After a looooong day on the Bollywood set, I walked into Mumbai CST at 10:00, the main railway station for the sprawling metropolis. To my chagrin, when I checked the schedule I couldn't find my train. Asking every other uniformed person for help (including the cranky samosa fryer), it finally became clear that the Dehra Dun express would be leaving from Bandra station, not CST. Okay, I thought, looking at the clock, which read 10:30 by this point. "How far to Bandra?" "Oh, not far, maybe one and a half hours by taxi."Panic creeping in. I'd worked so hard for this damn ticket, I wasn't going to miss the train. Is there any other way to get there? "Sure, the commuter train runs every five minutes and will get you there in 45 minutes."
Finally after getting on my train and finding my berth, I got set up and took a snooze. Chatting the next day, I got to know Abimanyu and Chaitan, two young guys from Dehra Dun who were interested in Social Entrepreneurship and Che Guevara. This, they told me, was why they were riding second class (there's a third class mind you) - to see "how the people travel." They were really great guys though, and once we got to Dehra Dun, they offered me a place to sleep and showed me around town.
Abi took me to meet two of his aunties, one of which, the wife of a wealthy army major, insisted that I tell her all about my girlfriend. "Honestly, I don't have one right now," "no, no, don't be shy, you can tell your auntie." The other auntie took more after her father, a famous sitar player, who insisted on my coming back and staying with her for a month to learn Hindi and Sitar.
"We'll see..." is coming out of my mouth these days so much more than ever before.
After spending the night in Dehra Dun, they took me up to the hill station of Moussourrie, a popular site for Indian honeymooners. We had a lovely omelette at a highly-regarded shack before the guys helped me hop a shared jeep to Danulthi.
The hospitality here is a bit overwhelming. I can't help but feel wonder about what expectations they have for what I can offer in return.
