Proti domu / Going home

Po Varanasiju sem odšla še v Patno, kjer pravzaprav ni nič posebnega, ogledala sem si nekaj lokalnih znamenitosti in ogromno tržnico. Med potovanjem sem se pogosto prehranjevala na ulici, saj tam ljudje kar naprej nekam potujejo in tako so tudi povsod stojnice, kjer prodajajo hrano za po poti. Žal je bilo težko se zmenit, kaj hočem, ker ne znam njihovega jezika, ulični prodajalci pa večinoma ne znajo angleško. Kjer se je dalo pokazati, kaj hočem, je že nekako šlo, tako sem recimo večkrat jedla kakšne ocvrte zadeve, ki so jih cvrli kar tam na ulici. Če sem hotela kakšen kari iz velikih loncev, pa je bilo težje, ker so bili vsi lonci pokriti in nisem mogla pogledati noter in nekaj pokazati. Tu sem se nekako zmazala z »dal«, ker je bilo to edino, kar sem znala povedati (škoda, da sem šele na koncu potovanja odkrila »aloo gobi« in še kakšno besedo za jed). Ugotovila sem, da se je težko sporazumevati s kretnjami in s kimanjem, ker je očitno med Slovenci in Indijci toliko kulturnih razlik ali kdove kaj, da kar ni šlo. Recimo, na ulicah so prodajali arašide. Toliko sem že nekako izvedela, da mala merica stane 5 rupij, velika pa 10 rupij. In sem enkrat eni stari mami, ki je tam sedela in prodajala arašide, s kretnjo pokazala, želim arašide, ona pa me je samo debelo gledala, češ kaj hočem. No, če ona tam sedi in prodaja arašide, jaz pa pokažem na arašide, ali to ne pomeni, da bi jih jaz rada kupila? Ker ji ni bilo jasno, kaj hočem, sem vzela iz denarnice 5 rupij in ji jih pomolila. Ona pa še vedno ni vedela, kaj hočem!? Tako da sem ostala brez arašidov, res mi ni jasno, kaj je šlo narobe. V načrtu sem imela obiskati tudi kraja Gaya in Bodhgaya, a ker sem izgubila en dan, ko sem čakala na vlak iz Agre za Varanasi, sem žal morala to izpustiti in se počasi vračati proti New Delhiju, kdo ve, morda te kraje obiščem kdaj drugič. Na poti nazaj sem se ustavila še v mestu Lucknow, ne vem točno zakaj, pač zdelo se mi je, da bi bilo morda zanimivo ga videti. To mesto je bilo nekoč izrazito angleško in se tudi vidi ogromno zapuščenih angleških stavb, med drugim sem si ogledala tudi še kar lep botanični vrt. Ko sem se vrnila v New Delhi zjutraj iz nočnega vlaka, sem spet potrebovala voznika rikše, da me pelje v tisto isto prenočišče Sunny Guest House, kjer sem bila že na začetku potovanja. Pa seveda spet ni šlo, saj me je vsak voznik hotel peljati k nekim svojim znancem. Tokrat sem bila res zoprna in se nisem hotela pustiti spet peljati nekam, kamor nisem želela, pa sem težila raznim voznikom toliko časa, da so potem začeli nakladati, češ da je tisto moje prenočišče poplavljeno (ja, seveda, saj sem bila tam, prenočišče je po stopnicah navzgor in ima teraso, bi morale biti kar resne poplave, če bi bilo res), pa da je polno zasedeno (ja, seveda, zgodaj zjutraj, ko vsi popotniki odhajajo) in tako dalje. Nazadnje sem toliko bentila tam okoli, da me je en voznik potem končno odpeljal tja, kamor sem hotela. V New Delhiju sem imela še dva dni, sem namenoma planirala tako, da sem imela malo rezerve pred odhodom domov, če bi slučajno spet kakšen vlak ali avtobus odpovedal. Tako da sem imela ravno še čas, da sem šla s turističnim avtobusom na celodnevni ogled znamenitosti, potem pa zadnji večer na letališče, kjer sem počakala na jutranji let domov.

After Varanasi I visited Patna which is nothing special, a few local sights and another huge bazaar. I often ate street food during my India travels. There are food stalls everywhere as local people seem to travel a lot and they need to eat on the go. It was often difficult to communicate what I wanted to eat because I obviously don't speak their languages and the street sellers often don't speak English. Whenever I was able to point to what I wanted it went well and so I often ate fried stuff that they made on the street. When I wanted a curry that they served from huge pots it was more difficult because the pots were covered and I couldn't see inside. I usually just asked for "dal" because it was all I knew how to name (unfortunately I didn't learn words for "aloo gobi" or other dishes until near the end of my trip). I found out that communicating with hand signs and nodding was often too difficult, probably because of too many cultural differences between Slovenians and Indians or something along those lines. For example, they sold peanuts on the streets. I already knew that a small packet costs 5 rupees and a large one costs 10 rupees. And so I approached an old lady and pointed to her peanuts and she looked at me not understanding what I wanted. Well, if she sits there selling peanuts and I point to the peanuts, doesn't that mean that I want to buy them? To make it clearer I took out a 5 rupee note and handed it to her but she still didn't know what I wanted!? I truly wonder what went wrong that she didn't get it that I wanted to buy her peanuts. Originally I had planned to visit Gaya and Bodhgaya as well but because I had lost a day waiting for the train from Agra to Varanasi, I decided to skip that and head back to New Delhi. Who knows, I might visit these places some other time. On my way back I stopped at Lucknow, I still don't know exactly why, I thought it sounded interesting. This city was very English a long time ago and there are many abandoned English buildings. Among other things there is a quite nice botanical garden. When I returned to New Delhi on the night train I again needed a rickshaw driver to take me to my Sunny Guest House where I stayed at the beginning of my trip. Again, as I should have known, this wasn't an easy endeavor as each driver wanted to take me to some friend of theirs. This time I was insistent and didn't allow them to take me somewhere of their choosing. The drivers then started making up stories, for example some of them went as far as to tell me that the guest house is flooded (yeah, right, I was there, the place is up on a terrace, it would have been a miracle to be flooded), that it is full (sure, early in the morning, when everyone is checking out) and so on. I went from driver to driver until one of them finally agreed to take me where I wanted. I had two more days left to spend in New Delhi, I planned it so that I had some reserve time before my flight home just in case a train or bus ride was cancelled. I took a tourist bus on a day long excursion to see the sights and I spent my last night at the airport waiting for my early morning flight home.