Trains
Event: Aliens on the Overground (Camberwell Arts Festival)
Join the sneaky stitching graffiti knitter Deadly Knitshade on Friday June 21st at 8pm for a yarnstorming alien invasion of the London Overground.
Varanasi: “Breaking news”
We broke for the Indian border on the 28th of December with a feeling of relief, sadness, and excitement to see new places and get away from ones that suddenly didn’t feel so safe.
Jhansi: “Aoooowwwwp!”
Suddenly she spies the sleeping hound. My stomach screws up as I watch her hand flail behind her and close around a thick bamboo staff leaning against the wall for just such an occasion. She wrenches herself to her sandalled feet with anger blazing from behind her thick spectacles.
Delhi to Jaipur: “She is very old and gets sick when she travels.” (groooooaaan)
“She is very old and gets sick when she travels.” The girl explained, “She must sit by the window”. Granny moaned in pure Bollywood style. We looked at the Indian men stretched out on the bunks above, one to a bunk, opening a sneaky eye to watch the proceedings and then hastily shutting it when they saw us watching.
Aurangabad to Dehli: “What are you weaving?”
“Don’t worry. The cockroaches won’t hurt you.” by a smiling be-turbaned Sikh youth as I got warily into bed.
Mumbai to Goa: “Chicken lollipop? Chicken lollipop?”
Night train food seller songs “Spring rollllllll, chickeny rollllllllll” “Soup. Soup. Tomato soup.” “Cheese sandwich?” (that one got me sitting up straight. Cheese sarnies and curry. I was born to eat here). “Chicken lollipop! Chicken lollipop? Chicken lollipop?” insistent look, shake of head, shrug.