Today officially began our travel week! We will be traversing the country, coast-to-coast in one 18-hour train ride. It started with a van ride to Mangalore where the train to Pondicherry awaited us. This week has been much anticipated. Already feeling more than comfortable in our routines and at home in Manipal, I was itching for adventure, to see more of this vast country so rich in culture, beauty, and heritage. Manipal is only peephole, if that, to seeing and understanding India. I am hoping the experience will broaden that hole and allow for a more complex image to enter my mind. Having seen some of North India before, and that being where more outsiders visit, this was an especially unique opportunity.
Excitement turned slightly sour though, when immediately after boarding the train and making our way through the corridor to our seats, I realized my purse/wallet was missing from my bag. I was pretty certain the only place it could be was in the van that had taken us to the train station. I had it upon boarding, at least I thought, but by the time we reached the train (a span of five minutes), it had vanished. The bus driver claimed not to have found it nor had anyone in any of the places is could have been reported seeing it. With the train starting to move, there was no time for further investigation.
I was surprisingly calm, even for myself. I think at first an inkling of me didn’t really think it was gone, especially since its disappearance was so odd. I thought someone would turn it in or it would be returned to me upon returning to the hostel the following week. I liked the calm feeling though. The feeling that I didn’t need those material possessions, that I didn’t rely on them. I became a little more stressed though, on realizing this meant I had lost all forms of communication – both my phones, all important paperwork including hospital cards, student ID’s, gym pass, keys to my dorms, to the hostel in general and the student center, my credit card, my only way to get money in India, and of course my money. I tried not to worry about it, but it seemed to creep back into my consciousness for the next few hours despite my calm demeanor. Nonetheless, I tried to keep it out of my mind and fully immerse myself in the adventure.
A group of us played cards in our little section of the train, talked, rested, and read, though reading was a challenge with the vibrating of the train on the tracks. Feeling my eyelids become heavier and heavier and my mind wandering to sleep, we set up the seats as beds, made up the sheets, and crawled in, trying not to bump our heads on the bed above us, and letting the rhythm of the train lull us to sleep.
Excitement turned slightly sour though, when immediately after boarding the train and making our way through the corridor to our seats, I realized my purse/wallet was missing from my bag. I was pretty certain the only place it could be was in the van that had taken us to the train station. I had it upon boarding, at least I thought, but by the time we reached the train (a span of five minutes), it had vanished. The bus driver claimed not to have found it nor had anyone in any of the places is could have been reported seeing it. With the train starting to move, there was no time for further investigation.
I was surprisingly calm, even for myself. I think at first an inkling of me didn’t really think it was gone, especially since its disappearance was so odd. I thought someone would turn it in or it would be returned to me upon returning to the hostel the following week. I liked the calm feeling though. The feeling that I didn’t need those material possessions, that I didn’t rely on them. I became a little more stressed though, on realizing this meant I had lost all forms of communication – both my phones, all important paperwork including hospital cards, student ID’s, gym pass, keys to my dorms, to the hostel in general and the student center, my credit card, my only way to get money in India, and of course my money. I tried not to worry about it, but it seemed to creep back into my consciousness for the next few hours despite my calm demeanor. Nonetheless, I tried to keep it out of my mind and fully immerse myself in the adventure.
A group of us played cards in our little section of the train, talked, rested, and read, though reading was a challenge with the vibrating of the train on the tracks. Feeling my eyelids become heavier and heavier and my mind wandering to sleep, we set up the seats as beds, made up the sheets, and crawled in, trying not to bump our heads on the bed above us, and letting the rhythm of the train lull us to sleep.