Day One : Travelling Light I have made a conscious effort not to pack too much in the way of clothes for this trip; having already been to India I know that it is far easier to pick up stuff as we go along. The rucksack weighs a bloody ton! And I think I've already left out quite a lot of stuff, I think maybe it's time for a repack. Right let's see what I don't need for sure. A quick look through the contents of the rucksack reveal that I have packed eight shirts, but I reason that I will take them anyway as I plan to use each one only once before giving them away to the locals. The young men who work in the hotels and drive the rickshaws generally appreciate this, and in fact, normally ask if you have any tee shirts you don't want any longer. What else can I jettison? There are two pairs of shorts, an extra pair of cotton trousers, three pairs of socks, and four pairs of underpants which will be washed as and when, a pair of sandals, a towel and a single sheet stitched in half to make a lightweight sleeping bag. I'm going to need all of them I think to myself, so have to rethink what else can I ditch? I won't need the Walkman or the tapes so they get the heave ho. Will I really read three paperbacks? I don't think so, but then again I do plan to take it easy and reading can be quite relaxing. In the end I get rid of one of the books reasoning that I will at least read one going while on the plane, and I can then either give this to another traveller, or leave in a hotel room for someone else to read. I have packed a jar of coffee creamer powder for our hot drinks as I don't want to use unpasturised, or condensed milk, there is also a jar of instant tea mix, which I want to take so that I can make my own if need be. In India it can be so hard to get a cup of tea that hasn't been made with at least six spoons of sugar thrown into it, and if you ask for tea without sugar the chai wallah looks at you as though you were mad. What kind of person drinks tea without condensed milk and heaps of sugar? ME! That's who, I can't stand sweet tea, or for that matter, coffee. Indian people usually make their tea with all the ingredients thrown into the pot together; especially the chai wallahs (tea sellers) in places like railway stations, street markets, e.t.c.. And then room service boys in lower end hotels very rarely understand just exactly what it is you want. Still I could always drink my tea black, and suffer the sugar, no I think I'll take the creamer and tea mix just in case. After all, I do have a figure to watch? Now, what else have I got? Two plastic tubs containing seventy-two biros, I won't be doing that much writing, but I do intend to give the pens away to the children who always ask for them. I pack the pens. There are also two large bags of boiled sweets, again these are not for me, but will be given to the kids in return for posing for a photograph, or, for just being kids. I think that giving the kids money does not help anyone as it only encourages them to beg more, and it will probably be taken from them anyway. I have also packed forty rolls of camera film! Will I really need this much I ask myself, and again the answer is yes! I can not take a chance on buying film in India, as for one it is very hard to get slide film, and even if you can, it is usually out of date and in bad condition. Print film is even worse, with it being kept for sometimes years in bright warm conditions. I have packed two cameras, but do I need two? Again I have to say yes, as I don't want to risk being without one in the event of a mechanical failure. I also need the Lonely planet guide book and also the Indian railway timetable that are packed in the side pockets of the rucksack, along with the padlock for unsecured hotel room doors, the torch for the inevitable power cuts, and the Swiss army knife that is always handy to have, even if you do never use it! I leave out the Lonely Planet guide as Nick will be bound to bring his condensed version, which only covers the south of India, and being that we are staying in the south, this should do nicely. My toiletries bag contains the usual array of lotions, potions and first aid kit, and there are even a couple of toilet rolls thrown in for good measure. Oh well, that's it then, I have only been able to drop a couple of things, so I'll just have to suffer the weight, as I've trimmed down as far as I can. When Nick joins the train at Westcliff the first thing I notice is how light his rucksack looks! Time to offload a few things from my bags I think. We sort out the load a little more evenly, with Nick carrying the day sack I had also brought along for when we are out and about. Now I'm a little bit happier, and a bit lighter. Both Nick and I had given up smoking and not had a cigarette for just over three months, but Nick was convinced he would start again on this trip. He could not see himself on holiday without a smoke, as he says, it is a pleasure he associates with travel and holidays. He reasoned that he would not torture himself while away by denying himself this pleasure. We had only been travelling for less than an hour when we got to London, Nick decided it was time to buy some tobacco at the station kiosk, he rolled himself a smoke the size of a small baby's arm, took a big puff and declared himself ready for India. I held out, for now at least. "Did you pack these bags yourself Sir?" asked the girl at the airport check in desk. Obviously they have to ask the security questions, especially in light of the recent atrocities involving airliners. But you do feel like saying something when they ask you things like "Has anybody given you anything to carry onboard for them?" "Well actually yes! a bloke with a turban and a long grey beard, I think he said his name was Bin lard arse or something. He asked me if I would mind taking this package of semtex to his friends in India" What do they take you for? if you were carrying explosives would you really tell them?. After check in we went to the Burger King restaurant to have our last taste of meat, well, for a couple of weeks at least. We had again decided to stick to a strictly vegetarian diet again while in India, in the hope it would reduce the chance of food poisoning and prolonged toilet visits. Our allocated seats on the plane were in a row of three, where we found ourselves in the company of an Indian woman who was now a Canadian citizen, having married a man from that country. She was returning home for the first time in many years to attend her brothers wedding, she did not speak too much to start with, as she was trying to catch up on some sleep having already been travelling for ten hours. It was a good job she was sat at the window seat as she at least had somewhere to rest her head, which kept nodding as she dropped off to sleep. Nick and I are definitely not the two best looking men in the world, but we felt sure that the trolley dolly's (Stewardess') on this plane kept smiling at us as they walked past. This may have been because they felt some sympathy for us trying to communicate with the Indian woman, or it could have been because we were dammed attractive to them. No, I don't think so, but I do think it was just simply because it's what they do on Emirates airlines, and we are just not used to attractive women smiling at us on planes. We were more used to the stern looks you get from the unshaven weightlifters who masquerade as stewardesses, and only know how to say "meat or fish?" on Russian Aeroflot flights. In Dubai the Indian lady caught up with us again while we were in the duty free area, she was complaining to us about the cost of gold, and told us how it was no cheaper than in Canada. Well buy some in Canada then! That was what I felt like saying, but I bit my lip and just smiled as best I could. I had been travelling for 12 hours now and was probably getting a bit ratty, and to be honest I really wasn't interested in making small talk, especially about the price of gold! I think she must have obviously been expecting everything to be that much cheaper here, because Dubai does tend to have a name for being a duty-free haven. I looked at some camera gear in the duty free and it was actually quite a lot more expensive than I could get it in England. So much for duty-free! Although we were in Dubai it felt like we were in India, because as we went through to the transit lounge for our connecting flight to Madras there was only one security check-in to deal with about four hundred people who had arrived off two inbound flights. And the majority of these people were Indians, who think the way to queue is forty abreast, then fight it out the nearer you get to the front. At one stage we felt that we would not make it through in time, but after about thirty minutes they seemed to find extra staff and opened up another couple of gates to allow people through. Knowing a little about our destination, we thought that had this been India, then more than likely we probably would be still there now waiting. |
