Steve has put up an interesting account of his trip through India and Nepal. I have not read all his posts and I do not know how to link to individual posts but whatever I have read, I find it interesting.
If you are ever the houseguest of friends that have traveled in India do this. Get quietly out of bed, one night at about 4:30 am , stand just outside their bedroom door and start shouting “CHAI, CHAI, CHAI” as LOUD as you can. They’ll think its funny and thank you for bringing back many happy memories of their Indian travels.Another common item hawked up and down the carriages of trains are short pencil length twigs. People were handing over money for these things and so I thought they must be of some value but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what.
I later saw a man attacking his teeth and gums with one and realized they are used instead of toothbrushes. He was really giving it beans and seemed to be quite pleased with the results, giving me a large wide grin displaying his remaining teeth.
Cross posted at Blogbharti.
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And sometimes the tea smells of petrol too! Can’t imagine I did not sit in a train in entire 2007 apart from coming back from Sikkim.
I guess the chai-waalahs are almost ubiquitous on all Indian trains.:D