Worst Day...

I had a pretty bad day yesterday. I was traveling between Rishikesh and Varanasi by train and during the 20 hour ride a bag of mine was lost/stolen and I am now without a few important things including my passport, laptop, a piece of ladies' silver jewelry, 2 credit cards, and about $100 worth of cash. Total estimate... about $700 worth of valuables. Gone.

There was one point yesterday morning where I stepped off the train for a few minutes to buy breakfast and a drink while we were stopped at a station. When I returned there was a man sitting next to my bag on the upper berth in the sleeper cabin. I told him to get off and he left, but I didn't think anything of it. I did not realize anything was missing until I was checking into the hotel in Varanasi last night.

As I looked inside my backpack my heart just sank as I noticed that my laptop case (with the other items inside it) was missing. I returned to the train station, but by this time of night there was nothing that could be done by about it. In the morning I was able to file a police report at the train station.

Stories of theft on the trains are common; I should have been more cautious. This thief must have been watching me and waiting for the right moment to strike. In the 2 minutes that I was gone he capitalized on the situation. Live and learn.

All in all it is not that bad. I still have an ATM card so I can get cash. I am not stranded only feeling a little wretched over the loss. I have already canceled the cards (no fraudulent charges were made). Bank of America and American Express may even cover some of the costs of the theft or replace the items, but I have to wait until their special claims office is open during normal North American business hours to see what can be done.

I have filed a report with the local police. Although, the prospects of recovering the bag are minimal and the police were rather unsympathetic. The event occurred somewhere between here and there... a 1000km stretch of India. Even in their skepticism the cops did find the sympathy to file an official report so that I can take this to the main embassy in Delhi in order to secure a replacement passport and visa immediately. I will also need some official documents to send to the credit card companies if I should discover that they can replace any of the missing items.

Everything is replaceable, things are just things, but the big deal is the passport right now. I have contacted the embassy, but being Sunday they cannot do anything for me. I will call again tomorrow morning. In addition, I have already booked a train ticket to travel back to Delhi and will be at the embassy on Tuesday morning bright and early. Armed with my police report, some photo copies of my original visa and passport, some extra passport size photos, and my original Florida drivers licence along with a few other minor forms of identification I should be able to get the thing processed fairly quickly (hopefully). The embassy is like a little slice of the US right in the middle of all this chaos, so I am thinking there should be a rather straightforward process for replacing the passport. Maybe 7-10 days or less if I am lucky.

However, I am stressed about getting into France with this replacement passport. This is the single issue I am most anxious about... being able to get into Paris without any problems from the authorities. I would be really miserable if I had to cancel/postpone this trip because of my carelessness on the train yesterday.

In my misery I had a little insomnia last night... but when I was looking back on the last several months of traveling this is the first real hiccup I have had. The only other dark spot was the passing of my grandmother this summer.

All told I have been quite lucky: the truck never broke down or even got a flat tire, I never got pulled over and given a speeding ticket, nothing was ever stolen from the truck (except for Elaine's sneakers 24 hours after getting back into Pensacola), in India I haven't been sick to the point where I needed medicine or a doctor or hospital visit, in all the hikes I haven't gotten lost or hurt, nobody has tried to threaten or attack me, I haven't gotten chased or bitten by any wild Indian dogs, haven't gotten lost too badly on the railways or bus routes in India, no Malaria. Things have really gone extremely well and I am thankful for that. Shit happens...