“Each stay not to exceed 180 days ...”
Getting out of the crazy madness

I

Drop, Drop, Drop .... You small drop, you small brown rusty drop, why can't you fly to the sky, why can't you find your destination in a cloud? Do you not want to fall asleep in the fluffy and snowy cushion and wrap yourself in the blue linen called vault of the world? Don't you want to flow in all directions in the kingdom of safety, purity and infinity? Why do you have to obey the gravity exactly in this moment? Why exactly here, above me, why did you choose my head to fall on? What are you thinking who you are? Do you really think you can do to me whatever you want? My hair is too nice, beautiful and curly, that you are not allowed to spoil it with your brown skin. Come on, stop trying to infatuate me with your rhythmic cadenza, I am really not impressed. I am dirty enough, STOP IT!!!

II

Please Q up! Sure, the token machine is broken again, that is India how I got to know it. Why do you have to plan and to make it complicated when you are also able to improvise. India is great!

Okay, where is my map, my map of India doodled on a small piece of paper looking more like a piece of pizza than an enormous country with a population of over one billion people.

The smell of cold sweat of those who fear not getting a reservation for the right train in the small reservation room of the railway station mix with the odour of the crowded streets of Trivandrum.

Enquiry: queuing up, standing, waiting, sweating, becoming nervous: Will I get the tickets, if not, what is plan B? How can I explain my idea to the clerk behind the heavy glass wall??? Only one Indian left till I am the head of the queue.

“Hello! Excuse me, I want to go to Nepal, but I don't want to travel normally. I don't want to sit in the stuffy train for 52 hours, get annoyed by the monotonous cracking of the fans and get bored of the many questions, where I come from and what's my name. I want to explore India. Throughout the night I want to sleep in the train and digest the experiences of the day, during the daytime I want to explore. Get off the train and absorb the new impressions with all my senses......!”

Simon, bad idea, you shouldn't speak like this to the railway clerk. No, look at her bored face, bugged by all the requests of millions of people. She seems tired and I think she won't be as amazed as me. Finally my turn: ”Hello I need tickets. At first I want to go to Chennai, then Hyderabad, on to Mumbai, after a short stay in Ahmedabad to Jaipur, then Lucknow. Available?”

III

Have you ever realized the beauty of white bread? So simple and plain; it seems to promise due to the purity of the dough a kind of revelation, but actually it is as normal as all kinds of bread. Even worse, have you ever looked at the ingredients of toast, nothing is more unhealthy.

But who cares, at the moment holding four train tickets in my hand, I am proud that my skin has the same colour as white bread. Just passing the waiting list, already extended to 200, with a broad grin, waving my entrance ticket to my salvation: my passport. What a blessing that I am still a tourist here in this land of colours, although I have already been here for 9 months now. The balance of righteousness in the universe. A curse becomes a blessing, as actually everything started with an absurd, bureaucratic comment written in my passport....

*

Although I have a one year visa, the following is written there:

Each stay not to exceed 180 days, hence registration not required. My 180 days are almost over, but I still have to leave the country, what a nonsense.

Sri Lanka, no way, still too insecure. Going there would have tortured, ripped out, torn and chained my mother's heart in the eagle cage of Prometheus. No, really, this I couldn't do. So, I have to go to Nepal. Nepal, the land in the north near the mountains; Nepal, the summit of the world; Nepal, the land of beautiful women and alcohol; Nepal, approximately 3000 km away from Trivandrum, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! But I am young, so what!!! So what??? Am I crazy???...

*

The first step is done. Those four tickets are the base for my trip to Nepal: Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, I am coming!!!

IV

I am so famous =)

A small step from the littered platform of the Trivandrum railway station onto the rusty step of the train, through the heavy metal door, into a world I will call home for the next days. This is the train to Chennai, just 15 minutes left till there is no way back. Perhaps this is maybe a bit too dramatic, but only 14 minutes stood between me and my big trip. 13 minutes and the train starts the engine and the lazy wheels are whipped by the honk of the heavy train. 12 minutes and Trivandrum gets lost in the slipstream of the train. 11 minutes left to bear the staring of the Indians next to the window. The countdown begins: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, honkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

It's hot, the warm breeze hits my face, I start sweating, my favourite occupation for the next 10 days, ha, aweful!

No, the train stops again, I melt away. The pores spit the hot salt water out like a drowning non-swimmer. The train gets fuller and fuller, people swarm inside, the air gets sticky. Words reach my ears, not understandable, Malayalam, pause for effect, like in a bad Bollywood movie the room is filled by familiar tones: “Excuse me, you are sitting on my seat!”

V

Sunset in Kerala

“My name? My name is Jenni!” I look in the blue eyes of a moon- round face. Her lips are moving up and down. I am listening. The fluency switches to German, English and back. Her clothes prove that she is a typical tourist - gay like a frog. Full of typical experiences. Surely I won't forget her that soon, especially her attachment.

She was from Sweden, could speak English and German and created a very comfortable atmosphere. We had interesting conversations, had a lot of fun and enjoyed the whole trip, so that I knew, as the last sun ray kissed my cheeks, that this journey would be one of my greatest experiences I would ever have.

VI

Dear distinguished reader,

as my brain prone to be like a sieve and in order to hold the tension on an artificially high level, I am forced to reduce my whole report to one story per city. Thanks for your understanding. Enjoy the trip.

Sincerely,

the Author