A farewell to India and my friends......

As I write this I am 3 hours into my train journey to Delhi. I cant help feeling slightly sad today. After saying goodbye to my friends and the admin staff at the training centre I’m left with a hollow feeling indside that I know will be filled when I reach home and my girlfriend and friends. Ofcourse I’m excited to get back home with my memories and new qualifications but I feel I shall always leave a little bit of myself in India.. I will miss the amazingly diverse country and the ingenious make do methods only the Indians can devise. The nothing is too much bother attitude, the yes we have always got room in the vickeram , can do spirit. These I feel are a mix of the great age old British muster and the traditional Indian culture.
As the beautiful lush greenery and farms peppered with brick kilns and buffalo pulling carts pass my cabin window I wonder if I will ever be able to return to India and travel the English occupation trail in search of heritage.
My last day was Wednesday, I wanted to go in to spend one last day there and it felt strange not having to go through books for a particular slice of Microsoft to get my head around for my next exam. I was asked to write a few lines for the Koenig website and register with a forum where people would ask questions about visiting Koenig and studying in India, I gladly did both.
In the morning Papiya the exam centre manager called me in and did the sweetest thing, she said she was at the market last night and wanted to get me a present but she didn’t know what to get me so she decided to get something for my girlfriend, she produced a silver chain with a silver note on it and put it into a small velvet bag. I was so moved by this and it was completely unexpected and took me aback. I thanked her for her generosity and kindness.
I spent the rest of the day with my friends and trainers; it was obviously a relaxed day today. I also spent some time with Nidhi the centre manager as well, she had a bit of a cold and couldn’t make the birthday party last night which was a shame as she is always funny and as she was one of the few females that would drink vodka, we were dying to see her merry and her husband have to drag her home. Nidhi is probably one of the nicest people you could ever meet she runs the centre with kindness and a smile and always has time for anyone. I found out that she is working on setting up her own NGO to bring free education to the poor and provide them with a means to work. She also wants to set up factories and farms to enable these poorer people with a job and sustainable income for their families.
Eventually the time came to go back to the country house, this was the part I had not been looking forward to and still makes me feel sad now. I went round and said my goodbyes and collected email addresses. For the staff this is a normal occurrence to see students leave but for me it was a little more, those people that had done so much for me and had never made me feel like a stranger, only a friend, and that I might not see them again… The driver came and I got in the old beaten up Toyota red pick up with its front indicators held in with celeotape, for my last trip to the country house. All the admin staff came to the front door and didn’t stop waving until we were far out of site.

Andy, Jason, George and I had arranged to meet up at 6 and go try a new restaurant tonight. It was called the Yethi restaurant and it served Chinese, Thai and Indian cuisine with the obligatory “continental” menu. We arrived and it was smaller than we expected from seeing the outside, but we were welcomed in and were seated and handed menus whilst they started the air-con. A fantastic selection of food is on offer here and well recommended by the admin staff at the centre. We placed our order knowing that as always we had probably ordered too much! Whilst waiting for the food my trainer and Jason’s trainer came in and said “surprise”…. They had popped in because we said were going to the Yethi, they gave me gifts, a very nice box of caramels and a T-shirt, again I was taken aback by this really sweet gesture. They didn’t have time to stop for food or a drink; we shook hands and exchanged wishes. This day wasn’t getting any easier.. But the food started coming, and coming and coming soon our large table was covered with a selection of dim-sums and soups. The food was all piping hot and freshly made, a real result. Soon, and I mean soon the main course arrived and by now we had to put all dim-sums that we hadn’t eaten yet into less bowls to make space for the plates and the main course. Again this was very hot and very nice, if you are looking for Chinese or Thai food the Yethi restaurant is the place to be, but they do not serve alcohol. We all tried each other’s food and we were very impressed. Then the bill came. Rs 1340 that’s about £16 for all food and drinks and we had enough food left over for another!
We left the restaurant after spending the meal time trying to explain cricket to our American colonial cousin Jason, we failed. We got a tuk tuk back to the Country house and had one last beer on the veranda. I decided that I needed to go back and start the mission that is going home, we all shook hands and promised to keep in touch. I closed my door and started packing for home….

At 5:30am there was a knock on my door, it was Sanjay “Mr steve the car is here”, I looked at my iphone and saw the time, my train isn’t until 7:20 and its barely 30 minutes to the station. “Just a minute” I got up washed dressed and assembled in minutes. Sanjay was still at the door waiting to carry my bags to the car. In the car even at 5:45 people were still going to work, cows were heading into the busy parts of roads for their daily obstructiveness, monkeys were raiding the bins for breakfast and everything seemed normal in India when a family of 4 and a baby on the handlebars passed by with a few beeps on a 50cc moped. There was even what we call a kamikaze moped on the roads at this time (a 50cc moped with 2 huge propane cylinders strapped to it and a driver trying to hold on and ride it). The station was still the same hustle and bustle with the porters in red carrying peoples baggage. My electronic ticket I was given didn’t seem to have my carriage or seat number on it, this caused endless amount of fun at 6:15 in the morning, not a train official to be seen and if there was one I doubt he could help. The only thing that remained to do was check the reservation paper lists that had been wallpapered to the sides of each carriage. After 25 minutes I found my name on one of these lists and signaled to my driver, we got the bags onboard. There might have been a mix up or perhaps they didn’t have any executive cars on today. I had a sleeper cabin with a well dressed balding Indian with one of those old comedy ‘it aint half hot mum’ mustaches that’s nothing but a thin grey pencil line above his upper lip. He was friendly and he said he was also expecting a chair carriage. Now imagine watching en episode of Sherlock Holmes when he and Dr Watson are riding n a train carriage. Yup that’s the one, when we entered it had been arranged like 2 sets of bunk beds but in a few lifts and catches it was now 2 bench seats and really looked the part. Unfortunately its now 12pm and I’m ravenous, all I can think of is that dimly lit pub in Delhi with those fantastic sheek kebabs!!!! Oh wait I’ve got some biscuits here somewhere…….
I decided to get to know my traveling companion a little, so I broke the ice with some good day butter biscuits. Apparently he is a professor at the Indian Institute for Science. We spoke about Indian culture and more about the British legacy. We spoke for hours and the journey soon passed.
Eventually we arrived at Delhi and as soon as I stepped out of my nice quaint air-conditioned cabin the heat hit me, it was like a warm humid blanket that smelled of dust and 2-stoke fuel. My driver was waiting right outside my carriage door and immediately tried to struggle with my now full of books cases! I eventually prized one out of his hands and we took one each up the stairs, and down the stairs and across the car park! I had now realised how sedate the Dehradun way of driving was compared to Delhi in rush hour, I can see now exactly how those cars get all those dents! We were driving done a dual carriage way with a raised kerbed section dividing the east and west traffic, our direction was nose to tail side by side and anywhere there was any space left would be 2 scooters. When I say we were close, I mean to say it’s now impossible for anyone to open a door or leave a car, I’ve been in London rush hour but this is something else. A tuk-tuk in front decided he would mount the raised section between the flow of traffic with his front wheel, he then got out and lifted the rear wheels onto the section, got back in drove along the raise section then off into the oncoming traffic, with a few toots of his horn to let people know he was there. As soon as this had been seen by others that was it, after 5 minutes all you could see were cars traveling away from us in both directions!!!!! Just madness.
We arrived at the Koenig inn and I was greeted by the manager who asked me how my stay was in Dehradun, he had arranged for me to have the same room as last time and I was delighted. I turned the air-con on full set the ceiling fans to warp 7 and went to sleep on the bed…..
I awoke at 6:30 and decided to head into town to find my favorite bar and sheek kebabs… After braving the incredibly hot Delhi evening I found my goal. As soon as the door man opened the door the cool fresh air-con covered me over like a cool autumn evening. I headed up the stairs and found a table. I ordered a Kingfisher strong and my much coveted prize the sheek kebab. As this was my first and only meal of the day I decided to have another look at the menu (not easy in the dim light). They specialised in Chinese food so I ordered hot sour chicken soup and a wonderful looking dish (as my neighbor had it) chilli-chicken. Oh and another ice cold beer with an ice cold glass…. God I love this place! The food was piping hot and as good as anything I had eaten in a very long time. At 8:30 and feeling very happy and content I left, oh the bill was RS 650 (about £8). Back to the room AC on full whack and relax with a film and an early night!!!