A Quarter Cup Of White Rice Is Too Little

~ the online apps is telling me, i am still on a long waiting list in allocating to me a sleeper bunk ~

Day 41

30.3.2024
Saturday

Udaipur, Rajashtan

I arrive at Udaipur last saturday before noon. I am already a week here. Upon arriving at the hostel, very soon I fall in love with Udaipur.

I like Udaipur because Jagdish temple is only twenty steps away from the hostel. The devotees who come for pooja before dawn every day have a virtuous reverence to Jagannath and Sri Krishna. Everyday, they come so early, they are absolutely earlier than me waiting at the steps by the flank of the statues of elephants for the thick and huge wooden doors to open. I'll try to beat them making myself earlier than them tomorrow.

I wake up at 3.00 am everyday, but sometimes I feel a little tired, I get up from bed an hour later. At around 3.30 am, I start to organise my idea in the mind before I begin to write the skeleton of the blogs. There is no rush to organise my idea for blog writing because after I get back from temple around 8.30 am, I'll be in a more serious mood to begin writing. Usually the writing of a page of blog will take around three to four hours before I get them to be posted on the blogpost.

This morning I get out from the hostel at 5.00 am and I purposely clad in all white. I wear a white long-sleeve shirt and white dothi. The attendant is not around at ground floor to open the door for me. So, I call him thrice. Then I notice he comes in from outside. I ask him where has he gone at this darkness when the stray dogs are howling so anxiously for territory. He comes in with another two companions. He says, they are just loitering and hanging out outside the hostel but no any other reasons.

I am hungry at 5.00 am, but I can't eat till it is 7.00 am. At this time, it is the water drinking hour. I need to drink to keep me hydrated. I have to eat my meals with proper discipline. I can't eat immediately when I feel hungry. So, I bring along three pieces of brown bread and two small red tomatoes by keeping them in the plastic bag of the Gardenia bread I bring from home. Outside home while backpacking, even a small plastic bag is a valuable treasure when it is in need. So I keep this Gardenia's green-blue plastic bag with me since the day I arrive in India.

I like the hostel but the drawback is, I still can't strike a balance in my daily diets in this famous tourist city where everyone is aimed as the target of big spender tourist. Everything is expensive because of touristic attraction. I need to eat properly, because of that, I need to get back to Delhi. Surprisingly, Delhi's street food is very affordable.

Anyway, I like my room quite a lot. I may have a very small single-bed room but the tiny space has a big window. When I sleep, my legs are pointing to the inward-opening of the two-piece wooden windows. When I open the windows at dawn, the ventilation of fresh air gets into the room. Otherwise when I close the windows during sleeping, the small room may get a little stale but not any stuffy. This hostel is marvelous because of the youthful people taking care of the hostel and the guests are all young people.

At the rooftop restaurant near Pichola lake, I tell the kitchen man not to make for me any chapati. I have been eating my set-rice-meals at this rooftop restaurant for several days and there is already a buildup goodwill between me and that kitchen man. I order the medium-meal, which is the rice meal that is prepared with two small bowls of subji, a small bowl of curd, a piece of papadam, some salad piece, and of course he will roll four small pieces of chapati under his rolling pin for this set meal. But, the portion of rice is a quarter cup. So, I ask the kitchen man to do away the chapati. I tell him I do not need to eat chapati but give me a full serving of white rice. I ask him very politely, and the outcome is, I get a bigger portion of white rice. I speak very politely because I fear I may offend him. The north indian people eat more chapati than rice, or they don't eat rice at all. When I say, do away with chapati, I say it very cautiously, I am a rice belly barrel.

While eating, the kitchen man comes to me. He asks me whether I have enough of rice. Otherwise, he has an extra cup of white rice in the kitchen. I think for two seconds. My eating lust is telling me to eat but my intellect is saying no to overeat. I may be very hungry, but in the hunger, I should eat adequately, not overly full. I need to control my eating lust when starve. So, I tell the kitchen man, no, I have enough. Then I pay him Rs180 for the rice meal.

I am leaving Udaipur by train on monday. I'll be back to Delhi by taking Mewar Express that is expected to leave Udaipur City at 6.30 pm. When I check the status of my ticket online just now, the waiting list is at 60. I feel it is unlikely to get a sleeper bunk judging by the long waiting list on queue. However, the ticketing agent tells me, the chances of getting a sleeper bunk is still high. I may not know till the final hour before the train departs from the station. He asks me to check the status of my ticket again for the final update at best an hour before the departure.

I have planned in my mind. At worst, I will sleep on the floor in the middle between both the compartment bunks. I will lay on the floor my white dothi and top it with my sleeping bag. This is a common sequence following commuters insist to travel on the train but not allocated a bunk due to the waiting list. I have not tried sleeping on the floor of the walkway this far. When I need to sleep on the floor of the train, I need to be mentally and emotionally ready for that short stint of sleeping hours, because the walkway now is used to sleep by me.

When I am back to Delhi, I will submit my train ticket that is purchased in advance two weeks ago at the foreign tourist counter for refund. I am supposed to return to Delhi from Mt Abu on the 6th of April, but because I leave Mt Abu early, this ticket is redundant. It is also, I leave Mt Abu earlier than expected, I get several days to meet Jasmine in Delhi and we could travel in Delhi together.

~ after saying my piece of thought to the kitchen man, he serves me a two-cup of white basmati rice but no more chapati, the portion of white rice is definitely more than yesterday, and i can say now, at least i am full with this amount of rice, i give a thumbs-up for this set meal ~

~ i open the windows at the amrit vela hours before dawn, the room becomes very airy and i feel fresh sitting in the room doing nothing but drinking plain water by many mugs ~

~ this train ticket is redundant now, i am not returning to delhi from mt abu as planned earlier, i decide not to buy train ticket in advance because as always i do change my routes and time of travelling ~