The Kindness of Strangers

The kindness of strangers got me onto the right train, but the wrong carriage. It wasn’t until I sat down that I saw the painted sign on the wall that said, For Differently Abled, but actually looking around, we all seem to be about as differently abled as each other. I had been ushered aboard, stepping over a sleeping body in the gangway, and squeezed my way on, turned around and found a foot in my face. I’m pretty sure this guy is sleeping in the luggage rack. Lots of young mums with small babies not afraid to smile and stare. They’ve made room for me to sit but I’m not totally convinced they’re happy about it. The guy with the laptop, who helped me onto the train, told me they’re talking about me. He said it’s unusual and they’re amused. He’s also told me to download an app called ‘Where’s My Train?’ and worked out that the train will stop in Kottayam for 5 minutes and I can get off there to find my ticketed seat. I’m still not sure how far away Kottayam is but I’m sure he’ll let me know when we get there.

Well, that went a little differently than expected. Laptop man, who had explained to me that I was guest in India so of course people were kind to me, decided we could walk through the train and find my seat that way instead. Each carriage we passed through was absolutely jam-packed from floor to ceiling and laptop man was bundling ahead of me with my suddenly huge bag. More feet in my face until he got me as far as he could without a ticket himself. I went overboard with thank yous and walked on through the snorers and limbs in the sleeping cars and on into what was definitely AC-something. It was quiet and cool but I still couldn’t find any signs or signals that I was near Seat 51F in General Class AC2. But I did find Mala and Jyoti. Photo! Photo! They squealed and giggled as they corralled me into a space so that we could have a photo taken together. They were sweet and funny and just so pleased with the whole situation that the last short while of high heat and uncertainty fell away. Photos taken, I trundled on until I found a guard that I didn’t know was a guard lying on a bunk. I showed him my ticket (I was showing everyone my ticket at this point) and he picked up his clip board, found my name on it, and took me to my seat. It wasn’t Seat 51F but we were both pretty happy with it. And it wasn’t more than a minute before Mala and Jyoti reappeared. They had brought all their bags and belongings with them and scooched up beside me to take more photos. We spent the rest of the 4 hour journey chatting and laughing and showing each other photos of our families.

“Bye Bye, London Girl.”

I’m now at the InDa hotel in Varkala. It’s a collection of little bungalows about 150 metres from the North Cliff. The coastline is beautiful; rugged and jungly and the water looks angry. I’m here until Sunday when I head inland to the ashram at Neyyar Dam.