My train ride was somewhat better in that they give you sheets and a blanky and a pillow that is reminiscent of a pancake...I don't understand the comfort. Anyways, as I get on the train now I just say as I place my backpack down that I want to lay down. There was a young man on my berth and he says - Now? I say yes. He gets up and moves across and then tries to make conversation with me. He wants to know where I am from and we make some small talk and then he says that he has a wife that is coming who is taking the top berth.
He fusses about and makes noise well past 11 pm and I'm getting a little flustered. I finally settle down and don't you know she must have come on another station but she comes with a child and now they need to settle into the bunk above. He is fussing about and just so you know this isn't done in whispers...(I don't think that word exists in the Indian vocabulary) this goes on for 1/2 an hour and now my patience is clearly past the point of return. He has the curtains going back and forth and then I take the curtains and place them back. He says to me 2 minutes...I say probably more like 5 but thanks..... This continues for a 10 minutes when I finally say "Go away!"....he does.....thank goodness.
Now here is the time to say that I don't know if it is the horns all the time but are all Indians deaf? Do they have to shout all the time? Or is it me? You are on a train and it is one in the morning. The guy in the next berth gets a call and he takes it. Does he speak in a whisper, nah uh. WTF????
I think as westerners and Europeans for the most part that we are polite. I am learning to be just a little less polite. I still say please and thank you and for good measure I raise my voice every once in a while and push back in the bus and train stations and tell them to back up. It gets a little of my space issues back in line.
Well, my stay in Mysore was a bit of an ego boost, I guess.
I was invited to stay with a CS young man of 25, named Summath. He had a professional profile with good English and one negative comment.
I had arranged with him to take a pre-paid auto rickshaw to his place and arrived at the Mysore Mall at approximately 1/2 an hour after the train arrived. I was about to phone him when he called me. I didn't notice at the time but it wasn't the same phone number as what he had originally given me. He said he would come out and meet me as his apartment was close by. I waited and then he came to the street and waved at me and I followed him to his house.
It was in fact very close to the mall. I brought my stuff in and he said that I could put my stuff in the living area. I asked if I could use the bathroom. I have this conversation with all my hosts and that is that CS seems to have turned into a dating site. I am not interested in dating but I am looking forward to an authentic CS experience. All my hosts know exactly what I am outlining when I say this....
Now for all you guys that are unaware there are probably two things that a lot of ladies look at and that is the state of the bathroom and the kitchen.
Well, I've seen bathrooms that are worse (Hampi) and so I figured well with a little cleaner and some of my own elbow grease I could be happy. (there are two bachelors here...Indian bachelors I might add).But the thing is that the Indian people I get the impression, look down on you when you do any kind of cleaning. It may be that they think it's an affront on their hosting, or that you are now considered the cleaning lady which then puts you in a different class than them. I haven't quite figured that one out, and maybe I need to ask. But they always say no, no let the cleaning lady do that but...where is the cleaning lady...???
Anyway, here is a picture of Summath:
Now, he was very attentive, calling me beautiful etc., and saying I needed to loosen up. I am thinking is he a player??? Usually when guys play on me like that I back off. I am not being suggestive in any way. He takes me to this ashram (above) and then we head back to his place. He says he has to work out, and we will have dinner later. All the while each time I am left with the bill. Now I need you to know that I don't mind and often ask to pay the bill, or offer to take my host out for a meal, but it is always denied. In this case he says no, but I still am paying the bill....hmmmm.
So we go out that evening and he says he's a foody. From what I see in his kitchen I don't really know that the represents to him. but just wait....
So we go out to the Chamundi Hill and there is a very nice temple there. We wander around and he buys me a trinket...hmmm. I am clearly on my guard. He then visits the temple and does his prayers. Then we leave on his motorcycle and he grabs my hands and places them around his waist. I am thinking...hmmm. He takes me to a hotel restaurant and orders drinks. Well as you may know from my Turkish experience I am very cautious about drinking with the men that I meet in my travels. I have one drink and then he says that he wants to ask me 5 questions and I can do the same afterward. I say okay! So he starts with a couple no brainers and then he gets into the nitty gritty. He asks me if size matters and if sex is important to me. Yup, HERE we go!
I tell him I'm celibate. I don't think he knows what to do with that. Do I care, not really. I try to enjoy the rest of the meal.
The next day I go to the Mysore Palace. What a beautiful place. I get caught taking pictures inside the palace where the guards only blow their whistle at you and shout put the camera away.
I go over to a private area and sit under a tree watching the elephants that they have chained up there. Another woman comes over. I find out her name is Naomi and that she is from the UK. We start to exchange information and I explain my past CS experiences versus my present one and she says that the guy that she happens to be travelling with has asked the Indian guys what's with the young guys and the older women and they said quite directly to him they use them as an ATM.
GOT IT!! Just needed to confirm it!
So to fast forward to that afternoon when I go to the market and as I decide to make my own food in his kitchen he realizes that I am not interested in paying for the bill anymore and he does this pouty thing. I am thinking it is time for me to push off and go to Ooty when he comes home that night and says casually that his cousins are coming into town. He says I don't have to leave...oh, yes I do. The past two nights I haven't been feeling well and I've told him the same. He is now saying that there is something smelling in the room and could it be my socks. I say to him NO! I am definitely getting it. (I do my laundry every other day....yeah, it's not me smelling brother!)
That night I don't even go out to eat in the evening because I am not feeling well and although he offers to make a rice meal to share I say I am not hungry, and I'm not feeling well. He leaves me to sleep through the night and then in the morning I start to pack and he says that I don't need to leave until tonight...yeah, no.
I tell him I will figure it out and I leave and head to the bus station where I get on the first bus going to Ooty.
I really, really like this place.
I am staying at the YWCA in Ooty and it is my first contact with the tourist scene other than Hampi while in India. It's been a lot of fun catching up with some of the other travellers and exchanging information.
Ooty is COLD at night, but I have my emergency blanket with me and I've asked for a couple more blankets. But it is a great place to stay and I am planning my route back to Mysore and then Bangalore on Tuesday night as I fly to the Maldives.....Ah, that will be so much fun. A vacation from my vacation.
He fusses about and makes noise well past 11 pm and I'm getting a little flustered. I finally settle down and don't you know she must have come on another station but she comes with a child and now they need to settle into the bunk above. He is fussing about and just so you know this isn't done in whispers...(I don't think that word exists in the Indian vocabulary) this goes on for 1/2 an hour and now my patience is clearly past the point of return. He has the curtains going back and forth and then I take the curtains and place them back. He says to me 2 minutes...I say probably more like 5 but thanks..... This continues for a 10 minutes when I finally say "Go away!"....he does.....thank goodness.
Now here is the time to say that I don't know if it is the horns all the time but are all Indians deaf? Do they have to shout all the time? Or is it me? You are on a train and it is one in the morning. The guy in the next berth gets a call and he takes it. Does he speak in a whisper, nah uh. WTF????
I think as westerners and Europeans for the most part that we are polite. I am learning to be just a little less polite. I still say please and thank you and for good measure I raise my voice every once in a while and push back in the bus and train stations and tell them to back up. It gets a little of my space issues back in line.
Well, my stay in Mysore was a bit of an ego boost, I guess.
I was invited to stay with a CS young man of 25, named Summath. He had a professional profile with good English and one negative comment.
I had arranged with him to take a pre-paid auto rickshaw to his place and arrived at the Mysore Mall at approximately 1/2 an hour after the train arrived. I was about to phone him when he called me. I didn't notice at the time but it wasn't the same phone number as what he had originally given me. He said he would come out and meet me as his apartment was close by. I waited and then he came to the street and waved at me and I followed him to his house.
It was in fact very close to the mall. I brought my stuff in and he said that I could put my stuff in the living area. I asked if I could use the bathroom. I have this conversation with all my hosts and that is that CS seems to have turned into a dating site. I am not interested in dating but I am looking forward to an authentic CS experience. All my hosts know exactly what I am outlining when I say this....
Now for all you guys that are unaware there are probably two things that a lot of ladies look at and that is the state of the bathroom and the kitchen.
Well, I've seen bathrooms that are worse (Hampi) and so I figured well with a little cleaner and some of my own elbow grease I could be happy. (there are two bachelors here...Indian bachelors I might add).But the thing is that the Indian people I get the impression, look down on you when you do any kind of cleaning. It may be that they think it's an affront on their hosting, or that you are now considered the cleaning lady which then puts you in a different class than them. I haven't quite figured that one out, and maybe I need to ask. But they always say no, no let the cleaning lady do that but...where is the cleaning lady...???
Anyway, here is a picture of Summath:
 |
| Summath in the bonsai gardens Mysore |
So we go out that evening and he says he's a foody. From what I see in his kitchen I don't really know that the represents to him. but just wait....
So we go out to the Chamundi Hill and there is a very nice temple there. We wander around and he buys me a trinket...hmmm. I am clearly on my guard. He then visits the temple and does his prayers. Then we leave on his motorcycle and he grabs my hands and places them around his waist. I am thinking...hmmm. He takes me to a hotel restaurant and orders drinks. Well as you may know from my Turkish experience I am very cautious about drinking with the men that I meet in my travels. I have one drink and then he says that he wants to ask me 5 questions and I can do the same afterward. I say okay! So he starts with a couple no brainers and then he gets into the nitty gritty. He asks me if size matters and if sex is important to me. Yup, HERE we go!
I tell him I'm celibate. I don't think he knows what to do with that. Do I care, not really. I try to enjoy the rest of the meal.
The next day I go to the Mysore Palace. What a beautiful place. I get caught taking pictures inside the palace where the guards only blow their whistle at you and shout put the camera away.
I go over to a private area and sit under a tree watching the elephants that they have chained up there. Another woman comes over. I find out her name is Naomi and that she is from the UK. We start to exchange information and I explain my past CS experiences versus my present one and she says that the guy that she happens to be travelling with has asked the Indian guys what's with the young guys and the older women and they said quite directly to him they use them as an ATM.
GOT IT!! Just needed to confirm it!
So to fast forward to that afternoon when I go to the market and as I decide to make my own food in his kitchen he realizes that I am not interested in paying for the bill anymore and he does this pouty thing. I am thinking it is time for me to push off and go to Ooty when he comes home that night and says casually that his cousins are coming into town. He says I don't have to leave...oh, yes I do. The past two nights I haven't been feeling well and I've told him the same. He is now saying that there is something smelling in the room and could it be my socks. I say to him NO! I am definitely getting it. (I do my laundry every other day....yeah, it's not me smelling brother!)
That night I don't even go out to eat in the evening because I am not feeling well and although he offers to make a rice meal to share I say I am not hungry, and I'm not feeling well. He leaves me to sleep through the night and then in the morning I start to pack and he says that I don't need to leave until tonight...yeah, no.
I tell him I will figure it out and I leave and head to the bus station where I get on the first bus going to Ooty.
I really, really like this place.
 |
| YWCA in Ooty |
Ooty is COLD at night, but I have my emergency blanket with me and I've asked for a couple more blankets. But it is a great place to stay and I am planning my route back to Mysore and then Bangalore on Tuesday night as I fly to the Maldives.....Ah, that will be so much fun. A vacation from my vacation.
