West of India. Bhuj

The way we feel ourselves in many cases define our perception of the environment around us. 

I find it very convenient to travel by Indian railway even despite potential argument of too dusty sleeping seats. To travel from the North to the South of India in winter require to carry a warm blanket or a sleeping bag because here you will not get blankets in some of the classes of the train, which is opposite from Ukrainian railway where you get sleeping set and a blanket as part of your ticket price. I remember I was told by one passenger that what he finds great about Indian railway that anyone can afford it because of its vast class gradation: you can seat in a tiny carriage with many many many people, you can sleep in the wagon with the old shutters, you can sleep in the a.c. (air conditioned) wagon. In any case you can reach from one city to another. 

This time I travelled from Udaipur to Ahmedabad in a small train of 6 or 7 wagons. Strangely it was a train where no one was selling anything. I even got a feeling of how much I miss these guys with their tiny voices "Pani, bees rupees" (water, 20 rupees). 

I spent 4 hours at the ladies waiting hall in Ahmedabad to get my next train to Bhuj. 

In this free time I got a shower in a public toilet which is clean. It's a bucket shower and water is everywhere in the room. This is how everything gets cleaned naturally. It was my second shower in the public place and I must admit as for a traveler with a long distance this is very very useful facility. 

I also was introduced with a paper soap few month back which became incredibly important part of my pocket in the train. It's comfortable and your hands are always clean. If there is no water in the train you can always poor a bit of drinking water over the hands and woalya! 

In the waiting hall I got myself one seat and fall asleep for one hour after reading about Gandhi trip to England. I think he struggled much more with sailing in a ship than me sleeping in a seating position over my bag pack this morning. I woke up exactly for the breakfast. Here it was perfect morning omelet with chili and onions wrapped in a toast. Directly from the pan on a platform one. 

Good morning, India! 

At that time I didn't know that my way to Bhuj will remind me a DEAD MAN movie with its long daily road to the far West of India, with its salty soil and windmills. Gandhiji ("ji" at the end of the name is a sign of respect in India) sailed to South Africa back to India, back to South Africa and than again back to India, established an Ashram in Ahmedabad, negotiated about the disobedience of a cow milk and I was still here, in a tiny train to Bhuj. 

All the way to far West to get knowledge about mud architecture, hopefully visit the Hunnarshala Foundation and learn about textile.