A not so brief synopsis

It is hard to write after it has been so long. The things that happen begin to pile up. The longer I wait the harder it is. So in order to get it all out of the way I will give just a brief synopsis of the most interesting. After that bus ride from Nepal, which still stands out as one of the more memorable moments, I did make it to Darjeeling and spent about a week there in the clouds. Darjeeling is an old hill station located in the northernmost part of West Bengal and is at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. I spent about a week there just wandering around the twisty narrow streets as always there was a festival going on and so I got to see more parades and celebrations. It was interesting to be so high up for so long. I spent my days wandering around the city getting lost among the twisting streets and steep staircases. At certain parts of the city you can walk along what seems to be a flattened out ridge where you can see the city hanging onto the mountain below on one side, then walk to the other side of the street and see down a steep carpeted valley before more mountains jut up into the sky. After about a week I have had enough and with much difficulty manage to book a train to Delhi. On the morning of my trip I am supposed to take a share jeep down the mountain to the city where the train station is but as always there seems to be a snag in that plan. Time is short and as my jeep never materializes I begin to yell at the man who booked my ticket. This is not something I would normally have done but since being in India I have realized that yelling and arguing is a staple in everyday life. And it does seem to help move things along. In the end I have to fork out an extra seven hundred rupees to book a private car which is aggravating and probably the booking agents plan all along.

The train ride to Delhi was a little over thirty hours long but this time I booked an AC sleeper car and can lay down in my own space whenever I fell like it. It was a luxurious trip and there is again the feeling of comradery with the other passenger on this long trip. I watch the sun go down then rise then go down again as the country side speeds by and then I am in Delhi. By this time I have less that a week before I leave from Mumbai and am a bit anxious about getting back. I decide to stay the night in Delhi rather than going directly to the airport and flying strait to Mumbai. I make my way to the regular backpackers hangout, which happens to be in the seedy underbelly of the city, via bike-shaw. Along the way we have to make several detours. The dark streets frequently get jammed. In the back of this bike pulled cart, amidst all the exhaustion, the noise and smells, fireworks exploding in the air, I really start to enjoy myself. It is as if I can see myself from a distance with all this stuff going on and it all seems slightly absurd but very amusing.

I book my plane ticket that night and by afternoon of the next day I find myself back in Mumbai. Ready to head home. I spend the next few days doing random touristy things like going on boat rides around the harbor and buying souvenirs. On the second to last day I am walking to go to breakfast when I am approached by a guy. This guy says that he works in Bollywood and asks me if I would be interested in being an extra in a movie. I have heard that this happens at times and agree to do it. I will get paid five hundred rupees to work from four in the afternoon, when they will take me to the studios and four in the morning. This works out to a little less than a dollar an hour. But hey its my last day and what a way to go out. I show up at the agreed meeting spot and get loaded onto a bus with a hodgepodge group of about twenty other foreigners. I don't know what I was thinking but for some reason I expected a very glamorous experience. After the two hour ride across town they drove us into this odd run down complex of buildings and I start to wonder if this was all just a ruse to take a bunch of rich foreigners hostage. It is not and we get out and are led to a room where we wait while one at a time people are taken to wardrobe to get dressed up. The scene the were shooting was in a swanky restaurant and some of the costumes are pretty ridiculous but I luck out and get a pretty decent suit to wear. From here we have dinner and then are rushed down to the studio where we wait around some more. Finally the big stars show up and the move us around like chess pieces on a board. I get situated at the bar and am told to engage in a silent conversation with this girl from Australia while they shoot and re shoot the same scene. After a while my feet get pretty tired and the actors are getting very cranky and throwing fits in between takes. It was quite funny actually. From here they take us back across the city and drop me off near my hotel. It is about three in the morning and the city seems to have emptied out. It is not the first time that I have been in this city so late and it always creeps me out. It is like a different world. There is no traffic and the only people I see are those that are sleeping on the sidewalk. Occasionally a huge rat will dart across the walkway. As I get nearer to my hotel a huge swarm of them bolt out of the gutter and run through my feet ahead of me. I sleep for a few hours then get up and head to the airport to take me back to the states.