I remember when two friends of ours were coming to India from France, and wanted to travel across the north. We warned them that reserving tickets on trains here is necessary, unlike in Europe. We had to book two months in advance (it was two then, not four, as it now is). They were surprised, but accepted it and made their travel plans well in advance.In France, by the way, and in large parts of Europe, for regular trains (not fast trains) there's absolutely no need to reserve. My sister and I had a rail pass and we made one reservation in all during two weeks of travel. For all the other journeys, we could simply get on to any train and go wherever we liked.When we got to Howrah station to take our train out of Kolkata, both our French friends were stunned. In the beginning, I thought it was simply because there were so many people. Indian stations can be slightly overpowering. … [Read more...]
After the Burggarten
I wrote, some time ago, about how we hunted for, and eventually found the city garden - https://varshaseshan.com/blog/burggarten-bitte/. In English, somehow, people we spoke to called it the 'Rose Garden' rather than the 'City Garden'. Not unnaturally, we expected to see roses, but we saw none. The garden was truly beautiful, but we saw no roses; did we not look hard enough?We went after that to a place that stands out in my memory as a unique experience - a Schmetterling Haus. We were told it was a kind of greenhouse, and speaking no German at all, we had no idea what 'schmetterling' meant, and no desire to look it up. The people who told us to go have a look at it perhaps lacked the vocabulary to explain what it was too because they told us no more than that. They told us it was a greenhouse that was worth visiting, and that's all we expected. We went inside the greenhouse and had a … [Read more...]
Power Cut
I remember going to a creperie in Grenoble a few years ago - an important part of my French experience. I was in a large group of Indians for once, and soon after we had placed our order, our delicious lunch was served to us.And then, there was a power cut.We were surprised, but power cuts are not such a new experience for us. Particularly since we were out for lunch and not dinner, we calmly continued to eat, merely commenting on how bizarre it was for this to happen to us in France.What drew our attention away from the food before us though was everything else that happened. The reactions of people all around us were priceless! The people in the restaurant were astounded that something like a Power Cut could possibly take place. They came to us and apologised for the inconvenience. "What inconvenience?" I wanted to ask, amused at the waiter's bewilderment. A candle was placed on … [Read more...]
The Golden Rule
During our exchange programme with a school in France, my sister formulated for me The Golden Rule. If you don't know a word in French, pronounce the English word that you do know in the French way. The likelihood of its being the real French word is very high. We used it for the first time with the word 'superstition', and I marvelled at how well it worked.My sister herself broke the golden rule once, though, when we were with French friends in Calcutta. We were in an area dominated by Chinese restaurants and Chinese shoe-makers and I wanted to point out the fact that there are tanneries everywhere. It's a locality that's noteworthy for that, but I didn't know the word for 'tannery'.My sister did not know the word either. 'Tannery' does not sound like a French word. Glaring at me for wanting such a complicated idea explained, she launched into a detailed story of the whole process of … [Read more...]
A Train to Vienna
Why do people like us? Why do random people whom we will probably never meet again come up to us and do things for us? I wonder if we look young and innocent and vulnerable - if so, how long will we stay that way?I remember our journey to Vienna from Venice. I have photos to remind me of it, even if I do forget.A lady on the train was immensely curious about us and naturally, about India. We spoke to her for a long time about everything. We told her about our exchange programme, about backpacking in Europe, and about how wonderful our experiences in Italy had been. We told her what we did in India and answered hundreds of questions about Indian culture. All this was normal - people have all kinds of questions all the time. Then, she invited us to eat with her at the dining car of the train. Knowing it would be ridiculously expensive for us, we refused. She insisted, saying that she … [Read more...]
Getting back from Olympia
We managed, somehow, to get to Olympia, thoroughly unprepared. (How do we go to Olympia, please?) We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly there - how could we not?Yet, the whole day out in the sun got to us, eventually. And living on juice, bread and cheese is never a good idea. At Patras, we had an awful youth hostel. We'd read reviews that called it a 'filthy scum hole', but there was no other place to stay. Calling in Greece was ridiculously expensive, so we hadn't been able to call home. We were planning to go next to Athens and had no idea where we would stay there. All in all, we were well on the way to being upset by the smallest things.And then it happened - that which got us upset. We discovered that even though museums in Olympia close at 19:30, the last train out of Olympia is at 15:20. That meant two things - we would have to take a bus to Pyrgos (and spend more money again) and … [Read more...]
Local Trains
I have a distinct memory of a ride in a local train when I was two years old. I remember crazy traffic on Mumbai roads - the reason why my parents chose to take a local train even though they were with two young children. I remember boarding the local with my mother, somehow. I remember that a gentleman - who I distinctly categorised as a 'kind uncle' - put me on the luggage rack, out of harm's way. I remember wide-eyed, yet dry-eyed, fear as I looked down at more people than my childish brain could process.I'm sure time has embellished the memory, but that was my idea of a 'crowded' local train. Fourteen years later, when people warned me that the local train from Kharagpur to Kolkata would be crowded, I admit I was more than a little nervous. I dressed simply - no loose clothes that could get caught in other people's things. I carried no luggage at all because I've heard horror … [Read more...]
Walking in Varanasi
Varanasi, the immortal, eternal city, is one with narrow lanes and even narrower by-lanes. Getting to the hotel was like winding our way through a maze, where we had to walk in single file, lugging our backpacks and looking down to avoid stepping in fresh dung. I plodded grumpily at the back of the line. We were travelling with two French friends and being guided by someone from the hotel.We passed people at shops and at doorways nonchalantly brushing their teeth. In Varanasi, unlike in most other parts of the country, foreigners aren't a rarity to be ogled at. It was business as usual for them, calling out to one another across handcarts that looked as if they would never fit in lanes like that. They shouted off and on, and I ignored them as I wrinkled my nose to shut out the animal smells. "Ay, ey, ey!" One part of my mind did think that they were calling to me, but I was not … [Read more...]
Peach Juice
My sister and I coined a beautiful parameter for comparison. "It's like peach juice" means something special to us.Backpacking in Greece, we did something very smart. We realised that we were constantly thirsty and often in need of energy. So we took to buying large packs of juice, rather than shopping all the time for food, and hunting for water fountains. It was an intelligent thing to do - it saved money and kept us active. Both were equally important, and we felt good about ourselves for having thought of it. Later, we would use the same carton for water, filling it at fountains, carrying it around with us.Unfortunately, I don't like fruits much, and so, I don't like juice much. As a result, we ended up buying one particular brand of mixed fruit juice all the time. It was delicious, but repetitive. One fine day, we decided that we would try something different. We decided to buy … [Read more...]
Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater
Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has a charm of its own if we aren't obsessed with seeing particular animals, we said. We would definitely see some animals - at least deer - and some birds. It is a forest after all.Very diffidently, a friend admitted that she could recognise nothing. I assured her that I could identify all of five birds with any kind of surety - and that list included the crow, sparrow and mynah. She laughed at me and all but said that she did not believe me. I told her that one other bird I could identify was the chestnut-headed bee-eater. She looked at me with some measure of awe. It seemed pretty fancy to her that … [Read more...]