Manmad Junction

"May I have your attention please," the announcement invaded my sleepy-dream world, "train #---- something-or-other mail train is arriving shortly on platform 2." I groaned...did it have to be platform 2? Why not one that was farther away?

I drifted off to deeper sleep, only to be jarred awake by the blaring horn and thunder of the wheels. I poked my head out from under my sheet and felt the dusty gust of wind on my face.

I checked my watch - 3am. 1 hour done, 2 to go. I glanced around the platform. It was speckled with people neaty tucked away under their dirty, faded blankets. Joe, Josiah and I must have looked oddly out of place hiding under our bright, clean blue sheets. Amazingly they did well in protecting us from mosquito bites.

The "Mumbai - Vnsi Express" arrived on time and carried us to our destination. Josiah and I took the toasty-warm top bunks (no a/c) and slept till 1pm. Drenched in sweat, we read, talked, and snacked on sandwiches (thanks Tiff + Carrie for teaching M to make peanut butter).

Around 4 I mentioned the need for dinner. Joe asked, "can't we just go out to eat tonight?" That's when he received the devastating information that we would be on the train till 5am the following morning, not 5pm. Yep, we were only half way to Vnsi...

After another sleep-deprived night, we arrived safely and got a taxi to our guest house. Back in October, when we planed the trip, I was supposed to take a group to Vnsi for 6 weeks, but plans changed and we combined with the group going to A-bad. If we hadn't combined, it would have been me and 4 guys here. Oddly enough I'm staying at the guest house where we would have stayed, and it's me and 2 guys. 


Sunday afternoon, in our search for a book store, Josiah and I gave Joe a tour of Vnsi and the Ghats... which apparently I never blogged about, when we were here in January...

Vnsi is the first place in India that I've been to 3 times (except for Delhi since we fly in and out of there). So Vnsi is starting to feel rather homey, returning again to a familiar place with people I know. I pick the most convenient times to come visit - crashing an Indian wedding, and then yesterday at the staff meeting they celebrated March birthdays, so I got fed cake. Today I will go visit Hindi language camp. Sounds like fun to me!