THE TRAIN TO VARANASI

Later in the evening Subhash took me to a resturant to get some food for the train trip. We drank tea til the order was ready. Then we picked up a TCI agent who was going to accompany me to the train station and help me with my bags. I was going to catch the Marudlhar Express. It what is called a sleeper. You sleep the whole time til you get to your destination. This was the end of the line for Subhash. When we got to the station we shook hands and said good bye and I went into the station with the TCI agent. He had done this many times before so we found the place where my train would be making its stop and waited. When it finally arrived we found the berth and then he left.

The whole car was filled with Spanish people except for me and a Japanese guy above me on the top bunk. Someone told me that the Spanish come to India this time of the year as a rule, because for one, they don't mind the heat, and two,it's less crowded. There aren't many tourists in India this time of the year at the tail end of the monsoon season.

In the berth there were two sets of bunk beds. I took the steel wire out of my bag and secured my suitcase to the legs of the table underneith the window. Since there was only a curtain for a door I didn't want anyone coming in and stealing my stuff while I was asleep. After everyone was on board and the train started to move they shut the lights off. There was nothing left to do but try to get some sleep. It was quite late. There was a little light on the wall that could be used for reading but I didn't want to bother with it. I was kind of tired.

I laid down on the bed with my clothes on and covered myself with the two blankets that the train provided. I laid my head on my bag and a pillow and fell asleep right away, and slept through the night alright and woke up at the crack of dawn.

Sometime during the night two Spanish ladies came in and occupied the bunks across from me and the Japanese guy. The lady on the bottom bunk woke up shartly after I did. We smiled at each other and we both started taking pictures out the window. Most of the time I just sat and watched the world go by. Here are some of the things I saw out the window:

Square brick houses and cottages.
Grass houses with thatched roofs.
Brick houses with tile roofs.
Fields of corn and rice.
Different kinds of grass fields.
People sitting in fields of grass using a sickle to cut the grass.
Goats, cow, and bulls.
Rickity brick buildings, left over from British rule.
Grass shacks.
Buildings with Hindi writing on them
Brown rivers.
Old British style bridges.
Women dressed in colorful saharis.
Men in light trousers and shirts.
Corrugated tin roofs with bricks on top to keep the wind from blowing the roof off.
Plowed fields ready for planting.
Hindu temples here and there, each with a different god.
White birds.
Gravel piles
Brick buildings with thatched roofs.
Orange and yellow flags flying from buildings.

We made a stop at one station before we got to Varanasi. It was surreal. The train waited for what seemed like a long time there. It was early morning and there was mist in the air. Not a western person in sight. It was all Indian people catching the train to go to work. Many sadu's living the homeless life at first, and then business men and then women running to get to the train. I felt like I was in a dream. My mind was in a far away place thinking thoughts that that had never occurred to me before. I was at peace. All was calm. All was good.

Men's Bathroom on the Train