I just spent a lot of time telling you all about the great adventure of getting here to Dehradun, my current state of jet lag, etc. only to loose it. I just hate that, and it has taken the wind out of my sails! So, I am going to take a break and try again later! What I really need is a nap! It is 3 p.m., and I have been up for 11 hours and awake for almost 14! I wish I knew how to retrieve that which I have lost. Maybe something will come to me!
It's now 3:45, and I am up from my unsuccessful attempt at a nap! My brain just won't turn off, the adrenaline is pumping, and the construction going on next door, right outside my window, isn't helping at all!
I simply cannot retrieve my narrative on yesterday's journey, so here goes another version of it . . .
The timetable . . .
5:00 . . . a knock at the door of my room, my wake up call . . . a waiter with a cup of coffee
5:45 . . . I roll my suitcases to the elevator, something that wasn't in the building when last I stayed there 13 years ago . . . and successfully get myself, and my luggage, downstairs. The taxi, ordered for 6:00 is waiting for me. Luggage loaded, RR station nearby, no traffic . . .
6:15 . . . surrounded by coolies at the New Delhi train station!!! I am definitely getting soft in my old age . . . let two coolies talk me into letting them take my two pieces of luggage, which admittedly were heavy, to Platform 16 for a greatly inflated price!!! Their argument . . . it is the last platform, you have to use the bridge to get across all of the other tracks, your seat is in the first car of the train so we have to walk a long way . . . on and on . . . I didn't feel like haggling, and I do have white skin, what's a girl to do!!!???
What I didn't know is that in the last couple of months an elevator has been installed at the station which makes using that bridge much easier than it used to be! And, what the coolie with the really heavy suitcase didn't realize is that a four wheel roller suitcase is really easy once you are on the flat platform!!! Of course, they did wait with me for the train to pull in, and they did get my luggage situated nicely above my seat. But, in the 'rush' to get onto the train with all of the other coolies, one of my shoes got knocked off and fell in the 'gap' between the train and the platform onto the tracks! Needless to say, I was upset and was wondering how I was going to retrieve a pair of shoes out of my locked suitcases nicely placed over my seat. Well, the smaller coolie jumped into action and got my shoe for me, I don't know how, but I was very grateful . . . maybe he really did deserve that inflated price for his work!!!
6:45 . . . the train pulls out of the station on time, if my memory serves me correctly, and the service begins!!! I am in a First Class compartment because of the big suitcase . . . there is more space for luggage in that compartment, I get a Sr. Citizen discount, and the dollar is very strong currently against the rupee. You get your breakfast in stages . . . first, the large bottle of mineral water, then lassi in a box . . . a little sweet for my taste, tea, followed by cereal, then your 'main course'. I chose omlette over veg cutlet, and finish that off with coffee or tea! Each 'course' is cleared before the next one is served, and because you are in 1st Class, you get china and silverware! Jai Hind!!!
The rest of the trip was fairly quiet with the exception of somebody's 'mobile', as they are called here, going off regularly, and a man somewhere behind me that snored like a freight train!!! The man in the seat next to me never said a word, nor did he eat anything. He did fall asleep, but fortunately for me didn't even have labored breathing! I worked on my 1 John study, read several things, and played a few games.
Though we were a little late getting in, Mr. Sahu who is the property manager here at GA was waiting on the platform, came in and dealt with the coolie, got us successfully into the GA Jeep, successfully steered the vehicle though the too many cars, not enough concrete part of the journey home. Sudeepta Newton was waiting lunch for me along with her handsome son Sammy, now a student in Grade 12! He wasn't taller that I am when last I saw him!!! My luggage was taken to my new home away from home . . . the guest flat at GA. I never lifted a finger! I had 20 copies of Hanna's book shipped to me from OM Books in Hyderabad. They published it here so that it can be sold in the developing world at affordable prices! Thank you George Verwer, for making it possible for me to get some of these to give as gifts!
It's now 3:45, and I am up from my unsuccessful attempt at a nap! My brain just won't turn off, the adrenaline is pumping, and the construction going on next door, right outside my window, isn't helping at all!
I simply cannot retrieve my narrative on yesterday's journey, so here goes another version of it . . .
The timetable . . .
5:00 . . . a knock at the door of my room, my wake up call . . . a waiter with a cup of coffee
5:45 . . . I roll my suitcases to the elevator, something that wasn't in the building when last I stayed there 13 years ago . . . and successfully get myself, and my luggage, downstairs. The taxi, ordered for 6:00 is waiting for me. Luggage loaded, RR station nearby, no traffic . . .
6:15 . . . surrounded by coolies at the New Delhi train station!!! I am definitely getting soft in my old age . . . let two coolies talk me into letting them take my two pieces of luggage, which admittedly were heavy, to Platform 16 for a greatly inflated price!!! Their argument . . . it is the last platform, you have to use the bridge to get across all of the other tracks, your seat is in the first car of the train so we have to walk a long way . . . on and on . . . I didn't feel like haggling, and I do have white skin, what's a girl to do!!!???
What I didn't know is that in the last couple of months an elevator has been installed at the station which makes using that bridge much easier than it used to be! And, what the coolie with the really heavy suitcase didn't realize is that a four wheel roller suitcase is really easy once you are on the flat platform!!! Of course, they did wait with me for the train to pull in, and they did get my luggage situated nicely above my seat. But, in the 'rush' to get onto the train with all of the other coolies, one of my shoes got knocked off and fell in the 'gap' between the train and the platform onto the tracks! Needless to say, I was upset and was wondering how I was going to retrieve a pair of shoes out of my locked suitcases nicely placed over my seat. Well, the smaller coolie jumped into action and got my shoe for me, I don't know how, but I was very grateful . . . maybe he really did deserve that inflated price for his work!!!
6:45 . . . the train pulls out of the station on time, if my memory serves me correctly, and the service begins!!! I am in a First Class compartment because of the big suitcase . . . there is more space for luggage in that compartment, I get a Sr. Citizen discount, and the dollar is very strong currently against the rupee. You get your breakfast in stages . . . first, the large bottle of mineral water, then lassi in a box . . . a little sweet for my taste, tea, followed by cereal, then your 'main course'. I chose omlette over veg cutlet, and finish that off with coffee or tea! Each 'course' is cleared before the next one is served, and because you are in 1st Class, you get china and silverware! Jai Hind!!!
The rest of the trip was fairly quiet with the exception of somebody's 'mobile', as they are called here, going off regularly, and a man somewhere behind me that snored like a freight train!!! The man in the seat next to me never said a word, nor did he eat anything. He did fall asleep, but fortunately for me didn't even have labored breathing! I worked on my 1 John study, read several things, and played a few games.
Though we were a little late getting in, Mr. Sahu who is the property manager here at GA was waiting on the platform, came in and dealt with the coolie, got us successfully into the GA Jeep, successfully steered the vehicle though the too many cars, not enough concrete part of the journey home. Sudeepta Newton was waiting lunch for me along with her handsome son Sammy, now a student in Grade 12! He wasn't taller that I am when last I saw him!!! My luggage was taken to my new home away from home . . . the guest flat at GA. I never lifted a finger! I had 20 copies of Hanna's book shipped to me from OM Books in Hyderabad. They published it here so that it can be sold in the developing world at affordable prices! Thank you George Verwer, for making it possible for me to get some of these to give as gifts!
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