Indian Travel Experiences - the good and the bad!

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2nd Dec to 4th Dec - Indian Travel Experiences - the good and the bad!

Once we successfully crossed back into India, we had to figure out how to get from the border town to the closest town with a railway. The closest place was Gorakhpur, about a 2.5 hour bus journey away. Whilst wandering down the main street of Sunali discussing our situation, a man approached offering a taxi service to Gorakhpur. His pitch was exactly what we had come to expect - the bus ride was actually 4 hours and the tickets twice what our guide book listed! Whilst we didn’t believe him, his price was good and after our last bus journey, a car sounded like luxury. We were taken to a shared taxi which already had 4 Indian lady passengers; we loaded up and set off for Gorakhpur.

The women in the taxi were really nice and started asking us in their broken English where we were from and what we thought of their country. Apparently Nepal is very dirty but India is clean in comparison, so the women said... we weren’t one to argue. They were nice enough to share food with us including oranges and sweets, even giving us more than them, a very lovely gesture and since we hadn’t had lunch and weren’t to have dinner even better.

We had planned to travel to Varanasi and see all the ghats on the Ganges, but it was a long ride east from where we were and we would then have to double back west towards Agra (Taj Mahal) and all the other sights we were interested in seeing. So we decided to skip Varanasi since we had already experienced the ghats in Nepal; seeing one dead body was enough for us.

We arrived in Gorakhpur at 6pm and the ticket office informed us there were no reserved seats available to Agra that night. The best he could do was 2nd class unreserved to Lucknow, a town half way to Agra and six hours on the train. We made a decision to jump on the train and make it halfway that night instead of staying in Gorakhpur... a decision we would question time and time again over the next few hours, which seemed like eternity!

According to the Lonely Planet “Train travel is one of the joys of India”, this is correct if travelling anything other than 2nd class unreserved for 6 hours in rush hour, and at night. The carriages are a free for all, just getting into the carriage with our rucksacks and finding a place to store them was a challenge. The typical place to store luggage, on the rack above the seats, was actually being used as seats or beds by people. We couldn’t find anywhere to put our bags until a family man told someone sleeping on the rack to move so we could put them up, much to his annoyance. Finding somewhere to sit was the next challenge and although the same guy offered us what appeared to be a spare seat, we quickly found that a scarf was as good as a reservation ticket so had to move on.

The lower caste people travel in 2nd class and within the lower castes there seems to be a hierarchy - one which we didn’t fit into or couldn’t understand. Although there were free areas of bench, they appeared to be ‘reserved’, and luggage racks (doubling as beds) appeared only for the better dressed or more aggressive fellows. Luckily an older gentleman and a lady took pity on us and allowed us to sit beside them. We literally had room for half a bum cheek on a wooden seat with six or seven other people on a bench made for four. This was our seat for the next six hours!

As if six hours sitting on half a bum cheek is bad enough, we also departed late and so appeared to miss the trains track slot for the rest of the journey. Every 10 minutes we ground to a halt to let another train pass with the stops varying from a few minutes to up to 20 minutes. We knew this was going to be a long and uncomfortable night!

While we sat trying to amuse ourselves, we quickly realised that we were the talk of the carriage. People weren’t actually talking to us, they were talking about us which we picked up from some of the words being used and gestures in our direction. Finally, the old man asked us in broken English if we had tickets. He started explaining about the different classes in a train and wondered whether we were in the right carriage. We tried explaining we couldn’t get reserved but were happy in this carriage, although we don’t think they understood.

As the journey continued, we got a few questions about our country, where we were going, what we were doing, and general stuff. Unfortunately none of our companions had enough English (and we had zero Hindu) so the conversations didn’t last long. In between questions, the conversation continued around us and we were well aware that we were the topic of conversation as we kept hearing words dropped into their talk.

As the night progressed, some younger people joined the carriage who had been drinking and were immediately drawn to us, squeezing into the seats near us. Asking more questions, each answer seemed to be used as a joke for their friends and the others in the carriage. Whilst initially this was fine, it persisted and became more uncomfortable with each passing minute. Some people were also chewing tobacco (called naan) and adding some sort of white powder. Their blank and glazed stares told the story, this all added to the uncomfortable situation! Not understanding what others say about you in unfamiliar and uncomfortable surroundings is definitely not much fun!

Food and chai tea was offered at each station through the open windows which had bars on them. Neither of us was willing to brave the toilet as we knew it would be worse than the drop hole in the upper class carriages plus we didn’t want to leave the other for fear of losing our seats!

Finally at 2.30am, 2 hours behind schedule, we reached Lucknow, a big and bland city. Consulting our trusty Lonely Planet we found a place with 24 hour reception close to the station. The manager obviously saw an opportunity and took full advantage charging us Rs. 3,500 for the night (approx 50 pounds)! Tired and dirty we agreed and after a good scrub in the shower we fell thankfully into bed (it was actually a great room... but not for that price!).

The next morning we swapped thoughts about the journey and concluded that although it was stressful and unpleasant at times, we were glad we experienced a real part of India... but one we didn’t want to repeat again! Between the lovely Indian ladies in the taxi and the unreserved train ride, we think we had experienced a lot of what Indian travel is all about!

The next day we managed to get a reserved seat on a train from Lucknow to Agra. The tickets were 2AC, meaning the carriage is divided into two level bunks (four in an area) with air conditioning. This really was the joy of travelling in India as the carriage was clean, bedding provided and the rocking of the carriage is soothing - even with the loudest snorer, Mr Kumar (a flight Lieutenant relocating with his wife to Jodhpur) next to you. After departing at 23.30, we arrived into Agra at 07.00 and although tired, we were ready to see the mystical Taj Mahal.

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