My first train ride

So, I've officially ridden the train in India. We were in a pretty nice car, which may have made it a little less like movies, and a little more like fantastic air conditioned not crampedness.

We left from Nizamiddun station, which is in Delhi, and luckily close to faridabad. Unfortunately we got there at 6:15, an hour and half before our train was scheduled to leave. We hung out near a cafe, and when it was time, went and asked an official looking person what platform our train would be on (all the signs were in Hindi). They do have security, but I think it's mainly just to look like security. There are no x-ray machines, just a metal detector, and of course everyone has metal in their bags but it never lights up. so.

We got on our train, and it was good times. We just got to lounge around on these huge seats, they're like bench seats, and technically only three people occupy one, and we never had more than three, so it was pretty nice. We were across the way from one man and one woman, neither of which seemed to pay us any mind.

The scenery was beautiful, it changed quite a lot, even though our train ride really wasn't all that long, about 7 hours. It became much more hilly, with more greenery and pretty pink flowers everywhere. I find the farther you get from Haryana the more mountainous/hilly regions there are.

Anyway, eventually the guy across from us began talking to us, asking us what we liked about India. This was awkward since we kind of hated everything at this point. So we said we liked clothes, and food, and travelling etc. But he was looking for something more apparently. He said India is so spiritual, America is all about money and materials and India isn't. One, that isn't true, Indian people are ALL about materials and money and seeming wealthy. It's all people talk about, and they still base huge life decisions on it, aka marriage. Two, you can't generalize the U.S. like that, especially when you're talking to a girl who grew up just shy of the Bible belt in an incredibly religious family that believes in a deep personal connection with God. So we talked about how you could make more regional distinctions about the U.S., but not as a country, and the guy continued to say India is becoming oh so liberal. Finally the girl spoke up, and was like, that's not true, don't lie. Which I thought was hilarious.

All in all, the highlight of the conversations in my opinion was when the girl explained the theory behind arranged marriages and why Indians don't believe love is an important ingredient for marriage. She said, "Love isn't important for marriage, it simply isn't necessary, and people can be more like friends than lovers, but what is important is the love from a mother for her male children." Boom, so many things made so much more sense. For real. Chew on it, it'll make sense to you too.