Quiet Days

Quiet Days

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006--Hyderabad

Zubeen, one of my Internet contacts who have helped me plan my travel, met me in the evening yesterday. He works for Dell Computer here. We had a nice, long conversation. He is a Muslim and comes from a family that used to be royalty here in India. He has a great personality and smiles with his eyes. I think we both enjoyed the evening.

Today, I have felt tired. I went to the train station in the morning to try to get a ticket to Bangalore on the night train. I gave up after a while. Train reservations are so disorganized here. First, one must fill out a reservation form that includes the number of the train, the name of the train, the date wanted, the class of service wanted, your name and address, etc. Then you wait in a long line with people always trying to cut in ahead of you. When you get to the window, if that particular request is unavailable for any reason, then you must fill out another form (for another class of service, for a different date, for a different train, etc.) and do it all over over again. No one will work with you to investigate possibilities and then tell you what is available: that they can get you a sleeper on that train, but not in an air conditioned car, for instance. I was sent to a second window because the first man didn't want to deal with a foreigner. Then from that window, I was sent to a third one. AT that window, I was told I was on waiting list 5 and should go back to the second window. That window was restricted to foriegners and group purchasers. Well, 4 men were in front of me from travel agencies making huge group purchases that were taking about 20 minutes each. I just left out of frustration. It won't be as confortable, but I will just try to get a night bus for Tuesday.

I went back to my hotel along a long route. I stopped at a bakery and had a horrible pizza. The cheese was like a white version of Cheese Whiz, and the chicken topping was strange tasting. By the time I got to the hotel, I was tired. I fell into a deep sleep for about 2 hours.

I worried that I wouldn't sleep at night after that. I stayed in the room except for going to eat quickly in the evening. But around 10:30, I was tired and fell asleep easily and slept the whole night.