We ported in Cochin, India. It's in the South in Kerala state. Kerala is one of the more liberal states in India, has the highest literacy rates, and the most women in one state in all of India! It also is one of the few (maybe only) state with a very prominent Communist Party that comes in and out of power about every 5 years.
My first day I had a field lab for International Law, and we listened to 6 or 8 speakers about Human Rights and Environmental Issues in India and Kerala. It was a really interesting discussion, but it was a very long day of sitting and listening. Great lunch though! :D
Some friends and I went out that night to celebrate my 21st birthday, but as India does not have a drinking culture, and women generally do not drink nor do they go into bars we didn't do too much bar hopping. We went to two places the whole night. One was kind of a whole in the wall, lights were way down and 20-24oz bottles were about $1.50! I was dressed very conservatively and had a scarf over my head a lot at that bar in some attempts to not get stared at. We went to a fancier hotel bar second, and when the bar tender found out it was my birthday he disappeared for a few minutes and came back out with a pretty good sized cake!
The next day, Laura and I had planned on leaving early and trying to go to an elephant camp or go kayaking through the backwaters of Kochi but she woke up with a killer migraine so I went out with some other friends just wondering around Cochin, but then another friend became really sick so I took her back to the ship. At this point I was starting to get really frustrated about what to do India as my plans kept dissolving. So, I was talking to my friend Keggan and she was leaving that night to go to Chennai via train to meet a friend of a friend and then head to Goa with her friend and she asked if I wanted to go. I jumped on the opportunity and off we went around 5 or 6pm to the train station.
In India to get good train tickets, you have to book online and you must have an Indian phone number, so Keggan had a ticket because her friends had booked her one but I had no such ticket. So when I got to the train station, we went to the ticket counter and I showed the ticket lady Keggan's ticket and said I needed one. She said no more other than general seating. I said, ok that's fine. The ticket lady's eyes got big, she shook her head, and said again 'General seating?' In my naïveté, I kept saying yea it's fine. She printed out the ticket, looked at me very quizzically and commenced shaking her head some more. Should have been my first big red flag.
Keggan and I went inside to the platform and waited, figuring out where we had to get on, where to go all the details, and the train rolled up and we thought we might be in cars next to each other but I started seeing people sprinting for the general seating cars so I looked at Keggan and said 'see ya' and started running. I hopped on the first car. Instantly I had every single pair of eyes on me in the entire car. The car was completely packed. Within the cars along the sides are benches in U shapes towards the isle and they continue on like that, and then above the benches are metal bars forming a kind of top bunk in the same U shape. Every single available seat had a male Indian in it. I was the only female. I was also the only white person. Gulp.
It felt like mass chaos. There were many of us standing, some of them said "let me see your ticket" "how did you come to sit here?" And then they would look at my ticket, make the same disappointed/quizzical face combo with the head shaking the ticket lady gave me. About two minutes in some guy said, "I'll take you to all ladies car!" I thought, "oh thank God." We sprinted to the very last car, I jumped on and what do you know.... all men. Not a single woman. Commence starring. I just started smiling at everyone, and laughing. My thought process was, if I made friends with a few they might stand up for me if someone tries to mess with me. Some old guy sitting on the floor told me to sit next to him next to the door. The General Seating cars don't have glass in the windows they are just slatted, and then they keep the doors open, so I was sitting next to the door kind of propping it open with my feet.
At this point I'm really thinking 'oh crap... this is a 12 hour train, I have 12 hours of this." Some guy walked up to the front and squatted next to us and started talking to me, asking me questions about the US, Barak Obama, George Bush, my thoughts on economics... come to find out he studied economics or taught (wasn't entirely sure) but he just wanted to work on his English so he was chatting with me for that purpose. The whole time I was talking to him I was pretty terrified.
The train stopped at the next station about 45 minutes later and I'm sitting talking to the same guy, and some Indian guy pops his head in the door, points straight at me and yells "You! Your friend! Come with me!" I didn't even question it, I just hopped up and ran. We had to run to the car, but I walked in and there was Keggan, smiling, sitting in a nice cushy chair surrounded by about 6 Indian guys. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see some one in my life! ha!
The guy who came to get me was named George, and he was able to talk to the ticket master and there happened to be an open seat with a bed and I bought a ticket on Keggan's car and all was well! George emailed Keggan and I and we are still in contact!
So I'll end part one here, but at the end of that day I told Keggan if there was one thing I've learned on this trip, it's that there are some really good people in this world. I'm also pretty certain there are some pretty powerful forces at work right then and it seems beyond a doubt there is someone above watching out for me.
You are so brave hah, I would have been so freaked out! Good think you didnt have to ride the full 12 hours in the crowded car!
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