Dehli

The overnight trains here are something you should experience. We traveled second class with basically upper and lower births, six to a section, so another opportunity for communal living. The mattresses are about 2 inches thick, but that’s about what we have experienced everywhere. My back feels fine –do we need 20 inch thick mattresses in the US? This was our second train trip and this one considered deluxe because they served food-three courses actually and not bad-with abundant hot tea! The bathrooms are another story.

The pictures below show are luggage going to the train on a cart on off the train on the heads.

While Mumbai is considered their financial and commerce capital like New York, Mumbai is the seat of government and similar to Washington DC. Big boulevards, lovely gardens, huge governmental complexes. Prasad arranged a private tour of parliament and we learned that their government seems to be working. Coalition leaders actually talk with each other and get things done. Terms are five years for the lower house (house of commons aka congress) and six for the upper (house of lords aka senate) Unless of course the are dissolved due to lack of support from the people. I’m wondering why we thought our system was an improvement-especially with our current gridlock. One of these days I’ll post some comments we have heard about America. We are staying at Gandhi Darshan, another institute of learning and programming for Gandhi thought and action. We keep seeing and hearing that “a thought is just a thought until it is implemented”. Cold here with temps in the 40’s at night and 60’s during the day. The days are lovely but we have no heating at night- sleeping with many layers of clothes is obligatory, but it’s hard to whine when you see the living conditions of so many less fortunate.