One night on the train is... the unexpected . I found my bunk in a compartment that has technically eigh . There are two superposed against a wall, which follow the width of the compartment. Then, there is a hallway. Perpendicular, there are three bunks on each side of the compartment. Mine is... in the middle.
Rapidly three young Indians are approaching. "Where are you from?"asks the first. Immediately, the second asks if I'm on Facebook, handing me his phone so I type my name. And he adds me eight away.
They ask lots of questions, Indians, so they practice their English. One of them, a cricketer, explains the rules of his sport... with a video game created by EA Sports. We have NHL 2014. They have Cricket 2014... At least I understand the principle.
"Tomato soup", shouts one of the vendors that walks accross the train all the way round. My new friend Arzoo hails, takes two and hands me one. The advice not to consume anything in the train just went to hell. At the very least, I knew that nothing had been added in the small container of soup. I worry especially for cleanliness . But these young Indians are filled with good intentions.
During the evening, they showed me snippets from Indian films, made me listen to some music and would even prepare my bed with sheets and everything. And then finally we went to bed. To enjoy, one should not be claustrophobic. But for me, it was good enough.
The inevitable happened. Not sure if it was a good idea to try this soup. This leads us to another very important tip : when you are in India, it is imperative to bring toilet paper and to keep it nearby.
In the morning, when I can't wait to get out of the train, since the journey should take about 14 or 15 hours, I learned that the typical fog in January resulted in delays of at least four hours. Ouch! I was counting on my day to explore a little Varanasi. Won't be happening that way.
However, I stuck to the advice I hade received and I have not eaten again during the rest of the journey. At least, my new friends entertained me and we managed to laugh despite some communication problems.
Useful phrase to use make people laugh Indians is "baba ji ka Tulu" (spelling?). Difficult to know what it means. But when things do not go as you want, when someone refuses to give a good price, apparently this maxim is useful. People start to laugh and can lower their price. On the train, in any case, when I said these were the only Indian words I knew, everyone laughed in the compartment.
And there is even a gesture that goes with it. It's even more fun, it seems.
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