An Indian bride will wear close to her weight in jewelry on her wedding day. After this fun detour she dropped me with an auto rickshaw for the rest of my ride to the station. The autorickshaws are basically tin cans with motors and quite entertaining to ride in, my guy went a little fast and liked to slightly clip the poor pedestrians crossing and then got mad at them for getting in his way, lol.
Nothing and I truly mean nothing could ever prepare me for the train station and the process of getting on the train. I had two hours until my train and got in line, after about 20 minutes I realized this was the line to buy tickets and I needed to get in the reservation line. When I bought my ticketI was waitlisted number 9 but was assured I would get a seat on the train, I got in the reservation line and was cut off twice(karma). I finally pushed my way to the front of the line and gave my slip and was told that I was now number 5 on the waitlist and that I should stand at any podium and give my slip to the ticket person…huh?! I wandered a bit dazed to where the podiums were, I really want to take pictures of these places but don’t want to seem like a loser tourist and typically attract quite a crowd when I do things with my feet…
I’m tired, hungry and thirsty and have no idea where my train is nor who these alledged ticket people are so I just sat and stared at my slip and occasionally looked up glassy eyed. My look of complete idiocy and helplessness paid off as a very nice woman came over and asked me if I needed help, I gave her my slip and told her what I was suppose to do. She smiled and told me that I was in the section of the local trains and pointed me in the direction I needed to go. I thanked her profusely, made a huge awkward ordeal of getting my backpack on and trodded off with a crew of Indians staring at me with confusion and sympathy.
Most of the people didn’t speak English, nor do they speak Hindi. Prior to the British and even during the Mughal Empire, India was basically a collection of autonomous kingdoms and were only made one country after wanting independence from the British. The south and north are very different and there are many languages spoken throughout India, English is a unofficial, official language. People are very proud of their culture and languages and try to retain their customs and ways of living, in the south Hindi is opposed by some.
I get to the area of the train stations and manage to get food and some water(again rather awkwardly.) I have heard that you need to be worried about theft in India but I will say that there have been MANY times where I’ve had difficulty getting things out of my purse and dropping money etc, and everyone has been helpful and given everything back to me. Funnily, all of them tell me to be careful and not trust anyone ;0 The podium for my train has not been announced so I wait in some seats outside and watch the hullabaloo, and then the hullabaloo watch me as I eat my lunch and drink my water At one point a few military women tell me I need to move and though I’m not sure why it seems good common sense to not question people carrying automatic weapons.
Finally the podium is announced and there is a rush of people moving towards my train, and so I not sure what to do..follow them. I get into one of the sleeper car compartments and try to ask someone what I should do, they speak little english and sympathetically tells me we are having a language problem. I sit down and try to think, an elderly couple try to help me as the man tries to explain what I should do. Noticing the clearly blank look on my face he tells me to stay where I am at and says he will findthe ticket person for me. The train continues to fill up and after 20 mins the man returns and tells me that there may or may not be a waitlist and that the ticket guy wasn’t there. Another woman on the train is waitlisted number 10, we wait for awhile then she ells me to give her my ticket and she will check. Now I know this doesn’t seem to be the smartest decision making on my part but frankly I don’t know what else to do. She leaves and more and more people are getting on the train so I get off because I don’t want to be taking up someone else’s seat. I stand there and then the man who took my ticket before tells me that the ticket guy is close and tells me to come with him, I explain that this woman has my ticket. He looks at me a bit increduously and I smile and say I know I shouldn’t be willy nilly giving my ticket away. We wait (and I pray) for the woman to return. I have learned in these moments not to get overwhelmed but instead count my blessing and try to figure out a different plan. So, I tell myself that I’m fortunate because worse case scenario I am out $40 and can buy a plane ticket. A group of about 5 men are trying to help me now and they drag me a few places and try to explain the system…I still don’t understand. One man tells me he is waitlist #340 and he knows he will get on so I shouldn’t worry at the worse I can tell the ticket guy what happened and show him my passport as proof that I purchased a ticket. Now I’m thinking….I hate that I’m a stupid foreigner but still love India because there are now five strangers trying to help me. We locate the woman who has my ticket and one of the guys takes it to the ticket guy, he then shows me where I should sit and tells me he will check in with me later. All I can do is say thank you over and over again.
I am in the sleeper car but there are three people to a seat so I’m not so sure how we are going to sleep, I don’t care..I’m on the train!! Later the other people I am with show me how the seats fold out so we can sleep. One of the men that I am sitting next to tells me that the train stops in Cochin and suddenly hugging Amma the Hindu Saint does not seem so important. I am already frazzled and know that I have a good 12 hours of traveling ahead of me not counting the three plus to see Amma.
Amma is very popular with foreign tourists but not so much with the locals, so I decide to see her when she comes to the US and focus on soaking up India from the local perspective.
I arrive at Kochin at about 3:45am and sit outside for about an hour before I feel the desperate need for sleep overcome me. I have been able to sleep through a lot in India but was only able to get a few hours here and there on the train. I haven’t made any hotel arrangements in Kochin because I thought I was going to see Amma, I am hesitant to trust the rickshaw driver but know that I can always move to another hotel the next day.
Here the taxi and rickshaw drivers get a kickback from local hotels to bring tourists to them, usually I am more prepared but need sleep and want to get away from the slew of semi shady folks staring at me at the train station. The rickshaw driver tells me that he knows of a place for roughly $10 USD, I agree. I get to the homestay..basically locals rent out rooms in their huge houses…and meet the couple. They show me my room and tell me to sleep, after about 30 mins they knock at the door and tell me that it will be $30, I tell them that is not what the rickshaw driver told me. The man asks for my passport so he can fill out a form and I tell him that I will fill out the form but don’t feel comfortable just giving him my passport. There were a lot of statements that were…”just for you as an exception, doing you a favor” and “don’t you trust me”, that made me feel unsettled and he noticing my discomfort turning to frustration backed out and said we would discuss in the morning.
I slept for a few hours and the called a local man that my friend Celine(french girl from Kolkata) was friends with. I explained my predicament to Shyas and he said he would come and get me. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to face the owners. I told them that I would not be staying at their place and would pay $15 for the three hours I slept there. He started to get upset and insist that I pay the full $30, I told him that I was paying only the $15 and that was more than fair as I had only been there for three hours and he had ample time to rent the room to someone else. He said that he didn’t like Americans, he was fine with the French, German, Aussie, English etc but Americans always want to bargain and in America there are a lot of Mafia and robbers(I was a bit puzzled whether he was insinuating I was mafia?). I told him I was sorry but stayed strong, he continued with his anti American rant and I patiently listened. He told me he had to pay the rickshaw driver to bring me to his place and that he had turned away three people wanting the room I was sleeping in(mind you this is before 9am). When I didn’t react, he changed tactics and pointed to the picture of Jesus on his wall and told me that he was Christian and couldn’t lie and that he had made an offer only for me. He then asked about my family and we politely chatted until he then said that black folks in America are the worse, I tried to correct him but he wasn’t swayed. He insisted that I must live off the govt because of my disability though I told him I didn’t, he then tried to make an argument for me giving him the money because clearly due to my disability my money was from the US govt and wasn’t really mine. That tactic really didn’t work with me, I kept my cool knowing that Shyas would be there shortly for me and I didn’t want to make trouble this early in my stay. Though, for the first time in my trip I really wanted to scream!!
A woman from Amsterdam then came in and all three of us were chatting about India and her travels. She recommended Goa(which I may do) and then asked th man about the room for hewr friends that were coming later that morning. He happily told her that he had a room as he promised…my room!! He had told her two days prior that her friends could have the room he insisted he had turned people away because I was sleeping in it….ughhhh!! Luckily, Shyas showed up then and saved my day!!
He took me to a lovely place that is fairly new, very clean and great staff….and a lot cheaper then Mr. Sketchy’s place!! I had breakfast on the roof with a beautiful view, took a shower and watched some good ol American TV, yay for Dawson’s Creek!! I feel refreshed and ready to go now, I know I am a bit of a princess, can’t stay in some of the more bare bones places…I felt guilty at first about this, like I wasn’t a real traveler. Now I know that there are a few things I need when traveling as a clean and quiet place is one of them, even if I end up paying a bit more!! I put my heart and soul into soaking up the local culture, and so far have attracted a lot of attention and questions..so my way to cope is to shut out India for a little bit and create a little bit of home in my hotel room with American TV.
I know I continue to gush about how great the people are but truly I have never had soo many strangers be so kind and helpful, it is so remarkable. I wish there was a way I could repay all of them but for now will just continue to be grateful for being able to take this trip and meet the people I have!!
This is a long entry, will post more after I explore the city some….
