Bhangra and the Beebs

My first official Indian train ride is going on right now. I really wish I had booked a lot earlier but there's really no way I could have so I guess I can't be too upset with myself.  Thank god for the business class upgrade at the start of the trip which equipped me with ear plugs. I wouldn't have had those (which I most definitely need) without it.

So far the noises include:

Spoiled baby who has learned that screaming gets her way no matter what.

Audio recording of said spoiled baby played on repeat by her older and equally spoiled sister every 5 seconds (literally every 5 seconds, the track goes "*squuueeeeeeea*l HAHAHAHAHAHAHA *squueeeeeeealllll* no!") over and over.

When not playing the squeal recording of her sister she has an audio clip of 6 panes of glass breaking and shattering. Which she runs up and down the aisle playing. I am certain it is 6 panes as I have heard it enough to count them.

Multiple Indian songs on iPods (which I don't mind as much)

Justin Bieber. Yes. Kill me. Someone has "baby baby" cued up as their ringtone and they get lots of calls. Lots. Of. Calls.

I'm pretty sure the spoiled girl's brothers are playing a game of "I'm not touching you" or the Hindi equivalent.

I'm in clearly a tourist row right now. To my right on the window is a German woman and to my left is an Asian man. Both around my age I think. (The two brothers are now pretty fascinated by the iPad I'm typing on. I can see them staring at it from the seats in front of me.)  Thankfully my Asian friend has a movie playing which is a bit more engaging than me typing.

I can't say I fully understand how the classes work on the train. I know there is the AC class and it's divided up into other subclasses. Then there's no AC but still ok cars also divided into sub classes and then finally the worst trains where people are just packed in. I am in the AC class all of the trips except for the longest one between Jaipur and Jaisalmer. I'm going to do my damndest to sneak into an AC car. Peter mentioned I could just bribe the ticket guy or when I find an empty bunk just lay down and "go to sleep" and they wouldn't say anything. Worst case scenario I say "I was on the waiting list and it said I got it I thought!" and they probably would just leave me.

For now this isn't so bad because the trip is fairly short and I wasn't going to sleep much anyway. I have somehow managed to eek out a little over an hour. Hopefully that will be enough to power me through the day. Once I get to the golden temple it would be pretty relaxed. Today is just take in the temple and get to the India/Pakistan border for some sort of crazy border closing celebration that happens every day.  I was hoping to find a Bhangra lesson while I'm here but since my stay in Amritsar got compressed I don't know if it'll happen. I'm going to ask when I get there.

I also hope I get a window seat next time. The best part about being on this train is watching the countryside go by. It's very obvious you're not in America and so seeing the different farms, building, etc is pretty engaging. I just wish I had a better view.