Back again

For the last day and a half we have been hurtling slowly across central India.

Our mode of transport - and air-conditioned wheeled box - attached to a series of other wheeled boxes.

The Amristar-Dadar Express certainly starts in Amritsar and certainly ends at Dadar. Whether it is an 'express' is more debatable - judging by the tiny stations across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra that we stopped in.

We were well stocked with books as we traversed the parched landscape (MP) which slowly gave way to greenery towards the end of yesterday. Why were there so many more fields of bananas, sugar cane and other crops in Maharashtra rather than in Madhya Pradesh? They both get about the same levels of rainfall? The difference to my eye were the many electric water pumps in Maharashtra. You don't find green without water. How much the local aquifers are being depleted is another question of course.

It was a strange journey. We started out with an awful 'thump' at 11 PM on the first night. We were all asleep and were horrified to see Enoch crying on the floor. He had fallen off from the upper side berth of the train in his sleep. He got a bad bruise just below his right eye. It was not a happy night for us. For half the day Enoch was quiet and reserved. A steady diet of books was consumed by all 4 Eichers. I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Enoch and myself. Towards the end of the day Enoch recovered his spirits - it was great to hear sounds of laughter pealing from Asha and Enoch again.

A short disturbed sleep second night and then we were about to get off at Thane station at 3 AM. We disembarked and were welcomed by the night heat. A short auto-rickshaw ride - crammed full of Eichers and luggage and we were back to our home!

We are literally enjoying a warm welcome back. The place has been shut up for the past 2 weeks and is like a tandoori oven. Being on the top floor means that the goodness of the sun gets soaked up by concrete and radiated down on you. Yesterday's paper told us that India has just been through the hottest April and May in 100 years according to the Indian Meteriological Department. Our hot baking welcome home makes us believe it!

Mussoorie was a wonderful cool dream - stay posted for more on our Mussoorie days...