India is huge. It is half the size of the United States with twice the population. The roads are comparable to what the United States had back in the 1950s before the interstate highway system. Getting around in India took a long time even before COVID-19.
Getting around in the middle of a pandemic is extremely challenging.
No one on the buses wear masks. Most of the buses are not air conditioned. The buses have no glass in the windows or else they leave the windows open to provide some minimal ventilation. If I tried to take a long distance bus, I would probably contract COVID-19 or get heat prostration, or both. Bad!
Many domestic flights have been canceled due to COVID-19. I’m not overly thrilled about the domestic Indian airlines. If I did take a domestic flight, I would be seeing airports not the people and scenery of India.
India has the world’s largest and most heavily traveled train network in the world. Except! Most long distance trains have been canceled due to the pandemic. Most of the few trains still running do not have air conditioning, just huge fans and open windows with no glass.
Before leaving home three weeks ago, I had tried to plan one more exciting adventure. I had wanted to visit a Hill Station. Before the invention of air conditioning, the British built cities at high altitude to escape the summer heat. That seemed like a good place for me to escape the heat, too.
I had wanted to visit Goa. It’s the one state in India that is largely Catholic and speaks mostly Portuguese. The Portuguese invaded Goa in 1510 and ruled it for about 450 years.
I wanted to visit Kerala. Kerala is the southernmost state in India. It is famous for its tranquil backwaters and unspoiled beaches. It is also famous for its houseboats, tea plantations, and eco-touri.
I wasn’t able to find any way to visit any of these places. At least not without spending all of my time traveling without leaving time to actually visit and without leaving spare time for contingencies.
Even with my home computer, easy internet access plus friends and family who live in India, I could not find any way to add another adventure to my trip.
So, I had decided not to decide. I would wing it once I got here.
Well now I’m here and have to decide.
I checked the trains heading back East toward Chennai. None! I couldn’t tell if they had been booked solid or weren’t running. None were available that had any air conditioned cars.
The only option I could find was a train to Tirupati in two days. It had one AC2 car. In India, an AC2 car is air conditioned with six bays (no cabins or interior doors). There are six berths per bay. (An AC1 car is much better but very few trains have them, certainly none out here far from any large cities.)
That would put me much closer to Chennai where my plane tickets would take me back to Dubai. I’d figure out how to get the rest of the way to Chennai once I reached Tirupati.
I knew that they no longer provided pillows and blankets on night trains due to COVID-19. Anticipating this problem, I had packed a pillowcase and the silk sleeping bag liner that I had bought in Vietnam. They pack down to almost nothing. I could stuff the pillowcase with clothes. The thin silk sleeping bag liner would be more than enough for the hot nights here even if the air conditioning was at full blast.
My friend Nikhil, from the hotel in Hampi, called me and said he would pick me up in his family car and drive me to the train station. I said that the train station was close and I could easily find a tuktuk. He insisted.
So, we agreed he would meet me at my hotel one hour before my train would arrive. That would leave plenty of time to spare.
At 9 pm, I checked out of my hotel. Again I had paid for the night even though I wouldn’t be staying there. I needed the AC!
I waited on the steps of the hotel. And waited. Eventually I became concerned and called him. He said my train was delayed 45 minutes. He would come at 9:30, more than an hour before my train was due.
I waited until 9:30 and waited. Still no Nikhil.
I called him again. He said he was at the train station. My train was still delayed. I said I was nervous here and would rather wait at the train station. He said he would be right over, which he was.
But he arrived on his motorcycle not a car!
I frowned. He said we could leave his motorcycle there and take a tuktuk. That didn’t make much sense to me.
I surprised him by converting my rolling suitcase to a backpack and mounted the rear of his motorcycle. We rode to the train station.
Still no train. Lots of people lying on the floor of the station resting.
Nikhil and I chatted for an hour. He said he had met many tourists while working at the hotel but never one like me. I assured him that he was not likely to ever again meet someone like me ’cause there ain’t many people like me in the world. I had him Google the word “eccentric”. We agreed that was a good description for me.
The train finally arrived around midnight, nearly two hours late. He walked with me past the 10 (not air conditioned) Sleeper cars to my AC2 car. He waved to me through the window as my train pulled out.
When I got to the berth that would be my bed for the night, someone was already there. A women and her small child.
A gentleman, presumably the father asked if I could take the upper bunk. It was pretty obvious that both parents had been assigned upper bunks and were afraid that the small child would fall.
I checked out the ladder. It was secure and easy enough for this old senior citizen to manage.
I agreed, threw my suitcase up, and climbed the ladder.
No one on this train was wearing a mask, even though the signs everywhere said that masks were required. I was going to be spending 8 hours at less than 6′ from strangers not wearing their masks.
I was wearing my best mask, an N95. I hung my ionizer around my neck. It causes any tiny particles of water to stick to my mask or anything it comes into contact with before it reaches my lungs. Best I could do.
I now had to confront my next problem. I had booked my ticket through to Renigunta Junction, a large train station just outside of Tirupati. I had feared not waking up in time to jump off the train in the middle of the night. These trains only stop for two minutes. The sign with the station name is often hard to find. With the train running so late, I had no idea what time it would arrive.
When I booked my ticket, I hadn’t realized that this particular train went one stop further and ended in downtown Tirupati, much closer to my next hotel. Since it would be the last stop for this train, there would be no possibility of missing my stop.
My formed a plan to beg with the TTE (Train Ticket Examiner) when he came around. I would ask to pay the difference to be allowed to stay on the train.
I saw someone in uniform with a stack of computer printouts. I guessed he was the TTE. But, he never asked anyone to show him their tickets. The train was nearly fully booked and no one was arguing that someone had taken their seat. The TTE probably figured that there was no point in waking anybody up since there was very little chance that there was anyone without a ticket.
I went to sleep and slept pretty well. I was awake when we passed my station and stayed on one extra stop. Without paying! The ticket cost 1,000 rupees. That extra stop would have been about 50 rupees more. I have now cheated the Indian railway system by about 80 cents!
