Racecourse + Packing + Train

Today we leave for Namakkal! But first we visited the race track and attached veterinary clinic. We got to see (and pet!) some of Indian's top race horses. We also saw the track and where they preform physical therapy such as their water pool and treadmill. They apparently were unaware that we were coming however and had little planned, so they took us to the nearby riding school.  It was one of the rider's birthdays and they had a buffet set up for everyone to enjoy. We felt a bit awkward being there as we knew no one, but they seemed to like talking to us-- we're good entertainment though I guess. We played with some of the horses and took some photos. The native horses here have very curled ears. They are super cute. After a while, Heidi, Michael and I decided to try to get to the treehouse perched in one of the trees. None of us could reach over to the landing though. Michael posed for a picture at the top of the ladder...and the rung broke. Luckily there was a giant pad beneath the treehouse that caught him.
We made it back to the hostel and had a late lunch. Afterwards we went to Spencer's to get some snacks and the pharmacy for some medication to make the train ride more enjoyable. We met with Dr. Subbiah (now deemed 'Papa Elan'-see below) and Ruby, his wife, to hear the rundown of getting to Namakkal, and later Ooty. Ruby also took Julie, Heidi and I to get our eyebrows threaded. It was a whole 35rs (50c) so I thought why not. We had the rest of the evening to finish packing. Packing was difficult. We will not be returning to Chennai before we go to the Taj Mahal. That means everything we have will have to go on the plane with us. The plane only lets each person have a 15kg (~35lb) bag and a 7kg (~15lb) carry on. I brought a 50lb bag with me to India and many brought 2 bags, so getting a months worth of clothing and supplies into 22kg was a bit challenging. Plus you have to consider the weight that will not be there in a month, like my and Heidi's rum, and shampoo and body wash. We got everything together and were ready to leave by 9:30p.
A couple of cultural things I feel like I should mention at some point and didn't know where to throw them in. Indian names are weird. Our professor's name is Elankumaran Subbiah. Elankumaran is his given name. Subbiah is his father's given name. They do have a family name, but it is not commonly referred to. It would be like Billy being called 'William Ernest'. Or my dad being called 'Ernest Ernest' :P. So when we call him Dr. Subbiah we are calling him by his father's name. Elan is his shortened name, and he is very much like a father figure- very protective, does a lot of the planning, worried about our health, and never wanting us to take any chances like with vegetables or outings. Other cultural things? Well you probably know they do more of a head bob rather than a nod for things like yes or agreeing. Its very fluid and kinda fun to do, but it is difficult for us to distinguish from a head shake for 'no' and a head bob for 'yes'. Also when we first arrived we weren't sure if they were shaking their head in a sort of 'maybe' fashion. Finally, there are a lot of noises all the time here. During the day there are cars honking almost constantly. They use it as a way of saying they want to pass, want to move, want to say hi, or for anything really. Then there are backup music that all of the cars play when they are headed in reverse. The mosque nearby plays a call to prayer 5 times a day. At night there are all sorts of bugs and birds making noises. Sometimes we have nights where it is just like a wall of noise and the birds keep us up. The birds around the hostel are mostly Jungle Crows and Giant Parakeet. The Giant Parakeet almost sound like monkeys the way they whistle. I'll try to take a soundclip. But then some nights its eerily quiet. Like silence. And then, once and a while (maybe every hour or so?), the bugs will erupt in an explosion of noise for about a minute, and then it will stop again. Its weird.
We made it to the train station and found our train that left at 10:50p. Heidi and I were placed in a separate car from the rest of the group, one car down. Dr. Palinsamy, a professor helping us with boarding tried to find 2 that would be willing to switch with us to no avail. But it wasn't bad. We talked with the people sharing our compartment and Dr. Palinsamy spoke with them to make sure we would get off at the right stop. It was a sleeper train so there were 8 of us to a compartment. Two stacks of 3 and a stack of 2. As we pulled off to leave the station, Mutu waved goodbye and ran after the train :).
We spoke for a bit with our compartment mates- one was a computer scientist and offered to let me watch 'Friends' on her phone, she was very sweet. I went to visit the group in the other car. It is slightly terrifying crossing cars on these trains with open air connectors. I returned and climbed up to the 2nd bunk to try and sleep. Heidi was directly above me in the 3rd bunk.