…And what a welcome it was – a true guidebook introduction to the chaos that is India!
Feeling rather smug that we’d had a taste (albeit a diluted taste) of what India was going to be like by visiting Sri Lanka first, getting out of the airport and not seeing too many people we thought “this is going to be easy”, and then we found the road to the train station (yes, we thought we’d brave the train as soon as we landed!) Auto-rickshaw drivers were constantly pestering to take us for a ride, when we got to the ticket counter at the station everyone seemed to just push in from of us and then we got yelled at by the ticket man – obviously our pronunciation of ‘Kodambakkam’ just wasn’t up to scratch! Anyway, we got a ticket (10INR, about 10p! see money page for conversions) and headed to the platform, did a little jog and jump to get onto a moving train to spend the next half hour being stood on with armpits and elbows in faces – lovely! The fun really started when we got to out stop (we’d changed out mind and decided to get off at Mambalam, Thyagaraya nagar (T.Nagar) district) and tried to get off – people we piling on when there were still people wanting to get off – Matt managed to break free, I was stuck! Trying my hardest to elbow my way through but cautious of the small children trying to do the same, Matt decided to try and come back to get me only to get shouted at and shoved by a man who’d forced his way on and was blocking my path. As the train began to start moving again, I decided to take a leap of faith, I pushed as hard as I could and jumped off – I survived…adrenalin pumping! Getting out of the station was an equally stressful feat, literally shuffling out like cattle, it took half hour to walk 300m down a market lined street.
After a further hour and a half missioning through the crowds with our backpacks on we made it to Zama Lodge, the hostel we’d booked for 2 nights while we sorted out our escape route onwards plan from Chennai (Madras). Our tiny cell, secured with a huge padlock was bearable and although the fan made it feel like we were in a scientific aerodynamic wind tunnel testing facility, at least it was cool…until about 3am when the electricity failed! A tiny room, at least 25°C outside and no fan or light, I managed to cope until 4.50am when I started to feel really ill so Matt went down to reception to see what was going on, we got access to another room with 1 very small single bed and dirty bathroom but at least it had a working fan! We checked out as soon as we woke up!
After a quick look through our Lonely Planet guide book, we decided to check in to the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), lovely clean room with air conditioning and free breakfast (breakfast was still being served when we arrived to they let us have it then too!) Now we’re slightly more relaxed (and cool and clean!) and back on friendly terms with India, let’s see what this intriguing country has to offer…
