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Travelling in IndiaTom Belton — Ottawa, ON
One thing all trips by travelling volunteers for Sleeping Children Around the World [SCAW] have in common is the amount of travel required in order to perform our duty. The Chennai distribution was no different. The 4,000 km itinerary connecting the various distribution sites, much of it by train, may be one of SCAW’s longer in-country distributions. The distributions closer to Chennai were all reached by our twelve-passenger bus, ably driven by our wonderfully competent driver, Rhabo. Making full use of the horn conveniently located on the dashboard right next to the steering wheel, Rhabo manoeuvred us through the throngs with ease and skill. I have never ever witnessed driving of this sort in all my travels with SCAW. The philosophy of driving in India, while similar to other developing countries, has its own unique quality. You use the whole highway to drive on — solid lines don’t mean a thing. You pass at will, irrespective of the oncoming traffic. As long as you can get past the front bumper of the vehicle being passed before oncoming traffic reaches you, the overtaken vehicle will yield to allow you to cut back into your lane. It is quite harrowing to witness, but the skill of your driver and the “rules of the road” make it quite ordinary. Train travel is something else. As most of our distribution sites were some distance from Chennai, overnight train travel was a must. We would usually embark in early evening from stations full of throngs of people, all rushing to or from the trains. Once we’d determined the correct track, off we’d go in search of the air-conditioned sleeping car. This often turned into an adventure.
At one station we were searching for our car when the train began moving away from the station. Half of us managed to climb aboard leaving the rest on the platform in panic. What should we do? Try to jump on the moving train? Wait and catch the next one? I was left on the platform along with two other team members. We decided to be prudent. But when the train stopped again we jumped into the first available car. We piled in with our luggage and a crowd of other people in the same predicament. Have you ever tried to get through a train door with your luggage along with at least thirty men, women, and children and their collective luggage? You should try it sometime. Somehow the three of us managed to get aboard and were standing between the cars in a small space. I managed to help a child and a woman struggling with her baggage. Two men trying to get through the door with their families took to each other’s throat in their efforts to secure priority. It was a brawl. This was chaos, pure and simple. As the train was not moving, we started to look for the rest of our group. Luckily we were reunited with them and our host Rotarians. Peace at last … almost. A railway policeman came by very soon after, enquiring as to who had pulled the Emergency Stop. It appears that several pulls had been made in our car. Pulling the emergency stop is subject to a fairly heavy fine. (So that’s why the trains stopped a second time?) Of course we knew nothing. With tongues firmly planted in cheeks we answered that it must have been someone else. Transporting the numbers of people that India must move on a regular basis is quite a task. Indian air-conditioned sleeping cars were the same on all our trips. While not the lap of luxury, we found them more than adequate. The car was lined on both sides with bunks; one side at right angles to the car, the other side parallel to the car. Most were two tiers high, except in one instance where they were three-tiered. On one side of the aisle was a group of four bunks. Each bunk had a clean pillow, two bed sheets, and a warm blanket. If you slept in the top bunk, you were directly under the air conditioner where you really needed use of the warm blanket. The lower bunk was much warmer, sometimes too warm. After securing our baggage under the bottom bunks, making our beds, and readying our sleeping arrangements, we would wash up before going to bed. That required a visit to the bathrooms situated between cars. One bathroom was a conventional sit-down western-type while the other was an Indian “stand over and go through the floor” type. Each worked, so no matter. Outside the bathroom was a wash basin but no towels, so we brought our own.
We’d climb up a small ladder to get to the top bunk or just drop into the lower bunk. There was an overhead light in each bunk for reading, a bottle holder for drinking water, and a slot on the wall for small items. All the comforts of home. Once inside, we’d pull the curtains and have a good night’s sleep. Despite what one might think, sleeping that way was quite comfortable as long as you didn’t get too cold. The train ride was smooth, if accompanied by constant swaying and vibration. While not the best sleep I’ve ever had, it was restful. When we approached our destination, we had to prepare to disembark ahead of time, for as experience taught us, the trains don’t waste time at station stops. And that’s how we accomplished our goal — your Chennai SCAW team getting a good night’s sleep to be ready for action. |
