This was a totally unexpected part of my journey.
The day after guns and roses I attempted to catch the train from yeshwathur to Bangalore city to meet friends and accidentally got on a train in the wrong direction. The journey should have taken 15 minutes but instead there were no stops for an hour and I ended up 70 km outside of Bangalore.
When I asked the station master how to get back he told me there was a train in 1.5 hours or I could get the bus which would take 2 hours . I decided on the bus as it would get me back marginally quicker so walked to the bus stand and got on a bus that people told me was going to Bangalore. While on the bus, however, I found put that it would actually take 3 hours so walked back to the train station.
At the train station I say next to a group of local women who did not speak English but were immediately friendly, encouraging their children to practice simple English phrases with me (what is your name?) Which the children would say shyly before running away.
The matriarch of this group took me under her wing when the train arrived, letting me sit with them on the seats they had managed to reserve by throwing their bags through the window as the train came to a stop.
One man who came on the train pushed one if the children off the seat so he could sit down, which I think is common in India as men have more right to a seat than children, but for me it felt incredibly rude. He then proceeded to read over my shoulder, pointing to English words that he understood until eventually I started a conversation with him. We had barely got past names, nationalities and the fact that he was Christian before he started inviting me to his church, his home, out suggesting he come to my home. I politely refused each suggestion and tried to continue reading but when he grabbed my book (to have a closer look as he was still reading over my shoulder) the woman that I had made friends with on the platform invited me to sit on the other side of her, away from the man, and moved her children around so that I would have space.
The journey that should have taken 15 minutes took 5 hours but I got back to Bangalore safe and had an unexpected adventure on Indian transport.
The day after guns and roses I attempted to catch the train from yeshwathur to Bangalore city to meet friends and accidentally got on a train in the wrong direction. The journey should have taken 15 minutes but instead there were no stops for an hour and I ended up 70 km outside of Bangalore.
When I asked the station master how to get back he told me there was a train in 1.5 hours or I could get the bus which would take 2 hours . I decided on the bus as it would get me back marginally quicker so walked to the bus stand and got on a bus that people told me was going to Bangalore. While on the bus, however, I found put that it would actually take 3 hours so walked back to the train station.
At the train station I say next to a group of local women who did not speak English but were immediately friendly, encouraging their children to practice simple English phrases with me (what is your name?) Which the children would say shyly before running away.
The matriarch of this group took me under her wing when the train arrived, letting me sit with them on the seats they had managed to reserve by throwing their bags through the window as the train came to a stop.
One man who came on the train pushed one if the children off the seat so he could sit down, which I think is common in India as men have more right to a seat than children, but for me it felt incredibly rude. He then proceeded to read over my shoulder, pointing to English words that he understood until eventually I started a conversation with him. We had barely got past names, nationalities and the fact that he was Christian before he started inviting me to his church, his home, out suggesting he come to my home. I politely refused each suggestion and tried to continue reading but when he grabbed my book (to have a closer look as he was still reading over my shoulder) the woman that I had made friends with on the platform invited me to sit on the other side of her, away from the man, and moved her children around so that I would have space.
The journey that should have taken 15 minutes took 5 hours but I got back to Bangalore safe and had an unexpected adventure on Indian transport.
No comments:
Post a Comment