23rd and 24th of February, 2023.
Hitchhiking in India.
It is getting late now and I start to think that getting to Bikaner still today would be a miracle.
When a man stops his car, I feel that there is something quite not right about him. But he says he is going to Bikaner so I decide to give him a chance. When I am placing The Hulk on the back seat, I hit my ear in the door, and then I knew that there was definitely something wrong, but decide to carry on with him. Perhaps was not stupidity per se, but simply because I knew I could handle him.
He asks a few questions, which I answer, and then he asks me about some Brazilian type of movies, which I don’t recognize because he says only a few letters. Then he Googles it and show it to me. When I see the letters I still don’t recognize, but then I read the headline of the links, which say something like “Brazilian Porn Movies”. And I was right! I put on a very serious face and just tell him I know nothing about that.
In a few minutes there is a small village and I ask him to pull over. Without any warning, I get out of the car, take my backpacks and wish him safe journey.
How right can someone be about somebody else? How brilliant the universe is! But it sucks to not get to Bikaner today.
Another car stops soon. This time, the young man inside feels very trustworthy. Unfortunately, he is only going to Dungargah, a small town some 80 Km before Bikaner. I don’t recall his name but he is very sweet and smart. He calls his wife, a beautiful woman, during our trip so I can talk to her. He very wisely suggests that I stay in a village just before Dungargah because it would be easier to find a place to stay for free.
When I am entering the village, an elderly man approaches me and ask me where I am staying. When I explain to him that I have no money, he quickly calls three young boys and ask them to take me to the temple. They are carrying their Cricket trophies. We chat a little bit and they seem very nice guys. After they arrange everything in the temple for me, they buy me a big bottle of water and a Pepsi, to what they say: “This is from us to you!” How sweet!
For some reason, I am staying in the office, which has glass walls and no lock, and not in one of the rooms. I am fine because it is only for one night and I can sleep in the couch.
It is the first time I am staying / visiting a Hindu temple. When I go to explore the temple, it surprises me how different a Shiva temple looks from other temples and religions. I think that their drawings, paintings and costumes are quite bizarre. For example, people decapitated and blood gushing out of the body; or stuffing food at the god statue’s mouth; and the statue itself.
I watch a ceremony they preside with fire and incense, in which everybody wants to touch the fire afterwards, for luck.
After eating my dinner (the lovely food Mukesh gave it to me and his chapatis) with my Pepsi, I get ready to sleep.
I am awake by a young man. I was so deep asleep that it takes some moments for me to understand what is going on. He seats in the couch and I already find that weird. He is trying to say something, pointing to the mattress which is lying on the floor, which some people brought to me earlier, but I refused to use, so I think he is telling me to sleep there and not in the couch. But all of sudden he bends over me, putting his hand on the couch, just beside my waist. What a hell? In an instant I am up to my feet and telling him to leave the office. I can now smell his breath and he is drunk.
There was an elderly man who supposed to be “guarding” the temple for the night. I look for him and there he is, but he seems quite unsurprised by the presence of the man in the office, so clearly, he knew he was there, and he shows no intentions of doing anything to help me out.
Luckily, the drunk man makes no effort to remain in the office and leaves without complaining or insisting on anything. But now I am disturbed and I decide to leave as well. It is 10.30 p.m. but fuck it! I decide to go.
Seen my reaction, the drunk tells me I must stay. When I intent to fold my blanket and start packing, he takes it out of my hand, throw it in the couch and tell me I must stay, gesturing that he is leaving (or staying outside). I decide to stay but I have a terrible night, barely closing my eyes from time to time. Of course, now I think that it was very stupid of me. What good would be to remain awake? If I decided to stay, better as well get some rest and sleep. If there was an attack or anything, it would make no difference if I was awake or asleep. Nothing happened, of course.
When I am leaving in the morning, I see a young man and tell him the events of last night. It upsets me that he laughs a little bit. He tells me that the elderly man has some mental problems, to which I replied that so he should not be trusted as “guard” of the temple. The young man tells his father and some other men about it, but they all seem not to care very much. Unbelievable!
Later on, when I am waiting by the road for a lift, the young man comes talking to me. He apologizes again for the inconvenient, and starts asking about my travels. He offers many times to pay for either a taxi or a bus for my transportation, to which all offers I refuse. He buys some snacks and cookies, which I kindly accept. I meet two of his sisters in the middle time.
After waiting for a long time and no cars coming, he offers to drive me to the Dungargarh, in his motorbike, but he will take a shower first. I tell him that if I am still here when he comes back, I will accept. Five minutes after he leaves, a car going to Bikaner picks me up.
10 Years Around the World 