Tara and I planned to meet at the train station in Trivandrum this afternoon. She would be flying down from Delhi and I was supposed to take a train from Kodaikanal then we would travel together to Varkala. Since I cancelled the trip to Kodai and went straight to Varkala, I decided to take the train to Trivandrum and meet her at the airport instead. I arrived at the train station around nine to buy my ticket and waited with the many commuters on the platform. The ticket agent told me the departure time of the train so that I would arrive close to the airport but when the train arrived, I failed to notice it was earlier than I was told as I climbed up the steps.
Passengers filled every available space on the car. Around halfway to Trivandrum I was successful in finding someone to ask about when to descend the train and learned that I had boarded the train that would take me into Trivandrum instead of to the station near the airport. He also recommended that I take the ladies car to avoid being the focus of so many sets of eyes. I knew there were ladies cars on commuter trains but I haven’t had success in figuring out where they arrive on the platform.
To correct my mistake of arriving at the wrong station I figured that I would take a northbound train towards the airport since. Upon exiting the train station I found myself at the auto-rickshaw stand and my disinterest in their service and insistence that I would just get on another train caused one driver to greatly reduce his rate to drive me to the airport so I went by road instead. I only had a few details of Tara’s flight: departure city, departure time and arrival time. I figured she would be arriving at the domestic airport from Delhi so I was dropped there and was happy to see that a flight that matched my information was scheduled.
I waited at the airport and read for a couple of hours and when her flight arrived I spotted her cross the baggage claim area and felt a huge relief. I intercepted her at the window for booking a taxi just in time and could see that she was surprised and confused at my presence at the airport. I told her I would explain it all during the journey and that we had three options for travel: by train like the Indians (I showed her the picture), bus or taxi. She opted for a taxi and so we piled her luggage in the trunk and spent the better part of the next two hours catching up.
When we arrived at Varkala Beach and bought some coconuts for the walk along the cliff. I ran into Carly from England at a vendor stall and we made plans to meet up for dinner. I took Tara to our lodging where we relaxed a little while then went out for an afternoon snack, a walk and then dinner.
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