Madras - Delhi: 40 hours in the train … !

I took the train on Sunday at 10PM. It was so hot when I left Madras; I was trickling. I asked help from a coolie to help me carry my 50 kg of luggage into the train … (I know I have a slight “overweight” problem, … will see how I’ll manage to get to Phnom Penh with a 20 kg luggage allowance. I checked with the airplane company but it is not possible to use the 5 kg I lost in the past 2 months to balance the luggage overweight … ;-))
The two nights I spent in the train went well despite the noise of the A/C system. I was sharing the compartment with an aged couple of Indians from Andra Pradesh and a young student from North India.
I spent the day in between reading, sleeping, listening to music, chatting with a French woman on her way back from Madras (after a 2 months workshop of Baratha Natyam) and watching the scenery through the open door at the end of the coach: very flat, very green, very wild !
We should have arrived Tuesday morning at 7h30AM, but we got an extra 6 hours ride for free … ! Those last hours were a bit too much though … 34 hours travelling would have been enough !
I was a bit anxious about the arrival in the train station of Delhi, a bit afraid of getting surrounded by hundreds of people, but actually, it went very fine !

I am staying at Joséphine’s hotel in Delhi since she has just arrived and hasn’t found an apartment where to live yet. It happens to be a five stars hotel … I can hardly describe to you the shock when I arrived in such hotel after my experience in Pondicherry. I just felt I was on a different planet, at a different time, definitely not in the same country !
India and its contrasts … don’t know if I can ever get used to that. A 8 years old girl dressed with rags with a baby in her arms begging at the corner of the street of the hotel where we have the choice between a luxury jacuzzi, sauna or outdoor swimming-pool … The coffee costs here 70 times more than the one in the street. Actually, I could feel here much more than in Pondicherry the co-existence of two parallel worlds: the one of the standard Indian people and the one of the expatriates and rich Indians living in their own areas, shopping in their owns shopping areas, going out in their own entertainment places.

First day in Delhi: slow start 11AM. It is raining …. I visit the Parliament and the India Door …still raining. I go to the National Museum of Modern Art without much expectations: I loved it ! So many beautiful paintings ! Almost all from Indian artists. It gave me again a real urge to paint ! I’ll do it one of these coming days …
Day two in Delhi: slow start again, I am starting to enjoy being in such luxury environment, it gives me the feeling to be back in Europe for a few days !

Bye Bye Pondicherry !!!

Sunday the 22nd of August 2004, I left Pondicherry after 4 months spent in this magic place … It feels I have been there for ages: I met so many people, discovered so many new things, went through so many different feelings …
Bye bye Anna, Chandra, Lakshmi, Cecilia , Ponny, Tamil Selvi, Govindha, Isabelle, Laurent, Emmanuel, Fanny, Jayanthi, Christober Nelson, Dharani, Vetri, Ramesh, Gerard, Kaladevi, Chandra 2, Suryia, Aurovici, Monna, Anjelai, Shanti, Serge, Louisa, Boomi, Mageshwari, Flory, Fabien, Coralie, Thomas, Vairam, Deisy, Vengatason, Jennifer, Sonia, Joy and all the other nice people I met there. I hope to see you again ! I’ll miss U all !!!

Today, I had the pleasure to be present at the wedding of my friend Chandra. The traditionnal tamil wedding celebration was first held at the temple then in the garden of her mother's house at Quiet, a beautiful place near the sea. (Around the groom and the bride's neck, necklaces made of jasmin and rose flowers).

BARATHANATYIAM : traditionnal danse of Tamil Nadu accompanied with carnatic music. I went to 2 shows in the past 2 weeks, one with the family of Cecilia, a 15-years old tamil girl living in Kuruchikupam (Pondy's suburb) and one with Caroline and Marie who are visiting me for 2 weeks: MY FIRST 2 VISITORS !!!!

My friend Chandra during our visit to the beach near Ariankuppam

The father and daughter of Tamil Selvi, the teacher of the kindergarten in Angallakuppam

*** Phnom Penh ***

After weeks of hesitation between different destinations (Kazakhstan, Uganda, Tanzanie, South Africa, Bangladesh), I FINALLY took my decision: I am going to Cambodia !!! ;-)

Since the beginning of the planning of my trip I really wanted to get in this area for a few months, and since VSO will very probably send me to Africa, this was for me the last opportunity of the sabbatical to visit and live for a while in the ex-Indochina.

Thanks to a friend, I made some contacts over there and will go to Phnom Penh on the 6th of September (after 10 days spent in Delhi to visit Joséphine).
What I will do there is not yet defined ... I'll let you know in my next letter ... !

Take care
@leX