And for the time being, we shall refrain from trains.

Greetings from a very tired group that sits in a hotel that we got solely to shower and change clothes. It is now 2PM on Friday June 15th, I feel as if I have lost track of time. We left Wednesday evening around 7PM for New Delhi. What followed was an unforgettable 35 hours. If you want to get to know someone well, spend time together on a train. :)

The heat made all of our electronic devices die an early death. No blackberries, no iPods, no personal space. Let me back up.

We somehow got separated into 2 sections and we wanted to sit together to be able to easily communicate, so we tried negotiating with the people in both sections to switch. One section had older people who preferred to sleep on the lower berths so we couldn't begrudge them that. The other section had people who were... closely related to the anal region of the human body to put it mildly. Not only did they refuse, but they began to laugh at us and mock us.

Smitha and I worked hard talking to the porters and the military police to explain our situation. A young'un the age of 18 took interest in our plight and also began to advocate on our behalf. The rude men were convinced to an even trade of seats in a different section, and they surprisingly came up to us and shook our hands after the switch. Interesting.

And we gained a new friend. He often came over to our section to chat with us during our ride. Another friend that we made was Samir from Kashmir. At first, it was fun getting to know them and chatting and they seemed very interested in us and sign language as well as GRO. However, when we began to grow tired, sweaty, sticky, and hot, we got slightly annoyed at their insistence of cramming 4 or 5 people in a seat designed for 3. I guess we are all still getting used to to the whole difference in personal space. I am happy that we made some brew friends, we also met a little 12 year old boy who was from Tibet. He has speech problems, so he knew some BSL from a disabled school that he attended, consquently' he was fascinated with our signing.

Sleeping was an experience in itself, Bus, Wyatte, and I learned our lesson from our Bangalore train ride and we brought blankets this time. They almost weeby necessary though because the ride was so hot, punctuated only by brief spells of rain. Needless to say, we all feel like survivors.

We are treating ourselves at Pizza Hut before Vai's dinner at 7. They don't have any meatlover's though, wow, I never thought I would be the first to say that I miss meat, especially beef.

I bid you all a fond adieu for now.
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