Bangalore, Karnataka, India – We checked out of the hotel leaving our bags behind and headed over to the British Library, the twin to the USIA to catch up on world events. We had taken a rickshaw over there, but he took us in these out of the way loops to make the meter run longer. Upon our arrival, we flat out refused to pay the amount on the meter and offered what it should have cost, 8 rupees. The driver would have nothing to do with that. So, Rich got the map out and outlined to the cop, the roundabout route we had taken and then the cop started cutting into the driver for trying to screw the tourists. We ended up giving the driver what we had originally offered, only he gotten a verbal spanking from the cop on top of it. One small victory for the foreigners.
We made it to the library where we sat all day long, reading everything. I read every economist printed since I had left London in October while Rich found some philosophy book to read. Four and a half hours later, we left and went back to the hotel to gather our belongings and headed over to the train station. We were off to Cochin in a few hours. We left the hotel for the station, but I managed to lose Rich during the 10-minute walk over to the station. I looked everywhere for him, even going all the way back to the hotel, but I eventually just went to the station. 10 minutes before the train was to depart, I found our carriage with Rich standing outside of it, imagine that. We boarded the train and went to sleep hoping that journey would be uneventful.