Wow, so much has happened, I’m not totally sure where I left off.  Lets start with the day of travel to Udaipur.  We (some GSErs and others: Laura, Weyni, Lauren, Pailin, Phu, Parisa, Maria, and I) all left the apartments around 9:30am, took an auto to the bus station with all of our stuff, then took a bus to the airport, did some major luggage shuffling, and then got on our plane to Mumbai.  We had a couple of hours in the Mumbai airport, so we got lunch and visited a bit, and then we got on our plane to Udaipur.  We arrived in the evening, managed to fit 8 people and their luggage into two small cabs, and went to our hostel: DreamHeaven Guesthouse.  We got checked in, and I put my stuff into the triple I shared with Parisa and Weyni, and then we walked just next door to a restaurant called Millets of Mewar that Laura’s friends founded just less than a year ago.  The environment in Millets is wonderful- there are small platform type tables on the ground that are absolutely beautiful and large comfy cushions on the floor to sit on.  We had a wonderful dinner and then collapsed into bed back at DreamHeaven. 

When we got up in the morning, a few of us decided to order breakfast from Millets and then walk around town for about 45 minutes while the cooked.  We walked over a bridge and through part of town, and then we looped back to Millets to eat our delicious breakfast.  Then we all made our way to a park in the city where we met one of Laura’s friends and her old neighbor from Udaipur, Kishore Saint, who is a Gandhian economist.  We talked to him in the beautiful park for about an hour, and then we all walked down to a sort of outdoor food court and had lunch.  From there, because it was so god-awful hot, Lauren, Parisa and I decided to go back to DreamHeaven to rest for a few minutes under the fan.  After a little break, the three of us walked to the Udaipur City Palace and walked around (on our way there, we passed an auto driver who yelled, “Madam, rickshaw? Marijuana?”, as you can imagine that sent us into absolute hysterics).  The palace itself is beautiful, but the view is even better.  After we left, we wandered around for a while, and then met up with the rest of the group for dinner at Millets (are you sensing a trend in where we were eating…?).  Then we met one of Laura’s friends who runs a fair trade handicrafts business at his apartment and talked a bit about his business and how it started.  Then, at about 10pm, we all went back to DreamHeaven, I did some laundry in the bathtub where I made friends with the bathroom’s resident huge-ass spider, and then it was time for bed. 

Tuesday morning we got a bit of a lazy start because it was raining out, so we all had a nice breakfast at Millets, and then a few people went to visit organic farms, a few people rented bikes, and Maria and I decided to sit in Millets for a while on the comfy cushions with a pot of tea and read.  After a while, it stopped raining, so I went and spent a few hours walking through the city and bought a scarf along the way.  When I came back to Millets, there was an elephant just outside on the street.  Just hanging out.  And having a bit of trouble getting itself turned around in the narrow road.  After I took a few pictures, I went back inside, at which time it promptly started raining again.  I have good timing.  Then Maria and I spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea, playing checkers, talking to the men who own Millets, reading, and watching the rain against the backdrop of the lake and the City Palace.  A lovely way to spend an afternoon.  When everyone got back from their respective outings, we all ordered dinner and picked up our bags from DreamHeaven.  We had two cabs sent to pick us up, and then we were off to the train station.  We had about an hour to kill there, and then we all boarded an overnight train.  We all got the same train, but most of the group got off at Jaipur, except for Weyni and I, who continued on to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. 

The train was extraordinarily uncomfortable, but at 6am, everyone except Weyni and I got off the train.  Everyone was in a hurry to get out of the way, so I had to say goodbye to everyone through the window.  Even Maria, who was my lovely work partner for the last 6 weeks.  It was a little unceremonious, but at least I got to say goodbye.  I was surprised that I actually got a little choked up to say goodbye to the rest of my Wooster friends (Weyni goes to Wooster, but since I never met her until we were in India, it feels different somehow).  I won’t see a couple of them in the foreseeable future since they graduated (Maria, Lauren, and Laura), so that made it even weirder.  But after I sat and took a few deep breaths, Weyni and I were Agra bound. 

We got off the train at about 11am, and hired a car to drive us to a couple of the main sites in the city for the day.  First up, the Taj Mahal.  Our guide walked us through the entry area where we bought our tickets (750 rupees for a foreigner but only 20 rupees for an Indian… go figure) and then we walked through the grounds and had our first look at the Taj Mahal.  Beautiful and delicate, it is even more impressive than it is in photos.  We stood and looked for a few minutes, and then took our obligatory photos in front of the building.  Then we walked around the side and went inside, seeing the tombs of the builder and the inspiration for the Taj.  We walked back outside, and in the sweltering heat decided to sit and enjoy the view for a few minutes- its not every day that one gets to sit in front of the Taj Mahal.  At about 1:15, we decided to go, and the driver took us to a restaurant called Indiana for lunch.  After we ate a good meal and cooled off a bit, we went to Agra Fort, which is also a very impressive structure, only about 25% of which we could see, because the other 75% is still used by the Indian military.  Then, after getting in a bit of a bickering match with our driver and guide, we went to what is known as the “Baby Taj”, another very neat structure and beautiful area in Agra.  Finally, after walking through a market/bazaar area for a few minutes, Weyni and I got dropped back off at the train station.  We were a little early, but eventually Weyni got on her train back to Jaipur, and about an hour and a half after we said goodbye, I got on my overnight train to Varanasi.  After reading and journaling for a few minutes on the train, the other people in my area decided it was time to get to bed, and because of the bunk set-up, when one person goes to bed, it basically means that everyone else has to, too.  So I went to sleep, excited to wake up in Varanasi.

When I woke up is when everything went wrong.  I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was that my purse was open and my wallet was gone.  Inside my wallet were both my credit cards, my debit card, my drivers license, all my cash, and most importantly, my passport.  All gone.  In a slight panic (ok, major panic) I climbed down from my bunk hoping that it had fallen somewhere.  Nope.  I also noticed that one of my two water bottles was missing.  When I went and looked in the cubbies surrounding mine, I noticed my missing water bottle was on the bunk of a guy who was sleeping on the other side of a little divider from me.  But the divider had a gap by where my head (and purse) was, and even though I had been using my purse as a pillow, it seems as though this guy had to move my water bottle to reach into my purse, steal my wallet, and get off the train; he was nowhere in sight.  While this is, of course, all my guesses, it seems pretty logical to me, and the other guys who I talked to on the train. 

I was obviously worried about something pretty big, and so all of the guys who were sharing my bunk area asked what was wrong, and I told them.  While I suppose it is possible that it is one of them that took it, I really don’t think it was.  They were all very helpful and made several suggestions of what I should do.  First, they helped me check the area.  Then, when they saw me searching through my purse for any loose change (I managed to find 61 rupees, or just more than $1), several of them offered to give me money, all of which I declined.  Then they suggested that I go to the first class car and talk to the police officers who stay there.  So I grabbed my purse and backpack and walked toward the first class car.  When I got there, the door was locked and no one would open it, so I walked back to my car, nice and sweaty.  At that point, I knew there wasn’t a whole lot else I could do except wait until the train reached Varanasi, which was supposed to be in about another hour.  But I did still have my phone, and the first person I called was Laura, our GSE program assistant who had lived in India for a year.  If anyone knew how to handle an emergency like this, I trusted Laura.  I quickly explained what happened, and without missing a beat, Laura told me to get off the train in Varanasi, find someplace safe to sit, and not to move; she would find a friend to come meet me there.  Then I called my parents and told them not to panic, but that they needed to cancel the credit and debit cards.  Then, I waited.  When we reached Varanasi, I gathered my belongings, and the 61 rupees I had left, and got off the train.

Since I hadn’t been able to find any police on the train, the men on the train suggested that I first go to the police station in the train station and file a report.  When I found the police office, none of them spoke English, so they directed me to the tourist office.  When I got there and explained to the man behind the desk that I needed an English speaking police officer or translator because I needed to file a report, he told me to sit down, and that he would call one to come meet me.  That was a blessing, because the tourist office was air-conditioned.  Thank goodness.  As soon as I sat down, I started getting texts.  From Professor Moledina giving me the number of the US Embassies in Delhi and Kolkata.  From Laura saying she was still trying to find someone to come meet me, but that she thought she had found someone who could come.  From Professor Moledina again asking if he could wire me money.  Then, after about 20 minutes, two police officers came and recorded what happened.  They looked through my train tickets, which luckily I was able to find, and wrote down exactly what had been stolen.  Then they walked me back to their actual office so they could write the report on official letterhead and have me sign it.  After this was done and they stamped the report, they walked me back to the tourist office.  The police men were surprisingly friendly and helpful, and I am grateful that they were able to handle the issue so quickly.  Back in the tourist office, Laura called me saying that she had a friend of a friend that was on his way to meet me at the train station.  Professor Moledina called to say it was great that I had gotten the police report because I would need that eventually at the US embassy.  Apparently Professor Moledina had also recruited the help of Jairaj, a Wooster alum who lives in Bangalore whom I met a couple of times while I was there, because they were sitting in the same room together when Professor Moledina handed Jairaj the phone.  Jairaj told me that he had contacts in the Varanasi police and the Calcutta US Consulate, and that he was talking to both people to see what they could do to help me.  He was also very good at saying a few things to lighten the mood.  About the time I hung up the phone with Professor Moledina and Jairaj, I got a call from Laura’s friend of a friend, wanting to know exactly where in the train station I was, because he was there.

About two minutes later, Rajesh came in to the tourist office, and with a happy handshake, I had met my first real-life ally in Varanasi.  We talked for a couple of minutes and then got Professor Moledina back on the phone.  My original plan had been to spend two days in Varanasi, and then I had an overnight train ticket to Calcutta.  The three of us decided that it would be best for me to get to Calcutta as soon as possible because that is where the nearest US Consulate is.  Rajesh helped me change my train ticket to leaving Varanasi that night, and he gave me about 3000 rupees- about $60- so I would have something to work with.  Professor Moledina got Rajesh’s contact information and immediately wired him back the money.  Since it was only noon and my train wasn’t until 6pm and I had already paid for a hotel in Varanasi, we all agreed that I should go to my hotel, shower (which I hadn’t done in almost 3 days since I’d been on multiple overnight trains), and eat (which I hadn’t done in about 24 hours), and then be back at the train station plenty early so I wouldn’t miss the train.  With that, Rajesh and I got in an auto, and he dropped me off at my hotel with the instructions to call him if I needed anything else.  I can’t express how helpful Rajesh was in all of this- a complete stranger (or a friend 3 times removed…) leaving work to come help me when I was completely stuck.  I am so grateful for all of his help.

At the hotel, I charged all of my electronics, called my parents, Professor Moledina, and Laura and gave them all updates, and then, was finally able to shower. Hallelujah.  I had lunch in the hotel, which was expensive, but I would have rather used a little more of the money Rajesh gave me than leave the hotel and risk getting lost and not making my train in time.  After I ate, I went and got smaller bills from the hotel desk than what Rajesh had given me- not many people in India will accept 1000 rupee notes- and I made more copies of all of my important documents- especially my newly acquired police report- so I could stash them in multiple places throughout my bag.  Back in the room, I repacked my bag, and in an oh-so-ladylike fashion, stuffed a wad of cash in one side of my bra and 6 or 7 of my most important papers in the other side; needless to say, I wasn’t going to take the risk of anything else going missing.  With that, I went and checked out of my room, and took an auto back to the train station. 

Once I was there, I checked with several people to find out what platform my train was supposed to come to, and after deciding that it was definitely platform 4, I went and found a place to sit.  I was a bit early, so I went and bought a packet of biscuits since you don’t get dinner or breakfast on the train.  The train was supposed to leave around 6, and at 6 when it still hadn’t arrived, they finally announced that it was running late.  And then at 6:15 there was another delay announcement.  These announcements kept coming until the train finally arrived at 9:30, and we left shortly thereafter.  Once on the train, I sent the texts to Laura, Professor Moledina, and my parents that I had promised to send once I was safely on the train to Calcutta.

I settled into my bunk very quietly, (but not comfortably, with what felt like a ream of paper in each side of my bra), placed my purse under my stomach, and laid on top of it all night.  Inside my purse was the one thing that had proven the most useful and that I most needed to keep my hands on- my phone.  I didn’t sleep much at all, but, luckily, when I got out of my bunk around 8:30am, nothing was missing. 

Soon after I got up, I had messages from Laura, Professor Moledina, and my parents asking how everything was going.  Telling them everything was just fine, but that we were running quite late, Professor Moledina told me he had arranged for Varun, my classmate at Wooster and fellow GSE participant who just happens to live in Calcutta, to pick me up from the train station.  Wonderful.  I texted Varun to tell him we were running late, and then there wasn’t much to do except wait until the train finally reached Calcutta at 1pm (it was scheduled for a 7:30am arrival, but I’ll let that one go) after spending 16 hours on that train, and the past 3 consecutive nights in bunks on one train or another.  When I got off the train, Varun was waiting for me right outside my car, Sleeper 6, and he led me to his car.  We drove and picked up his grandfather, and then went back to Varun’s family’s flat in Calcutta.  We had a quick lunch where I talked a bit to Varun’s grandfather and grandmother, and then we got back in the car to go to the US Consulate. 

I brought all of my papers with me and what cash I had left over from what Rajesh had given me in Varanasi, and Varun and I went into the consulate.  After going through security, I began filling out my paperwork for a lost passport and applying for a new one, only to find out that the passport photos I had weren’t adequate- they had to have a perfectly white background and the background I had was light grey.  Yes, this is truly problematic.  Oh well- it turns out I also needed 8000 rupees to finish the procedure, which I also didn’t have.  I talked to the lady behind the desk a bit, and we agreed that I would need to get the money and photos in order and come back first thing Monday morning, at which time I should be able to receive my temporary passport which would allow me to get home- at least in theory.  Once I have the passport, I will also need to back to the FRRO: Foreigners Regional Registration Office, which is who is concerned with my visa.  She said I might have to go to the office in New Delhi since that is my port of exit from India, but that hopefully they can take care of everything here in Calcutta.  I called and enquired, and while it sounds promising that I can do everything from Calcutta, I won’t be sure until I go to the FRRO next week; for now, we’re just hoping for the best. 

After we left the consulate, Varun and I came back to his flat where I was able to use internet for the first time in 5 days and see all of the lovely strings of emails that had been being sent about me.  It seems that in a matter of minutes from the first call I made to Laura from the train on the way to Varanasi, she and Professor Moledina, Jairaj, and staff back at Wooster had mobilized the troops, so to speak, to make sure that I was being taken care of.  It hit me at the Varanasi train station when I was with Rajesh and on the phone with everyone who was trying to help me, but it hit me again tonight: how lucky I am to have so many people willing to drop everything to make sure that I am safe, and doing what needs to be done in order to go home as planned.  I am sure without their help, I would still be sitting, confused and with 61 rupees, in the Varanasi train station.  The string of people who responded to the emails regarding me and my predicament was astounding- Wooster alum’s in India offering to let me stay with them, offering to put more minutes on my phone so I could stay in touch with everyone, offering to do just about anything to help me- someone they’ve never met.  I’m not sure I can convey just how humbling it is to have an inbox full of 30 emails, some from friends and some from strangers, all offering to do whatever I need them to do so I can fix what went wrong. 

It makes me so thankful and so proud to be apart of the Wooster network, because that is absolutely what it came down to: the connections of all the amazing and big-hearted people of Wooster, past and present.  I am so very grateful for each and every person who offered their help.

After sorting through a mountain of email, I started working on some logistics.  Professor Moledina, Varun and I figured out how my parents can wire me some money to handle the passport and other expenses, I spoke to my boss from Bangalore explaining what happened in case I needed her help with the FRRO (I am in India on an employment visa, so it will be important that she can verify that I was working for HLC), I caught up on facebook, and sent many more emails regarding the events of the last day and a half. 

When all that was sorted through, I had dinner with Varun, his grandparents, and his father.  This is my opportunity to thank them for everything they have already done: picked me up at the train station, run me all over Calcutta to different offices, welcomed me into their home for the next week, and been so very kind and friendly to me.  It is so much appreciated, and this would all be much more difficult were it not for having individuals here in Calcutta who are so helpful.  To Varun and his family- thank you so, so much. 

And now, after having skyped my parents with updates, it is time to sleep in a bed for the first time since Monday.  Once again, all my thanks go out to my parents, Professor Moledina, Laura, Blaise (Laura’s friend who helped make a connection in Varanasi), Rajesh, Jairaj, Varun and family, and all the alum and others in Calcutta who have offered their help and support should I need it.  I can’t express how amazing it has been to see so many people jump up to help, as I said, it has been incredible and humbling, and I am so grateful to the wonderful people of Wooster. 

Hopefully next time I post something, it will be with a new passport and exit permit safely tucked away- clearly not in a wallet.  :)