A Series of Demotions

If a travel agent in Fort Cochin tells you that you do not need to reserve a seat on the train from Kochi to Calicut, he is lying. If a ticket agent at the Ernakulum (Kochi) train station tells you that you can upgrade to the chair car for a few Rupees once you get on the train, she is also wrong. And if you listen to both of them, you will end up sitting on the floor of the second-class unreserved train car with your feet dangling out of the door as you whiz past Kerala's coastline.

The bulk of the magazine article that I'm working on is about Wayanad, a more remote region in northeastern Kerala and getting there from Kochi requires a five hour train ride to Calicut and then a two hour bus ride into the hills. Rupert, who is photographing the story, and I got steadily demoted from the AC Chair Car to the Second Class Reserved car to the Second Class Unreserved car in a matter of minutes, and while we were able to sit comfortably near the door on our packs for the first two hours, I had to stand for the third hour and then sit wedged between one man's knees and the bathroom door for the last two.

At the end of the trip, one man turned to me and asked, "Ma'm, why do you ride second-class unreserved?" I shrugged my shoulders and said, "It's all that was available." He shook his head and said, "It's so crowded," then paused to think for a moment, "but I guess it's the same everywhere in India. Just one big crowd."