Day 6, Aurangabad [Sunday 9th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 5, Mumbai, Gateway of India [Saturday 8th December 2007]
Next day: Day 7, Ellora [Monday 10th December 2007]
Get woken up at 4.45am by a fleece wearing, balaclava'd train porter. It's pitch black. The train is rolling along slowly. "Aurangabad," he says quietly, kneeling by my bunk, then stands up and says the same to Kate, who sits up in a state of utter confusion. Our bunks were by the door, which means the noise and light of people walking in and out of the carriage kept waking us up. Kate kept getting up to see if we were at a station yet.
We arrive in Aurangabad and it's still dark. It's also very cold, and we're wearing, inevitably, light trousers and t-shirts. At the station there are groups of people huddled together on the floor, blankers wrapped around them. There are a hundred autorickshaw drivers, standing in the station entrance wearing coats, wooly hats, ear muffs, scarves, brandishing hotel business cards. We hadn't thought as far ahead as arriving, and we're both a bit daunted. We don't know where we are, or where the town is in relation to the station. We faff around a bit trying to look like we know what we're doing, before finally succumbing to one particularly persistant driver. We know a hotel name, the Classic, and ask him to take us there. We pile our backpacks into the rickshaw and we whizz off down an empty main road, with signs towards the highway. We don't know how far the hotel is, and he has told his mate to follow us in his car. About a minute later we pull over to a new looking hotel, and we check in. It's about 6am and we're both very tired. The driver introduces his brother, Aleem, who was following us. Aleem offers to drive us around Aurangabad's sights, and the ancient caves nearby at Ellora and Ajanta. "No cheating," he says.
We're too tired to think about anything, so he gives us a card and we go straight to our concrete hard bed.
We wake up again at around midday and go to find something to eat. Aleem is waiting for us downstairs. We've decided to just hang around today and visit the caves tomorrow, so we tell him we won't need his services. After a quick look around, and a stop for some tasty pav bhaji, we realise that on a hot, dusty day in a hot dusty place like this we're going to need some transport. We call Aleem and he picks us up, then shows us Aurangabad's hotspots - centuries old Buddhist paintings in caves up in the hills, a dilapidated but surprising "mini Taj" called Bibi-ka-Maqbara, a cut price Taj Mahal built by Emporer Aurangzeb's son. We also see the Panchakki, a 250 year old flour mill run by water power, the water fetched by pipe from 6km away. Aleem takes us to his local sweet shop and we get some snacks, and he's friendly and chatty, but otherwise between trips he sleep in the front of his car.
Despite our initial misgivings about this tatty town we have a really interesting day. We get pointed at and laughed at by kids werever we go. At the caves we get asked to take a couple's picture - using our digital camera. I ask if they have an email address but he says no. Then he points down from the hill, towards the city, and says "I live down there. My name is Raul, my wife is Suneetha." He tells us they're married, but I doubt it. We all laugh together.
At the mini Taj people come and ask us which country we are coming from. I get a chance to try out some of the Hindi I've learned. One guy is very impressed. "You have a lot of Hindi," he says. Another man pushs his son forward with instructions to tel me his name. A group of excitable boys from Gujurat, here for a volleyball tournament, want their picture taken with us. Most people, on seeing us, indiscreetly nudge their mates, point, then all turn and laugh. Now I know how Tom Cruise feels.
After browsing through a supermarket, checking out the selection of ready to wear salwar suits and saucepans, we have dinner at Kailash family restaurant a veg (as opposed to non-veg) place with a queue of men, women and children outside. It's got a patio with tables on and loads of room inside. We have a couple of masala dosas followed by some gulab jamun - milk dough fried and soaked in sugar and rose water. Yum! But so sweet.......
Back at the hotel Star One is showing the Hero Honda 12th Annual Star Screen Weekly Awards. It's a Bollywood extravaganza in which "Black", the cathartic tale of a deaf, mute and blind girl starring Rani Mukherji, sweeps the board. I happen to know that the film is a couple of years old, and it turns out the show is a repeat from 2005. It wasn't a vintage year for Shahrukh Khan, though - he only receives one nomination, for Paheli, in which he plays a huge-turbanned sex ghost. He doesn't even win, either.
Next day: Day 7, Ellora [Monday 10th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 5, Mumbai, Gateway of India [Saturday 8th December 2007]