India Post, an Exercise in Patience

Sorry, I'm backtracking again, for those who read J.F.'s contributions, do not be confused. After our marvelous week of paradise at the beach, we headed back to Mumbai on the train and arrived at six o'clock in the morning. We wandered from the station looking for a hotel (imagine, no reservation!) and found a place about twenty minutes later, but the stroll was quite an eyeopener: street vendors were opening their stalls (I suspect after sleeping on the street beside the cart) and there was hardly any traffic! I thing the locals were quite surprised to see an entire family walking around that early in the morning.

After a late breakfast, I went to the post office while the others set off to do a few errands. Yes, I did buy a few things throughout our travels, the handmade crafts here are just far too beautiful to resist. Sending a parcel is no easy feat: it entails taking your stuff to a "parcel wallah", basically a tailor who sews a parcel out of beige fabric, on three sides only. Then you take this to the post office where you fill out a bunch of forms, they verify the contents of the package, fill out more forms, ask you for your passport, which I didn't have but in the end didn't seem necessary, sew up the remaining side, seal the seams with wax and then stamp them so that no one can open the parcel, more signatures, and finally, weigh the parcels and take your money! I arrived just before lunch, so this whole process was delayed forty five minutes while the employees ate!!
While I was sitting around waiting, I observed the piles of parcels everywhere, no semblance of classification as far as I could tell: I'm not sure my packages will ever make it, but it sure gives me a good story to tell!

The next day, we took another train up to Nasik, a small, normal town, that only has some five hundred year old temples : ) , so tourists don't really go there. This in itself was interesting, as we were the only foreigners in the street, at the market, in the restaurants, and attracted many looks, but what a treat, no one tried to sell us anything! (Contrary to the touristy places, even the beach, where people are constantly trying to sell you anything, be it jewelry, a taxi ride, meals, a tour, basically whatever you're willing to pay for.) Our two days in Nasik was a good experience as it allowed us to really see what it feels like to be to be a visible minority.