Darjeeling of the Hills.

Tuesday April 23, 8:41am

It has been an intense few weeks. I know that I have not updated in a while, but I have not had one minute to write for fun.

In the past few weeks I have:

•  Planned a trip to Nepal
•    Had the trip to Nepal cancelled because AirIndia cancelled the plane
•   Planned an alternative trip to Darjeeling and Mumbai with a jaunt to Ellora and Ajanta
•   Wrote a 60 page field work report about the economy of religious ritual
• Took finals
• Wore Saris
• Went to the kings of Varanasi’s fort, a somewhat disgusting place with a cool little museum of old cars and weapons across the Gunga.
•   Rode an elephant 
• Rode one of Varanasi’s first two electric rickshaws
• Learned Liquid Kolam 
• Rode a motorcycle with one of Varanasi biggest radio DJ (Sundar Ji’s Brother)
• Learned to do liquid Kolam
• MCed the Wisconsin final performance in a way so American it was shocking to the Indian audience, but they LOVED it. I think Americans may have been bored, but the Indians ate it up!
•  Learned to pronounce many Indian names correctly.
• BOOKED TICKETS TO SENIOR WEEK!
•  Annoyed IBTL to make sure they had their stuff together.
•   Packed my things,



Liquid Kolam



• Said Goodbye

Right now I am sitting in my hotel room in Darjeeling, my first stop on my adventure through India. After going to the River Ashram one last time yesterday, and saying goodbye to my tutorial teachers family, I went home to pick up my stuff. Of course, the horrible dogs had peed all over both of my bags, but there was nothing I could do. I had a train to catch so I picked them up and headed downstairs.

I said a quick good bye to Karen and Devin and was off.

Heading out to catch the train

Once at the train station I became incredibly paranoid about finding the right platform. I did not want a repeat of Agra (See last post). I must have asked at least 10 people who work there, and they all told me to go to platform 1 or 2, but that my train was delayed. I went into the ladies waiting room, and took out a book to read.

There were a few men with their wives and families in the waiting room, but there was enough room, and everyone was quiet, so no one cared. Then these two crabby old women started freaking out. And I mean freaking out. They were yelling and stomping and probably cursing, though it was in Hindi, in order to get the men to leave the room. Some of the men stared arguing back, and I swear it looked like someone was going to throw a punch. It was India at it’s finest, especially when you consider the fact that the train-workers union was having a protest in the background.

The Hills from the top

Eventually the chaos settled down, and the room became quiet again. About an hour after it was scheduled to leave, they finally called my train. It is on platform three. Luckily I know my Hindi counting numbers so I was able to run over to the correct platform, and I had plenty of time to find the right car. In my 6-person compartment there was a nice older Indian couple, and three English girls who were also going to Darjeeling.

We got to talking, and they told me that they had all moved from England to Australia, where apparently you can make a lot money for unskilled jobs, and then travelled all around Asia. They have all been travelling for about a year, but they had only been in India for 6 weeks. Until this point they been in a tour situation where a company had booked their train tickets and hotels. Darjeeling was the first time that they were on their own.

Darjeeling roads

It was a good thing that they ran into me, because they may have slept through Darjeeling without me. But we all got off the train and took a jeep three hours up the mountain into Darjeeling. It was the most beautiful ride. There were little towns and houses spotting the way up, and there were the most amazing views. It was raining and cold, but after the heat of Varanasi, where it has not been less than 100 degrees in weeks, I loved it.

The jeep dropped us off in Darjeeling, and we found a hotel. By the time we had eaten lunch, our first real meal of the day, it was about 4:00pm. We took a long walk around the town, and every time we went around the curve we were presented with another breathtaking sight. We were at cloud level, and it was absolutely amazing.

Darjeeling

As it was getting dark we headed back to the hotel to shower, but that we put on hold as we started talking for about an hour and a half. The girls are so British, and they have had such interesting experiences we have a lot to talk about, though we only just met each other, After a late dinner in the only place in town open past 9 we headed back to the rooms and within minutes we were all asleep.

It seems as though I have partners for the next few days, so I am not quite travelling alone yet. This trip has already surprised me, both in terms of the way other can treat you and in terms of what I am capable of when I am forced to take care of myself. The next few weeks should be interesting, and I will keep you all posted.