India Visit Comes to an End

Friday, Aug. 31, 2007--Shimla

There was rolling thunder as storms moved through this morning. I hope I will have clar weather for the train trip tomorrow. The narrow-gauge train between Shimla and Kalka is one of the nicer train trips of the world as it twists and winds its way down out of the Himalayas.

I ate mixed vegetables with rice for lunch. Then I went to the main square to hang out and watch people. There was a poor street urchin, maybe 15 years old, barefooted, dirty and in dirty clothing. He was wandering around, and I watched him. He was looking for food. Someone on a bench across the street from me had dropped some kernals of popcorn on the dirty pavement. Although some people were sitting there, he unobtrusively approached, squatted down, and started picking up the kernals one at a time--all except a few that were standing in a puddle. He ate them with relish. Then he moved to another bench and repeated the process with some kind of vegetable kernals that were about the size of peanuts. At all times, he acted carefully as if he were afraid that someone might kick him or fuss at him. People watched, but tried to keep it from looking as if they were watching. Later in the day, I saw him again. He was still wandering looking for food droppings, but I also noticed that he was holding a note in his hand--either 10 or 20 rupees--so someone had given him money to get some food, I guess.

There was a Hindu festival in town during the afternoon. It included a small parade with about 3 floats. There were male and female characters on the floats, but the females were played by males dressed up as females. I guess that is a traditional way of celebrating whatever it was they represented.

I stuffed myself at dinner. I usually order only one dish, since I know that is enough. But I ordered two tonight--a serving of 8 momos (vegetable dumplings) which I ate with a nice chile sauce and a big bowl of spicy noodle soup. It was so good, but I was too full afterwards.

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007--Shimla to New Delhi

We had only Indian TV news on the cable channel here. Their idea of international coverage is to report the political situation in Pakistan and to give the sports results (especially for Cricket) from matches in other countries. Therefore, I really don't know what has happened in the last five days in the world.

I was up early due to thunderstorms. Fortunately, they just passed through and the day was quite nice by the time I went to the train station at 9:30. The train was already there, so I put my luggage aboard and found my seat. As usual, however, someone had already claimed it and wanted me to trade seats. In India, 80% of the time I seem to have that happen. This time, it was a man and a woman who were seated across the aisle from each other and wanted to ride together. I accepted it and changed seats. But there is a problem here, too, of someone buying the ticket for the aisle seat and going early to claim the window seat and not wanting to give it up. It is frustrating. I think it relates to the general problem I have observed of Indians tending to believe that they are more important than anyone else. That allows them to push their way to the front of lines without remorse also.

It was a long trip. The narrow gauge train took 5 1/2 hours to get to Kalka. Then 1 1/2 hours later the big train left for Delhi and took another 4 1/2 hours. I arrived at my hotel in Delhi 12 1/2 hours after leaving my hotel in Shimla. But the big train was very comfortable and included meal services--tea with snacks when we departed, and dinner (spicy tomato soup with bread sticks and butter, chipatis, rice, beans, chicken in spinach sauce, curd, and ice cream cup). By the way, again, I was asked to give up my reserved seat for someone else!!!!!

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007--New Delhi

This is my last full day of being in India. Tomorrow morning, I will fly out for Berlin via Munich. I'm spending the day relaxing. I'm trying not to nap, since I will need to get up about 5:30 tomorrow morning and leave for the airport around 6:00. I didn't sleep well last night due to noise in the hallway that went on until late and started again early this morning.

I'm curious about my weight and want to check it when I get to Europe. I think my best is pulled tigher than it was last year when I left the Far East. Then, I returned home weighing 153 lbs. (69 1/2 kg). That's what I weighed in high school. Maybe I am below 150 this time.

I finished reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, winner of the 2004 Man Booker Prize. I only gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 4. It is well written, but the main character was unlikeable for me. He never did anything on his own; he lived a good life mooching off others without feeling that it was wrong. He took from everyone and gave very little in return. Another problem for me was the impression that the author was trying to impress the readers with his knowledge of music, art, etc. I was reminded of too many pretentious people I know.