Afloat

I never noticed our primary alarm today. The backup did its job 8:45 and we had just enough time to pack everything before being in the lobby at 10:00. The driver that was supposed to drive us to the houseboat had not yet arrived so we decided on a quick breakfast as it was standing ready in the restaurant. Food was OK, but I must admit that northern Indian food fits me a lot better. 10 minutes later I was back in the lobby to look out for our driver while Susanne could have a second plate of food. 5 minutes later she appeared as well. 10:30 we made our first phone call to the travel agency. Just 5 minutes and he would be there...


Shortly before 13:00 our hotel had found the address of the house boat we were booked in at, and they arranged an A/C taxi to take us there. This driver had none of the smoothness or skills shown by Sanji, and the ride was more of a tuktuk'ey experience than a nice drive. I fell asleep quite fast anyway and don't remember most of it. Susanne was sitting in the front (with seat belt, as law demands here) and I was in the back, where there was no seat belt again. Well, the seat belt was there, but the thick decorative carpet over the rear seats made it impossible to access the lock. I was not impressed.


Anyway, our not-so-elegant driver had more almost during the 1,5 hours drive than our entire Rajasthan trip, and I remember once waking up mid air on my way towards Susanne's seat as a white Tata Indica with yellow tourist plates (amazing what one notices while airborne) being "parked" not far in front of us, waiting for something else to move before it could continue. Towards this temporary roadblock we were heading at normal highway speeds on locked wheels (how I got airborne) with out driver mumbling something that I registered as prayers. Following the Indian automotive spirit, the white Tata we were about to plow through got a free lane and moved out of our ballistic path of impending destruction. Wheels were unlocked and I fell back into my seat and was sleeping moments later. It was all a lot less dramatic than it sounds, I should add. Everything happened in a very short time frame and I had no way to judge speed or distance properly where I was sort of gliding into the seat in front of me. One also becomes rather jaded after a few minutes in the traffic here, it is all far too chaotic to consider in any realistic way when it comes to risk potential and safety. London during the rush hours truly seems like a sedate suburb at noon compared to this.


We were dropped off at the boat and paid Rs1800 for the ride, we were told by our original driver that never showed that we will get this refunded by the owner of the boat (why from him, I am not sure. We were already so late that we didn't stop to ask about it then). Before we boarded our floating hotel we made sure that the boat owner arranged a taxi for us from the dock back to the train station so we wont miss our train in case our driver fails to shop up once more. We were also told by the boat owner that the travel agency had just that morning booked the boat ride, and that he had not even been paid, but that should be sorted soon anyway as he had just called them and they would have it sorted in 5 minutes...


After balancing up a single plank (loudly protesting against the combined weight of me, my backpack and my shoulder bag) to get to the bow I was finally starting to relax. Boats are nice. The boats here are quite different from the ones I am used to in Norway/Europe/western hemisphere. A wooden hull that's usually.. uhm, sharp? in each end lays quite low in the water, the superstructure is  also made of wood but in a rather houseish-way for comfort and covered with bamboo on the outside for style. The interior is also quite housey, with our bedroom being built like a hotel room and not like a room in a vessel floating about. As a result, our two doors wont close properly, none of the locks match up, and the bathroom is missing a few tiles that have fallen off due to vibration - while the front of the boat is more or less vibration free, it is impossible to stay in our bedroom or bathroom for any amount of time while the engine is rumbling - its like a continuous earthquake. Our boat also had a nice upper deck towards the bow where we had an excellent panoramic view. The rudder is located on the bow with a little wooden box with a pillow on as chair and two levers are mounted close by for force and direction of thrust. Engines remind me of my dads old busses soundwise. While the boats here seem rather sluggish (or, as I thought of them, swimming Hutt's) they are surprisingly maneuverable. They have to be, as they are as uninterested in following any form of rules or regulations on the water as they are on land. I have no idea if traffic here is righthanded or lefthanded


We went up to our observation deck again and were served tea an hour or so later. It was so nice and peaceful sitting up there floating away with all the other slugs through the maze of waterways that Backwaters turns out to be. After some time there were only a handful of boats left and the channels got smaller. Every now and then there was a small settlement along the banks consisting of 2-5 buildings and a ferry jetty. Loud single deck ferried roamed the water at high speeds throwing huge waves over the man made sides of the canals and into the gardens. When approaching a jetty they would keep the engines firewalled until the bow was about to reach the jetty and then they would thrown them full astern. This was the boat was stopped in less than a ships length and resting peacefully along the jetty with people jumping in and out like a city bus.


There were also lots of smaller boats around, little fishing boats, canoes, slightly larger affairs either powered by man or machine with a little roof over them for sightseeing in the smaller channels, various working boats for all kinds of purposes and little cargo barges.


We made a short stop at a kiosk along the water, one of our three crew members had to buy something that looked like food. The boat was just slowly drifting along the bank until he caught up with us a dozen meters further down and jumped aboard.


I have no idea what time it was, but we turned around and headed back the way we had come. I laid down on a bed at the back of our observation platform to relax a little. I was barely asleep before I was brashly awoken by the strangest of sounds. We had hit land, but not with out hull. Docking next to a village they had misjudged their stopping distance and had rammed the plastic tarp covered bamboo roof I was sleeping under into the branches of a palm tree. That was a new experience.


They backed up and got us positioned properly before making the ship fast to said palm tree. I joined Susanne for a walk around the village. Slightly larger than most others we had seen, this one had maybe 10-15 houses along the bank and on what turned out to be a little "island" that we had docked with. It was separated from the main bank with a little canal about 3 meters wide we had to cross balancing on a tree trunk. The entire village was so located along the bank with only 50cm or so to walk on between fences and the murky overgrown water a little below. There were also several goats, one of which had made it its mission to push anyone that didn't feed it into the water. It was a very small goat however and it had not yet realised that it would have to gain some speed to build up momentum so I ended up just petting it as I walked by. It seemed confused. People here seemed nice too, a little reserved until you greet them but then they light up and want to tell you everything about their village - in Hindi and beyond. There were also a few children here. One girl asked very nicely for a coin which she got (we then got her name, got to see her mom and were shown the outside of her house), and a couple of boys and a very little girl that could barely walk got their picture taken. Again, a Polaroid camera here would be great. The English level among the kids seem a lot better than in Rajasthan. There are a lot of schools along the banks here, guess that helps.


Many here have TVs as well, that might also have something to do with it. Every house (almost, anyway) have a satellite dish and as we were floating past we could hear broadcast music and TV shows from most of them.


After our walk we went back to our boat and took positions up in our observation lounge again. It was slowly getting dark and we enjoyed the sunset. Food was to be served at 8 so we had well over an hour left - not that we were overly hungry after the lunch yet.


As the sun set, torches were lit along the other bank. Music was being played in several places, and we noticed processions with torches along the bank. Fireworks were audible and at times visible as a distant flash somewhere in the area. There was more music and singing and the procession came back into view heading the other way. This time "our" procession also launched some fireworks and had some sort of show with fire. Ending their show there they marched back and as they met up with a similar procession coming from the other direction they went into the jungle. As we went downstairs for dinner we could still hear them singing and playing. Just as we were done eating there was a huge fireworks display and the show hit its climax. It was gone as suddenly as it had started.


They turned off the lights on the ship after food and Susanne and I spent the next hour relaxing and chatting on our top deck. It was getting late so we retired to our cabin. The generator was awoken and the air-condition  came to life. If it wasn't for all the mosquitoes and whatever else there is out there we would both have slept in the bed out on deck, but a nice air-conditioned room is almost as good - especially when it is free of bugs.