Darjeeling-Varkala

Two and a half days on a train. From the Himalayas in the north to the southern most metropolis of Thiruvananthapuram in "God's Own Country"- the state of Kerala. We rode in the highest class birth- 2 tier AC Sleeper. And the AC was a blessing. After Kolkata the heat was on. Sneaking off to the corridor between train cars and out of the airconditioning the heat was a fat man's sweaty bare chested bear hug, and he doesnt let go.  He is putting me in a head lock right now. From numb fingered typing in Darjeeling to my sweaty thighs on a plastic lawn chair typing here in Varkala. I'll take it all with a smile. And a belly full of fish curry. 

So I mentioned looking at this trip as outside the convention of vacation. Well, I'm a lier. Gretch and I are now on our vacation. We've been laying on the beach for hours daily since we got here 4 days ago. With the Germans, the Russians, The Swedish, and all the other privledged people representing the Western world. God bless Us! And he did- through the teachings and preachings an evangelizings of our train birth mate on our two and half day train ride- Johnson- first name Johnson. 

Johnson had a great big Orthadox beard. Like a black man fronting a ZZ-Top cover band. His speech was monotone, never straying from a neutral emotive state. Although he did smile from time to time. When we entered our birth I first took him as a Mohomadan. I was realeaved that he wasn't. He soon introduced himself as a pastor. I asked if he was of the Syrian Orthadox faith (which has been alive in Kerala since the deciple Thomas landed here around AD 50- soon to be martyred in Chennai). He smiled and said at one time yes he was but now he was more of the evangelical flair. Fair enough I added. Johnson was nice enough to share much of his food with us. We arrived on the train ill prepared but knowledgeable to the vast supply of anything and everything available between staitions and on the train. 

Our train arrived in Thiruvananthapuram around 1130 pm. The plan was to get a hotel and head off to Varkala (an hour bus ride) in the morning. There were dozens of hotels around the train station. The train station and surrounding area of Thiruvananthapuram were very pleasant. It was night and day compared to the slums and decay of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north. But nobody wanted to give us a room. After a dozen hotel refusals, it was around 1 n the morning and we said screw it. We stayed in the trainstaion and took the first bus to the beach at 6 in the morning. AHHHHH! Got to go, I hear the waves crashing. Need a dip.