Linda was still feeling ill with a headache. I did what I could to help her feel better. We sat and chatted the rest of the day. Passerby were all very curious of us and stopped to chat with us to make sure we were liking India and well treated and comfortable.
And after last night’s episode I decided that I would not go to Mumbai with Linda after Ahmedabad and I will not take anymore buses or trains in India by myself. I decided I would like to go to Pondicherry and visit Mark and Yoo-mi via airplane.
An older man and two younger man stopped by our booth and sat with us and decided they would keep us company or really we were keeping them company. The older man did not get along with the younger ones. They had what can be called as generational and cultural gap. The older man lectured the two younger ones on how to be an Indian person in India. Then turned to us and asked when we would get married and how old we were. He told me that if I keep it up I’d just grow ugly and no one will want me. I told him Linda’s mom who is 50 years old now has a boyfriend and is happy. They all raised their eyebrows at this news. Such things are unheard of and scandalous or something.
The men on our cart let us get ready and get off the cart first. But no one was gentlemen enough to help us off the cart or help us haul a taxi. They all fled as if we were all strangers and didn’t spend the last 6 hours chatting.
Linda and I stuck tight with each other. Upon exiting the train on the platform there were sharks lurking already and followed us every step. Both of us went into operational mode as if we practiced this before or had a strategic plan to say the least. But no, we really didn’t but some how we went into a mode as if we did and operated that way. Whatever the plan was I had no idea of the details, it was all very tricky and used all my survival skills and awareness.
Exiting the station, two sharks were still on my tail and I decided to part with Linda to shake them off so Linda can at least have the space to pick out a taxi while I diverted the attention. I kept walking towards the other two young men we spoke to earlier on the cart as if we were all together and the sharks would think this was a better chance than going after Linda because there were three of us. Well, the guys made no contact with me and hauled a taxi for themselves and fled like there is no tomorrow.
I was left with two sharks still at my tail totally vulnerable. I turned to look at Linda who was 15 feet away and she was getting into a taxi who had the Gandhi Ashram sticker in the windshield, I ran after the taxi. The two sharks chased after me as I hopped onto the taxi. They blocked our running taxi and yelled at our driver. They were bullying him and making threats for taking the two of us in as customers claiming us as theirs. They were yelling at us saying we couldn’t get onto this taxi and had to get onto theirs but we were already on the taxi with all of our packs too. This is why you go with pack and not a rolling luggage. The maneuvering flexibility is so much better. Like chasing after a rolling train, running away from sharks, jumping onto a taxi for a quick get a way. Well, our driver yelled back at the sharks in rage, it was a very stressful and looking very dangerous on the verge of violent breakout. We yelled at him to get his attention and had him just drive off. This taxi Linda picked had a meter light and as he drove off he yelled, “cheaters! cheaters!” at the sharks. He explained to us that these guys were not legitiment drivers with legit business. So glad we didn’t get into their taxi.
As we taxied across town, the driver pretty much gave us a tour on the taxi and pointed out sights and monuments and told us about the upcoming kite festival. He turned out to not only be a taxi driver but a tour guide.
