For the second half of our time in Varanasi, the group was split into smaller cars instead of the large bus. After the first day in them, I realized that my jaw and neck were stiff from the tension of watching all the cars, rickshaws, cows, bikes, etc coming straight towards us. One of the drivers apparently said, “To drive in Varanasi you need three things: a good driver, a good horn, and a good sense of humor.” (If he didn’t say it, he should have.) The second day, I selected the car towards the rear of the group and found that I was much more relaxed since the other cars had already paved the way for us.
Anyway, it was still very common to see vehicles (and other things) coming straight towards us. When we were finally in our bus headed towards the train station, we ended up on a straight path on a divided highway with everyone going the same way. I actually leaned forward to the person in front of me and said, “I feel strangely uncomfortable that everyone is going the same way.” (Note: I am not saying that people were in their own “lane”…they were still making 3 or 4 lanes out of the 2 that were drawn on the road.) A bit later, a truck cut us off and our bus slammed on the break. I did see one of our leaders get flung against the barrier that divided the passengers from the driver area (a plexiglass wall) but everyone was fine. I waited to move (and was glad I did) because I figured that we might have someone hit us. Sure enough, another truck smacked into the back of the bus. You can definitely tell this was not the US. We didn’t stop and we did not exchange insurance. (And, we didn’t have lawyers flagging us down to choose them to represent us…not to mention random people trying to hop on the bus to pretend they were injured.) Instead, our leaders convinced the driver that he should not pull the trucker over to have a fistfight and we kept moving. At the train station, the bus driver had to pry open the luggage compartment with a crowbar but aside from a few dents, the bus was fine. All of us were fine as well…just felt like we had been in some bumper cars.
The train ride was delayed for a couple of hours. We waited in the bus for some of the time and then stood around the train station for the rest of the wait. Standing in the heat was miserable…and it was around 10pm! I can’t imagine waiting there when it was light. (Although, I admit I am a baby when it comes to heat.) We saw many trains come and go. Each train had 1 or 2 air-conditioned sleeper cars but the rest of the trains were packed with people crammed into the economy cars to the point where some of the doors were not closing.
Our sleeper car (and the rest of the train) finally arrived and we got into our bunks (three high) for our ride. I actually got a couple hours of sleep before some additional people came in and woke me up from their talking. I even faced the toilet on the train -- although I avoided the two Indian toilets and found the western one on the other end of the car…it seemed to be opened directly to the outdoors and was a bit drafty. The ride itself was really, really bumpy but at least our car was cool and had only the number of people in it that it was supposed to hold. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must have been in the rest of the train.
Calcutta itself is really an interesting city and very intellectual. It was a great contrast to Varansi which is much more traditional but both of the cities have their own appeal. All of us are glad that the cities we have visited have been on our itinerary because they have each provided a different glimpse of India. One thing that was noticeable right away was the replacement of the auto-rickshaws with taxis! (Cute yellow taxis that have a more old-fashion look to them.) Although you can still find the rickshaws, there are yellow taxis everywhere. Apparently you are supposed to double the charges on the meter because the meters cannot be updated to handle the new rates.
The first night here we had a few teachers and students share some information with us about schools in Calcutta. The three students they had join us were all brilliant. One of them is off to Harvard next year to study microbiology, another one is interested in physics, and the third loves mathematics. They really sound like they are “global citizens” in that they all want to do something to help humanity and will pursue opportunities in any part of the world that will support their goals. I would not be at all surprised to hear about the three of them in the future having important breakthroughs in their chosen fields. (I was also relieved that I had just watched a video on “the theory of everything” so that I knew what one of the students was talking about.)
More to come later….
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