On the Road

Long bus and train rides are where it's at.
It feels like you are doing something because you are moving, you are commuting, you're getting "there" so you are free to think about anything you wish, you don't have to feel guilty saying "oh I shouldn't be just sitting here, I'm in India (or wherever you are) and I should 'go out' and 'experience the culture.'" No. You have been liberated from the feeling that your time could be used more valuably and are allowed to think anything - about the design of the seat covers, about the things you don't know about life, about your destination, about nothing. And watching the country pass by the window really eases you into thought process.
The sunlight beats a rhythm through the trees that line the road and can't they make these roads smoother? At least it's not as infuriating as that perfectly still chair that sits under you while you try and read something that all it makes you want to do is get up and do something else. Anyways I love when the sun plays through the green trees like that all golden and like a perfect set of eyes only one missing.
And when you get out of the city the wind pours in through the open windows as thick as meat and tastes like a full meal. You breathe deeply and slowly and look around the bus at everyone bored or sleeping and wish they knew where they lived. And the train is the same thing except less bumpy. Sometimes you catch air off the bumps in a bus.
And taking overnight trains anywhere is a good idea. For the price of a room you don't need one and you get somewhere else. Don't take the AC class - you can't taste the country air and the windows are an odd tint that changes the real colors outside. Nothing is wrong with the sleeper class (as they call it in India) just make sure no one can reach in through those barred open windows and snatch some necessary item out of your pack - but that's a fair trade for plastic windows whose crimes I've told you already.