February 3, 2019 -
“In India even the most mundane inquiries have a habit of ending this way. There may be two answers, there may be five, a dozen or a hundred; the only thing that is certain is that all will be different. “. – Eric Newby
We had a small chore to do today. We needed to go to the train station to get some tickets for one leg of our journey. Sounds simple right? Nothing is simple here.
The train station was a beehive of activity where everyone seems to be in a great hurry. You have to dodge porters with large bags on their heads and try not to run into distinguished bearded fellows with glorious turbans who appear determined to stroll at a leisurely pace. There is security here. Everyone had to pass a metal detector that looks ancient and alerts every time only to have a bored security guard wave you through.
We had to go to the foreign tourist office to get our tickets passing through wave after wave of touts that try to lure you to a waiting Tuk Tuk.
When we finally found the office we had to draw a number and wait while a very bored man with sunglasses on (in our closed room with no windows) moved at glacier speed. He would periodically stop and clear his throat by spitting and was constantly shifting in his seat as if he suffered from a bad case of piles.
We finally received our tickets after filling out a piece of paper with redundant information on it that he stamped in a very official manner. God knows how he stores this information.
We finally left to make our way down the street to our next stop. We were near one of the slum areas and the neighborhood was pretty rough. We never felt unsafe but there were a lot of obstacles to pick your way through like cows, sleeping dogs, and people peddling wares on the street. There was one group of men who sat in a circle blocking much of the sidewalk to play a game of cards. We also enjoyed a happy conversation with a British Expat who has been living here for years as a member of the Krishna sect. He earnestly invited us to his temple to enjoy some yoga and a nice round of chanting.
Just another day in India. We leave Delhi tomorrow and travel to the sacred city of Varanasi.
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