The 46 hr train Journey

I stepped on the train and was met by Blue. Blue curtains, blue floor, blue seating, blue bed and blue tables and a tiny bit of daylight coming in from the filth stained windows. Oh No, i was back in "The Cell"

As I had been ill for 4/5 days prior to the journey, when the Biriyani Man came around selling lunch, i decided to give it a miss. Plus I had not yet checked out the toilets so I thought I would play it safe. The toilets, how it turned out was one Indian, one western, which in turn was the same hole in the floor as the Indian but with a seat over it. The hole went straight to the rail lines out and about in the open so you can only imagine the stench across these lines. However, i was surprised at how often they were cleaned, same with the train itself. A team of young locals would appear at every few stations with mop and air freshner, so that was quite refreshing.

After only 10 minutes of being on the train, the Guru was posing for pics and it was then I noticed that we were THE only Westerners on the thing. People were coming over and introducing themselves, sitting down for a chat. These were to be our cabin neighbours for best part of the journey so it was nice to get to know people so soon.

Howerver, The Guru's eagerness for this train journey was undeniably infuriating as whilst i likened it to prison (again), he described it as "like being on a train to Hogworts".

Not getting any lunch was a huge mistake as dinner was not served until 8.00pm by which time james has already swapped email address's with 2 people, one who had left the train after only a few stops, the other who shared our compartment and was going to Goa. i say "our" compartment but i was sleeping around the corner in my own bunk. After dinner, i climbed to my own bunk which I had yet to try out and called james every name under the sun. My bed was in the corridor. I had no room to turn over on to my side and even if i did, my bed was on a slope so i rolled back. I was in my very own capsule and this my home for 2 days and 2 nights. i could have cried.

Everyone goes to bed early on the train as some passengers change through the night and some get on, so i couldnt sleep for ages and I had no-one to talk to. Someone was singing outside my curtain and i wished him to stop but i knew if he did, the snoring in the distance would only seem closer. Aarrggghhhh

All I could think of was how the guru had knabbed himself a 4th berth cabin with more room and a neighbour to chat to (who was a nice chap) who even offered james a whisky. Yeah, they are probably playing cards and drinking and I am in solitary confinement, I was thinking whilst also imagining that this is how an astronaut must feel.

DAY 2

I awoke to find james's jail mate had gotten off the train and his berth was now filled with women (hee hee hee). He later admitted that he was startled to see the girl on the bunk opposite staring at him when he awoke the next morning, and the morning after. A bit later on in the day, james was confined to his bed with a migraine. Unfortunatly for him i started playing cards which attracted our neighbours in the opposite bunks (a burping lady in a sari and her daughter - the starer), a business man who had introduced himself earlier on in the journey and his young assistant and 2 of the 4 young men who were in the berth facing my bunk. My lonesome game of cards had become the talking point and turned into the young men doing card tricks for everyone, we had music playing and we were all getting along even though i cant speak Hindi and everyone else's English was very basic. Had i become the the Guru'ess?