Drama week - Part 2

Hi everyone. I've tried to post this for ages now. Hopefully it'll work today...
(Go re-read Part 1 to refresh your memory first, though.)

Cristy got back to Nedumkandam on Tuesday evening. I'd already sort of decided that I'd not be going to the other wedding either because I'd been given 2 sets of tablets to kill the pain in my neck, but instead they nearly killed me. The medication was really strong, but Mathew forgot to tell me that, so I guess I didn't eat enough to protect my stomach from it, because I had terrible stomach and heart burns and felt worse on Monday and Tuesday than I ever did on Sunday due to my neck. But even though I'd already made up my mind, Cristy's pleas and her detailed stories about how boring the whole trip was without me finally convinced me otherwise, and I gave in to her. Of course, Mathew was completely over the moon and did his little dance after hearing that (he always dances when he's in a particularly good mood).

We ended up packing, and the watching the first part of the Hindi movie 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' to keep us awake until 1.30am, which is when we had to go to the bus stop at the other end of town to catch our bus to the district of Kollam in the south.
The bus ride was cold and bumpy, and I didn't sleep well. Cristy slept leaning forwards on her bag, and I slept leaning sideways on her back, so I got a pretty bad backache.
At around 7am, we had to change buses, and we got onto one without doors! My first Indian bus with no doors! Nish had told me all about them already, but I'd never seen any in our district (Idukki district). The bus was rattling so much Cristy and I both thought the floor was going to fall off. Plus, I was sitting close to the 'door', and so I was rather worried about accidentally bouncing off my seat and out of the bus. But fortunately that didn't happen.

At this point, Cristy and I were so tired we laughed at practically everything (and thus had a rather fun time). We even managed to laugh at Mathew's 'come come' (which really annoyed us by the end of the day. He liked telling us to 'come' even though we were already following him. I guess he ejoyed getting attention by taking care of the only 2 foreigners around. Who can blame him?!).

Finally, at around 8.30am, we arrived in the little town that Mathew and Pratheeba used to live in, and where the wedding was to take place. We took an auto to a plant nursery (or something), were we had the opportunity of taking a shower in an empty house (Mathew was friends with the head of this place, so we could use the house for free). After cladding ourselves in Sarees, we got back into an auto (doing this with 5 other people and their baggage really isn't a good idea if you don't want your Saree to fall off) and drove to the wedding.

It was a Hindu wedding, and very fascinating at that. Of course, people were more fascinated by us than anything else, but we're used to that, so we unsuccessfully tried to keep a low profile. We were stuffed during the meal after the ceremony, then visited Mathew and Pratheeba's old schol where we signed autographs (I'm famous!), before we headed back to the plant nursery for an hour's rest. Then, we were obliged to go to the groom's house. This hadn't been in the original plan, and I was shocked to hear that we'd be going, since we'd still have to travel to Thiruvananthapuram (English: Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala), but I couldn't very well interfere with Mathew and Pratheeba's plans. However, I did think we'd be able to make a quick visit and leave again, but they wouldn't let us leave until we had eaten. This mean we had to wait around for about 3 hours, doing nothing but sit and try to stay awake (remember, we hadn't really had sleep during the previous night). Next to me, Cristy kept on falling asleep, and of course everyone stared, but we didn't care; we were too tired. Finally, they stuffed us, and we had permission to leave.



Pratheeba, Cristy and I with the newlyweds!

We hurried to change before the bus to Thiruvananthapuram would arrive at 6.45pm, but instead it arrived - packed full! - at 7.30pm. Mathew, who was behind me, kept on telling me to get in, but facing the solid wall of people on front of me, that was an impossible feat. Somehow, though, all five of us (including our bags) got onto the bus. After about 10 minutes of bumping into each person near me (they were all men, so they didn't really appreciate that), the conductor arranged for Pratheeba, Cristy and me to get seats, which we thankfully accepted.

The next shock came when the bus came to a halt at the side of the road, and everyone started filing out. We were ordered to do the same, and once we got out, we were informed: a tyre had burs. Yay. 3 hours to go to Thiruvananthapuram, and we had a flat tyre. Of course, they told us that a spare would be there in no time, but that's Indian time: everything takes much longer than you anticipate. A guy came up and offered me a taxi to Thiruvananthapuram for 1000 Rupees, and I told him we'd think about it and let him know. After he had left, Cristy told me that she would have accepted his offer immediately. However, Mathew and Pratheeba insisted that there was no need because we'd be on our way shortly. Sceptically, I gave them 20 minutes; if there was no progress with the bus by then, we'd take a taxi (which Cristy and I would pay for).



Cristy and Benet sitting at the side of the road after the bus breakdown, waiting for something to happen.

20 minutes came and went, and still nothing had happened. So we went in search of the taxi guy, whom we couldn't find / recognise anymore. We asked Mathew for help (he's from the area, so - according to him - he knows everyone), and he said he'd arrange something. But returning to Pratheeba at our waiting spot, she tried to convince us to wait longer. Bine severely sleep-deprived, I said that I refused to wait longer. When Benet was worried about all the money we'd have to pay (It was roughly SG$40, so not that much, especially when shared), I told him I'd call my mom and ask her permission, which I tried, but she didn't pick up. Finally, Mathew came back, having organised a former student of his as driver, who would charge us 700 Rupees to Thiruvananthapuram. We finally got into the car (an hour or so had passed since we first stopped, and still nothing had happened to the bus), and I got shock number 3 for the day (which had been very long!): Pratheeba revealed that we didn't have to go to Thiruvananthapuram itsel; we'd have to travel to a place 1 hour from Thiruvananthapuram. Yay. Too exhausted to think straight, I managed to fall asleep on Cristy's shoulder and didn't wake up until we arrived 3 hours later (a full hour earlier than expected - one positive thing!).

We then got to Pratheeba's sister's house, where we were warmly welcomed. However, it took another 1/2 hour until I was showered and in bed. That bed felt so good!

...And I've written enough for today! The next part (hopefully the conclusion!) will follow soon (I hope!).