IDT Part One

After the fun of the Christmas break was over, it was time to get back to the college and down to the business of finishing off this course. Typical of this college's aptitude for sucking the fun out of anything, classes for the new term began promptly at 0830 on January 1st! Welcome to 2009, here's a kick in the nuts...

Anyway, the first order of business for the new term was attending our second big tour of the course, the Industrial Demonstration Tour. This tour is two weeks on a train traveling around southern India to visit various industry and defense locations, along with getting to see some demonstrations of the Indian military.

On a Saturday morning we piled into the college buses for a quick trip down the hill from Wellington to Mettupallaym, where we'd be meeting the train. The student body was split into two separate trains traveling on different days, so there were about 200 students on each trip. Upon arrival at Mettupallayam, we realized that the train wouldn't be leaving for another three hours. Luckily, Tim (UK) had spied a bar on the way into the station, so about eight of the foreign officers made our way down the street to have a few beers before embarking on the great adventure.

Jose (Chile), Chris (Singapore), and Zaw Oo (Myanmar) dive into lunch in a dive.

Jeff, Tim and me.

Zaw Oo and Ruslan (Ukraine)...pass the Superstrong.

200 officers scramble from the bus to the train. Actually less organized than it looks.

After four or five Kingfisher Superstrongs and a bit of lunch, we were ready to face the train. We were prepared for fairly rough conditions on the train, and the college didn't let us down. We had a train dedicated for the college, but we were put in third-class coaches with four officers sharing a small cabin about 5 feet by 10 feet. Additionally, there was nothing separating the cabins from the rest of the train, so it was essentially one open bay. I'll let the pictures of the bathroom speak for themselves...

Our train at the platform in Mettupallayam.

Bathroom instructions...put your feet on the footpads, squat (while holding on to something for balance) and do your business. The cup is for "cleaning" (no toilet paper provided) and the bucket is for bathing. Not shown, the hole in the floor goes directly to the tracks. If anyone in India ever asks you to take a nice walk along the railroad tracks, I recommend you say no.

Typical cabin...not much room for tall white guys.

Regardless, we were on our way. The first twenty-four hours were spent entirely on the train. We used the time to get settled, get to know each other, and play some cards. The first stop on the IDT was approaching...