Sorry
in advance that this doesn’t follow the chronology of the rest of my blogs, but
I haven’t had a chance to write about this until now (we’ve been very busy in
Banaras, but more on that in another post).
The
transit from Sona Pani to Banaras was long and tiresome, but also really fun
and cool in a lot of ways. We started out with a four hour drive from Sona Pani
to Khatkudam that most of us slept through because we had been staying up late
listening to music at the Sona Pani Music Festival all the previous nights.
Next, we boarded a sleeper train that would take us to Lucknow (arriving at
3:00 AM – yuck). Now, having been on a sleeper train in Europe I thought I knew
what to expect when we boarded, but India did not fail to surprise me once
again. The train was maximally packed with bunks. Down one side of the train
were back-to-back triple bunks that ran parallel to the alleyway. On the other
side were compartments that each held 6 bunks (3 on each side). I mean the word
“compartment” in a very loose sense. There wasn’t anything like a door or
curtain to separate it from the rest of the train, rather, the mere layout of
the train gave it a more compartment-like feel. I will have to upload a diagram
of what I mean because I know that description probably made very little sense
and the train was too cramped to be able to take a picture that captured the
dimensions of everything.
The next morning we departed the
sleeper train at 3 AMish (we were supposed to arrive at 2:20 but trains are
constantly arriving late to places) and we waited/slept for our next train in
an air-conditioned waiting room at Lucknow. There were tons of people sleeping
on the platform outside and we were really lucky that we all secured spots
inside the AC room. Even with the AC room being the one of the “highest class”
waiting rooms, there were rats scurrying around and darting under the sofa
chairs. At 6:30 we boarded the next train that would finally take us to
Varanasi.
Our
train departed from Platform 9, which for some weird reason was next to
Platform 1 and not next to Platform 8. The group didn’t read signs and so we
ended up on Platform 8 on the far opposite side of the train station. In the
USA this would mean that you would have to retrace your steps back up the
elevated walkway and to the correct platform, but in India you can just cut
across all the rail tracks to get to your intended destination. Luckily, there
weren’t any trains scheduled to arrive/depart
when we were clambering over the rails to get to the correct platform,
but it still was kind of exhilarating crossing the tracks and then launching
ourselves (weighed down by our packs, mind you) from the tracks up onto the 4
or 5 foot tall platform.
The
actual train ride was much less fun than our time at the station. I got a solid 6 hours of reading in to finish
A Fine Balance, but also didn’t get to eat much on the train and arrived
starving at the program house. The first day we walked along Assi Ghat and then
slept at the program house. This is the night that Stephen was attacked by
monkeys – a story that I would like to clear up for the parents/friends. The
whole thing is a mix of funny and scary, but I just want to stress that Stephen
is doing really well and that most of the medical attention he is receiving is
precautionary rather than because the doctors here actually think he has
rabies/simian b/etc. Additionally, I am relaying the story as it was told to me
by the boys who were actually present at the event – Chase, Jenny, and I were
all downstairs and unaware of what was going on besides hearing some shouting
from the roof.
Around
6 or 6:30 AM we all woke up and were entranced by the beauty of the sun rising
over the Ganges with people bathing on the ghats. The girls, being downstairs,
observed the scene from the downstairs of the program house where we had slept.
The boys, however, decided to take advantage of their position in the upstairs
portion and use the ladder on the porch to get to the roof to watch the sunrise
(well, most of the boys at least. Alex was sleeping when the monkey business
was occurring). So, Ben T, Ben P, and Stephen were all enjoying themselves
immensely on the roof until this one monkey comes and chucks a stick off the
roof to the porch. We had seen tons of monkeys in the Himalayas, and there you
merely wave your arms or yell and the monkeys flee. With this in mind, Ben T
did his famous “langoor scream” (langoors are a certain type of monkey) and
starts at the monkey to try to make it go away. Turns out city monkeys and
mountain monkeys are very different. At this gesture a whole multitude of
monkeys streamed onto the roof in a very aggressive fashion. Ben P quickly
scampered down the ladder to avoid the conflict and Ben T moved to defensively
swat away the onslaught of monkeys, but Stephen unfortunately had a monkey
attack his back, away from where Ben T/P could see that he needed help. Ben T
yelled at Ben P to throw the stick back up from the porch and quickly regained
control of the situation once he had that with him to shoo away the pests. The
“puncture wound” on Stephen’s back is mostly just a scratch. You can see the 5
points where the monkey’s nails first made contact with his skin and then lines
about an inch or two long of where it scratched him. Thankfully, this happened
at a time when Stephen won’t have to miss many activities for his trips to get
shots/pills at the clinic. Princeton and Dragons have both been handling the
situation exceptionally well and we are all very thankful for their support and
concern for everyone’s wellbeing. Needless to say, I don't think anyone is going to return to the rooftop.
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