I spent last night sleeping with four women and one other guy.

In my defence, I was riding the night train from Chennai to Mysore and shared close quarters with this group (who shared two words of English amongst the five of them). I did it the Indian way in a sleeper carriage with no air-conditioning. I was the only white man on this train other than a few Siberian Buddhist monks who preferred to discuss the Australian-Russian boxer Kosta Zu than Buddha’s three teachings (So much for non-violence). Unfortunately, the conversation was stifled by my lack of boxing knowledge.

This was my virginal voyage on India Rail. The rail company is the world’s largest employer in the world with 1.6 million workers, half of whom were busy giving me instructions about where I can or can’t sit on this 11-hour journey. That said, all in all it was a great experience I am hoping to repeat.

Today I discovered the reincarnation of Michael Jackson in the form of a break dancing Indian youngster who was showing of his moves on the stairs to the temple of the Goddess Chamundeswari – who is said to protect the Mysore region for evil (proving once and for all that Jackson was not evil). For the thousands of followers of the Jacksonian faith, fear not – the lama has been found.