My First Month

The month went by very fast. After spending 4 days in Chennai I was over the idea of sticking around this disgusting city for much longer. I was eager to go to Madhya Pradesh where the main part of my internship was taking place. Since my project wasn’t exactly well organized or structured no one could tell me how much time I will spend in Chennai. My perception of my life in this city changed when we finally moved out of the dorms into our posh apartment with AC and swimming pool. Now I could cook, have friends over, work out and just get into fun routine with cool roommates. Soon I was trying to come up with different ideas on how to prolong my stay in this incredibly polluted city, which started to grow on me. I also wasn’t exactly that excited about going alone into one of the poorest states in Central India with the 3rd largest malaria rate, not speaking Hindi, and where I was going to share apartment with this guy I don’t know (who is my project supervisor) without AC or regular internet access. But I was looking forward to very famous national parks where one can watch tigers while riding an elephant.

In the meantime, my social life in Chennai was only getting better. Smoking hookah at Mocha, doing work at Oxford bookstore while indulging vanilla coffee floats and chicken wraps (I will bitch about vegetarian diet later), clubbing at Pasha, walking
Through Marina Beach and experimenting with Indian public bus system, enjoying Indiana Jones with the biggest Indiana Jones fan in a very cool theater, watching monsoon go wild on the friend’s porch while drinking whiskey… All these fun moments made Chennai a pretty great place to be, so when I found out that my tickets to MP are booked for the 2nd of July I was not a happy camper.

Another thing that added to my apprehension of leaving for MP was my roommate Mary getting Dengue. Dengue is transmitted through mosquito bite while the person is feverish. Poor Mary had fever for over a week and our own previously trusted in-house mosquitoes bit the hell out of me in that same week. So I was a little paranoid leaving the comfort of my nice apartment and city with easy access to big hospitals and decent doctors for a small town in the poor state. But I had no choice. I had to go. After all, I shouldn’t forget that I am in India to do work, and the best part is fieldwork.

Work is great but it doesn’t mean I wont enjoy India when I can. So my last weekend before MP I decided to check out the backwaters of Kerala on the houseboat, which was on the top to do list before you die according to Lonely Planet. Five of us planed the trip and even bought our train tickets 2 days in advance. Unfortunately, most of the people are not as committed to previously made plans as I am, so 3 of the girls bailed on the day of departure. I was left with my best guy friend here, Zach, with whom I got in a major fight the day before, so I actually wasn’t looking forward to spending 4 days with him on the trip, furthermore alone… 15-hour train ride was a little awkward, since Zach and I had a lot of time to express the things we don’t like about each other and make a truce (4 days could be a long time if you can’t stand the person you are traveling with). Since the houseboats are designed for couples, our voyage had a bit of a honeymoon feel to it. To make the things worse, the whole crew was under impression that we are married (I think in India women don’t go on houseboat cruises with someone they are not married to). But Kerala is a gorgeous state with amazing food and nice people, so we both had a way better time than expected.

Traveling around India is so different from any other traveling I’ve ever done before. When we arrived at Allepey I was very glad that I made a houseboat reservation while still in Chennai and even arranged for a pick up. Somehow the vibe of the Indian train station without familiar herd of tourist loving guides and hotel owners doesn’t entice me to venture into the city looking for a place to stay or things to do without making previous arrangements. The houseboat company sent us a rickshaw, which took us directly to our boat. Although the backwater houseboat is the most luxurious and pricey thing I did or will do in India, it was worth it. Floating through the canals past the green rice fields and colorful villages while sipping juice and eating the most amazing Kerala food is relaxing and pleasant getaway from the dusty and crowded streets of Chennai. Only one thing could have made it more special, sharing this romantic retreat with someone I am in love with.

The next day after we were dropped off our heavenly houseboat in the middle of rain in Allepey I faced the reality of true India again. Two-hour crowded bus ride from Allepey to Fort Cochin made me miss my bus adventures in Brazil and Peru, where everyone on the bus always wanted to help out foreigners with advice. Here the ticket guy didn’t even bother to tell us when to get off even though I asked him to. Luckily, my gut feeling told me that this trip is taking longer than anticipated. Before long I found out from some friendlier English-speaking bus companion that we passed our stop a while back. Dammit… taking another shitty bus back in the rain… But I learned something interesting about Indian city buses.

They are segregated; women and men do not sit together. Actually, the way it worked on this bus, about dozen women were standing in the front of the bus holding on for life to whatever is possible, and all the men were sitting. Only about 4 seats (front of course) were taken by women. It took us a while to figure out why the ticket-guy kept pushing Zach away from me towards the back. Segregation is one thing, but men sitting and women standing… is totally different. Well, I guess I am in the country where women often consider themselves inferior to men. I mean, you can’t even get married if your family is too poor for a dowry. For example, 3 weeks ago in Chennai a single mother and her three daughters threw themselves under the train because they didn’t see a possibility of marriage in the future (too poor to have dowry). Sadly, female infanticide is still common in India… On the other hand, the government is trying to improve this situation and protecting women but allowing them to form a separate queue in the ticket office or offer ladies-only cars in the trains. But really, through segregation will Indian women feel more equal to men? Did segregation of blacks in the US was promoting the equality?

The following day Zack ended up free riding on the “separate queue for women” thing. Since we were foreigners they allowed him to board the ferry with me before the rest of the men. Public transportation is so packed in this country, that I am actually very glad that women have some kind of privilege, otherwise I would be afraid to get squished to death (Indian men are not exactly gentlemen-like). Only about 50% of the people usually get seats, so the fittest and the pushiest sit. Obviously demand beats the supply here, so why not put more buses or trains of ferries? Well, they do. There are tons of buses, trains, and ferries, but there are way too many people to keep up. Now Indian railroad came up with a new solution, adding additional bunk in already packed compartments. For example, in other countries where I have traveled with sleeper trains there are maximum 6 people in compartment (that’s the lowest class in Ukraine), 2nd & 3rd class cars usually fit 4, 1st class fits 2… here they fit 8 (in all nice AC classes), and now they are increasing it to 9. The idea of personal space is pretty unfamiliar; I think my friends in China can relate to this.

Fort Cochin was pretty cool and very untypical clean and catered to tourist, lots of hotels and home-stays, cute stores, and rickshaw drivers speaking beginner level English… Our friend Shino (who is placed for her field work about 3 hrs from Fort Kochin) joined us for one day and we got to do a lot of fun sightseeing and shopping. Speaking of shopping, yesterday in MP I saw a chess set that Zack bargained down to 1400 rps and it cost only about a third of it. I hope he will not see this blog. Watch out, foreigners, when shopping in tourist locations. Poor Zack will be living in this country for at least a year, so he may see many more of these chess sets for way cheaper.

One of the funniest moments about the day in Cochin was our mentally retarded driver, who with a sweet smile and a sad story about commission, which he gets paid with a t-shirt, managed to lure us into 3 or 4 fancy souvenir stores. Both Shino and I resisted the pushy sales men for the most part, but Zack got sucked in. I should also mention the best restaurant in town “Dal Roti”. Although, it wasn’t famous Keralan food we ended up going back there every time we had to eat. Chicken kati roll was our favorite. We got so comfy there that Saturday night the owner’s wife even drove us home to prevent us from getting drenched in the rain. By the way, this is monsoon season pretty much everywhere in India now, so rain is becoming a nuisance.

Coming back to Chennai on Monday morning to accomplish few last errands before MP wasn’t that exciting. But it was a good opportunity to say goodbye to all the local friends, catch up on last minute emails and get mentally prepared for a 25 hour train ride to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, where I will spend a whole month.