Travel Stories

February 5, Jodhpur, India, by Xerxes Marduk

Part 1

As the train rolled slowly into the Jaipur train station I walked along following the crowd towards the end of the platform, realizing that when the train came to a stop it would only occupy the last quarter of the platform. While the train was still moving at a fairly good pace people were jumping on to it, grabbing a hold of whatever they could, sometimes even hanging on to others already jammed into the door ways of the train carriages. I wondered if this is what I would have to do to get on, but luckily the train did come to a complete stop. Not knowing how long it would remain stationary for I hoped on the nearest carriage I could. I pushed my way through heaving Indian crowds, and frequent traffic jams, through six carriages to reach my seat.

Once I sat down I asked the man across from me if my "reserved" seat meant it was really reserved. No, sit anywhere. He told me. I had already guessed as much by looking around me. "From where do you come?" He asked me in slightly accented English. He guessed I was from Australia, I get that here a lot here. As we talked I found out he was a businessman born in Jaipur who lived with his infirm mother and had a wife and kids.

As the sun set in a fiery orb the train sped through the largest salt lake in India, it was colored purple and red by the setting sun. Shortly more people sat down on the bench next to me. A 14-year-old girl named Pooja who looked 19, her mother, father, and 7 year old brother named Vishnu all started talking to me at once. After I asked their names and ages the first man I had been speaking with said it was very rude to ask the age of a women, though when I said sorry we all laughed about it.

The peoples attitude was one of intense curiosity. Intense because for most of the five hour train ride they kept me talking with a stream of questions. Curiosity because I think I shook hands with most of the people on my carriage at some point as they all came to meet the foreigner. They were also extremely friendly, unbelievable so. More friendly in their own way than any other people in any other country I have even been to. They provided me with endless cups of chi tea and a bewildering array of snacks and food to try. The man said they would never never never accept money from me for these things. It got to the point where I couldn't eat any more and started putting the plastic wrapped food parcels in my backpack for later consumption.

After telling them I was from California some of them thought it was a place in Europe while others thought was its own country. But they all liked the idea that my mom grew up in Hollywood and knew movie stars. I showed them a card trick I had learned a few days earlier on a different train and they were so thrilled that I could do magic that huge crowds gathered and demanded, in the nicest way imaginable, but still leaving no doubt that I would do it, that I give repeat performances. The seven-year-old boy Vishnu showed me a constant stream of card tricks that ranged from the simple to the amazing.

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