|
India is not as it's
rumored merely a country full of beggars, for nowhere else in the world
have we seen so many hard working
people doing virtually anything from collecting pieces of rags
from the streets to peasants toiling all day in their paddy fields and
salesmen
of all kinds stepping all over you trying to earn that extra, little
Rupee in any way they can.
|
|
Here are some Indian
tourists or
pilgrims in the nar- row alley leading to the staircases which take you
up to the Rock fort temple.
|
|
Inside the catholic
Lourdes church in the city center. This was certainly the
place to go for peace and tranquility,
a haven away from all the surrounding noise and traffic.
|
Could this be near a camel fare
in Pushkar or some other arid area of Rajastan? Well in fact
this happens to be the worlds second largest beach, namely the Marina
beach and is situated on the coast line just near by the city center of
Chennai.
The ocean breakers come
crashing in with full force from the turbulent waters of the bay of
Bengal, with the
now active north- east monsoon blowing on the sore.
|
Here is fried Tandoori
fish and
various kinds of sea food piled up
beneath the bright lights of stalls lining the mighty Marina beach.
|
Maybe this little piggy
didn't have a valid train ticket and had to walk all the way back
to
Chennai! Somewhere along the way we also caught sight of monkeys
drinking water from taps and gathering in great mobs all over a
secluded
railway
station out in the midst of nowhere.
|
Before arriving at the
grand terminus of Mumbai (Bombay) we were met by a large
number of
local trains running in and out from the center to suburbs and
satellite
cities. Safety regulations of how many passengers should be permitted
on
board
do
not seem to exist in this part of the world as many of them were
hanging half way out as you can see here!
Click on
image for
the next set of PICS!
Previous page!
|
 On
the streets of Trichy in Tamil nadu the traffic situation can become
almost intolerable. It's an art of
survival each traveler must develop to pull through unscathed on those
thronged
urban streets and back alleys. And yet, the ease with which the Indians
move
along
their routes, either it's locals or national tourists, is just
unbelievable and goes to show how essential it is
to have a relaxed mind in this type of environment. However, it also
implies
that the only one thing you can
do to get by is to try and fully
rely
on those "crazies" behind the wheel, that they will give you a signal
whenever their is
a
risk
of you being run over! Which I guess is basically the
reason why there is a constant, ear deafening din of blasting horns
(sometimes loud enough to shatter
your
brain) and all kinds of audible devices with the purpose of
clearing whatever obstacles there are out of the
way.
Click
for  clip!
Carina paid notice to these
carefully piled up pyramids of fruit in a stand
near the bus station on the southern side of Trichy.
Proudly showing off their
school uniforms with ties, shirts and em- blems before the camera,
these young male pupils were quick to attract our attention.
|
Once again we're on the
road (or rail) and as usual traveling by second class sleeper, this
time from Trichy to the major Tamil capital of Chennai, for- merly
known as Madras.
|
|
The silhouette of a young
boy who being well aware of his incapacity to stay afloat in those
turbid, wild
waters, is challe- nging the entire Bay of Bengal by chasing up and
down the sand bank just where land meets sea.
|
|
Beach merchandise of all
sorts and vendors selling fried fish and food
is common place out here by the ocean.
|
It took us 36 hours non
stop to get from Chennai to our final return destination of
Bombay. In parts of this journey there were virtual cues
o  f hawkers
competing with one another to sell their items while
shouting on
top of their voices and carrying their heavy loads without ever
appearing to get tired. Occasionaly there would also be
beggars, some of them sweeping the floor around our feet and underneath
the
seats with dirty rags
while collecting rubbish and refuse by simply dragging it out - dust
and
filth and all - with their unprotected arms. On one occasion a blind
man shuffled
slowly from one apartment to the other singing with a sad and high
pitched voice.
|
To hear the
blind minstrel sing, click on the NOTES!
When it had become very late
after one days travel and I finally got the vegetarian meal I had
ordered, I was
confronted with a rat running back and forth next to my feet. Not
exactly like having a splurge at Hilton but then again, it hardly cost
an  ything, as usual! However, what we
experienced after they had turned
out the lights was a bit more distressing, because when the
train had made it further up on to the Deccan plateau it became
extremely
chilly
as
cold night air seeped in through the fractured windows causing a
terrible draught.
After
an hour
or so Carina was shaking like a leaf down in the lowest compartment,
since she had neither socks on
her feet, nor any warm gar- ments to protect herself with. So after we
had swapped berths I dug
out spare T-shirts, towels and jumpers from out of my bag (which I had
intended to use as a pillow) and
gave to her till she had more layers on her than an
onion!
|
