Bodh Gaya

The train right to Bodh Gaya was a hoot! We decided to take 'sleeper' class which is a cheaper class since we were not spending the night, and boy did we meet some characters. The most memorable was Vivek. Vivek at first seemed just manic. Telling us stories, asking our opinion of Bollywood and Slumdog Millionaire, etc. Another Indian man in our car kept pointing to Vivek and making a 'crazy' gesture when he caught my eye. There were two sweet Japanese guys who did not speak much english. Vivek, it turned out, was actually quite drunk. He had a water bottle and let me smell it at one point and I believe it was filled with a type of straight up moonshine! As he became drunker, he got more out of control and the other Indians kept trying to throw he out, but he would reappear. The strange thing about Vivek was that he was very intelligent and quite witty. He explained that he was the only man alive that could 'bake a birthday cake in a pressure cooker' and offered us as he put it glimpes of 'mind-blowing history' as he recounted the dates and events of both world wars. It turned out also he did not have a ticket to ride so the ticket collector tried to throw him off which started a fight in our car and eventually Vivek passed out down the hall in another berth.

Siddhartha (my dear Indian friend that I met in college in 1999) picked us up from the train station in Gaya and dropped us at the Burmese Vihar (my home for 4 months junior year of college for the Buddhist Studies program) I had returned here in 2003, but it was so nice to come back. Like coming home. In fact, everyone remembered me, not by name, but by face. So special after three hectic large cities to come here! We passed out.

Breakfast was at the 'Pole Pole' (tent restaurant across the street that has been there for ever) Siddhartha's charity picked us up to take us to Sujata village across the 'river' no river right now b/c it is dry season....