no idea what this was. bought one for next day's breakfast.

tonight's room, 1000rupee, 5000naira. after i paid the money, the owner switched on the power for A/C. he turned it off right after i went out for food.

small cubicle, quiet.

tonight's room, 1000rupee, 5000naira. after i paid the money, the owner switched on the power for A/C. he turned it off right after i went out for food.

small cubicle, quiet.


end of the third day.

Nice thread. I read every comments from A - Z! I love your open-mindedness! To truly enjoy a place, its people, its food...it's good to go with an open mind.
I love adventure travel, too. Haven't been to Indian but would certainly love to backpack there. Incredible India! I've traveled on slow trains in China. Here the train are mostly clean but sometimes toilets can be messy with turds not flushed. Have fun on your adventure, and keep safe. I always carry a jack knife in my backpack in case I need to use it. Do you have one?

day 4.

176km, 85rupee ,425 naira. heading to the metropolis chennai.

lassi, the legendary indian drink. just very average.

today was very crowded, i could not find a seat, so, i stood for 4 hours. i even spilled some lassi on a passenger's back, she asked me to clean it with my tissue paper.

platform

crowded cabin

tea

little kid

a chance fellow passenger i met, his indian style english was of a very strong accent, so, we had to write down the words we needed to say.

arrived in chennai station, i needed a transfer.

my lunch in chennai, vegetable again. these were different kinds of pepper curry.

banana leaf trays, disposable?

curry, all pepper

orange juice, she put a lot of man-made sweetener, even more than the juice itself,

100 rupee, 500 naira, felt being ripped off

train pulled out of chennai, close to the nearby houses by arm's breadth.

transfered to another station to catch another train , taking tuk-tuk, charged me 100 rupee, 500naira , for maybe 2km.

free bathroom in the station. i bathed my upper body three times in it. too hot !

chennai to pondicherry, 197km, 90rupee, 450naira. pondicherry used to be a french colony. nowadays it is pretty small and laidback.

east india coast line in evening, dotted with lights. india was booming fast, you may just sense its atmosphere. the scaffolds, the industrial zones, the night lights....bustling...

my tea, 15rupee, 75naira. sometimes it was 20rupee

luggage cabin, depicted in Kim , by Kipling.

arrived in pondicherry , late at 11 o'clock. many dogs , some mad ones, in the street. i searched for a cheaper guesthouse in the back lanes. a "zen" guesthouse accommodated me. it is a travel hotspot, this town, so, guesthouse is worthy, and they give themselves fancy names.

some simple ornament, with spotless bedsheet, even a clean shower towel , rare among budget guesthouses.

my dinner, i ate it like a hamburger. filled the thing with curry sauce .

some more photos of chennai street scene, i transfered and waited 5 hours there.

some more photos of chennai street scene, i transfered and waited 5 hours there.

when the train clank away from the numerous small depots along the night coast line, the inside of the cabin found almost no passengers, the warm breeze blew my face from the iron bars, an uncertainty about the place i soon to arrive welled in my heart.

at a small station i found a lone passenger, a chubby boy, he kept watching his cricket game from his phone, while hard to resist curiosity to pester me with questions. i allowed him three times to guess my nationality. he answered the right one right away, but i just refrained my laughter and sai no, and kept him guessing ten more countries.

i told him, i was a pakistan passport holder, he winced, and he found an excuse to get off the train to meet a friend. but when the train started again, he showed up , holding some desserts in his hand, oh, that was his friend. no wonder he was chubby.

i gave him a small bakenote as a souvenir, and i asked him to be my guide the next day if he wanted to earn 10 times more than that amount. but he mumbled a no.

i liked some moments in india. just like a deja vu. i was looking for my last life.

Indians and their love for curry though

The bigotry and prejudice in India can only be surpassed by the West.

They constantly harrass and persecute the 'untouchables' in ways that can only be expressed and captured properperly in a Nollywood movie.

Furthermore, due to the accumulative effect of the ways the 'untouchables' are being treated in India, the Dalits are known to act in a viscious and malicious way towards other Nubians.