India. Jhansi
Our friend's father insisted that one of his friends drop us off at the train station, and basically escort us all the way to our compartment. In retrospect, he knew what he was doing. There would have been no way we could have successfully navigated the frenzied train station, found our track, and found out that our train was two hours late on our own. After a mad scramble to get in position to storm the train once it arrived, we made it to our compartment, which was very similar to the Russian plazkart except for the presence of a third bunk, all the way at the top. For me, the train ride was mostly nostalgic, but for Melissa, the whole experience was quite new.
After we got our much needed sleep, I spent most of the morning watching the Indian countryside rolling by through an open train car door. Sometimes, the train would inexplicably stop for a few minutes, sometimes for an hour. Frequently, groups of young men would run and board the train, only to disembark moments later and run somewhere else.
We arrived in Jhansi, where the main ceremony is to take place, and were met at the platform by the groom, who waited for us for over two hours (poor guy). He took us to "one of the best hotels in town", which can only be accurately described as a klopovnik. It featured a bare shower emptying into a bucket, and a door with an old fashioned padlock. But hey, it had AC.
After taking a much-needed shower, he took us to his family's house, located right in the middle of Jhansi. His relatives were all gathered in a large shaded courtyard of the house. The house itself was an old, three-level edifice, with a couple of roofdecks with views of the old town and the fort above it. The view from the highest roof, of water tanks, other roofs, clothes drying, and flags fluttering instantly took me back to the Arab Quarter in Jerusalem. We had a traditional meal of roti, dal, curry and rice, seating on the floor and scooping the food with our hands, as the family watched. You could tell right away the groom's family was a lot more traditional, or, shall we say, "old school". After capping off the meal with a tasty but incredibly sugary dessert, we were off to our next destination, Khajuraho.
