Sunday March 31, 5:49 pm
A few months ago Tania, Alex, and I decided that we would
take our Easter weekend and go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. None of us could
really fit it into our traveling schedule, but it is only a 12 hour train ride
from Varanasi, and we could not justify coming to India without seeing it. We
chose the weekend, chose the destination, and bought the tickets at least a
month ago. That is when our troubles began.
We told the travel agent that we wanted to take the overnight
train there Thursday night, and the Friday night train back. However, when we
told him what we wanted the train office was already closed for the night, so the travel agent told us to
come pick them up the next day. We agreed, but the three of us had to bring our
passports and go together to pick them up, and we just could not get our acts
together. India has totally killed our sense of urgency, and it was tomorrow,
tomorrow, tomorrow. Finally about a week ago Tania passes the travel agent,
and he tells us that if we do not come to pick them up in the next 24 hours he
is going to have to give our tickets away. By some magic we managed to get to
the travel agent, passports in hand, and pick up the tickets. All was well.
Until….
We assumed we were fine, and just had to get on the train,
but in class this Tuesday, the day before the city shut down for Holi, I
happened to mention to my history teacher that we were going to Agra to see the
Taj on Friday. “That’s wonderful” She exclaimed, “but the Taj is a Muslim holy
sight, and it is closed for communal prayer every Friday.” WHAT? For a month we
had been trying to get these tickets, and now we were not going to see the Taj?
We rush to the travel agent and had to re-buy train tickets back in for
Saturday, committing to spend a night in Agra. For a while we were stressed
out, but in the end all was well.
Until…
We are comfortably on the train, snacks in hand, having
overcome Tania losing the train tickets in her room, and then thinking she
forgot her passport. We have settled into our seats and the train has left the
station and the men next to us politely asked “So, what are you three doing in
Calcutta?”
“Oh, we are not going to Calcutta” I say, “We are going to
Agra”
“That’s wonderful,” he says “But this train is going south
to Calcutta and Agra is to the north.”
We had somehow
gotten on the wrong train. When everybody else on the train had confirmed what
the man had said we more or less freaked out. We hopped off the train at the
next exit, a rural place that does not see much tourist action, and get an auto
back to the Varanasi Train Station, where we ran to the tourist booth. We hurriedly
told the man what we had done and without even blinking an eye or looking at a
chart he told us that there was a 6:40 train to one station way from Agra and
we could take a bus from there. Great, but it s currently 7:05. On the other
hand, it is India, so the train would not be arriving for five minutes. Tainia
and Alex went to go try and return our original tickets, and a guard took me to
where I needed to go to get new ones.
This turned out to be behind the ticket counter. I walked
in, and found myself facing the backs of the ticket sellers who were selling to
people on the other side of the glass. An older man noticed me first and asked
me what I need. I showed him the paper where the train number was written down,
and he handed in to someone one else. While we were waiting we started
chatting, and I told him I was a Math Student. “How does two a two make five?”
Asked the man. I shrugged and told him I did not know. “It doesn’t, except when
you are asleep in India. Then it does. Cause nothing makes sense at night
here.” I smiled politely, but let me tell you, if this was a novel that would
have been definite foreshadowing.
I was informed that after two hours before a train is scheduled to leave the stations stops selling tickets to everything but General
Class, to which they never stop selling tickets. Everyone is just supposed
to stuff their way in. It is almost as if the El or Subway had overnight
trains. You get whatever space you can get, and that was it. However, once
you got on the train if you had money you could upgrade your class by talking
to the conductor. All we had to do was find a train official and we would get
beds in Sleeper Class, which we had initially planned on travelling in. I got
the tickets and after the sprint that would make the hallways of ETHS proud we
managed to find our train compartment. All was well.
Until…
We jumped into the train as it was starting to leave the
train station, and turn around to 30 Indian men starting at us. Three white
girls in general class. This does not happen.
Under this
scrutiny we walked through the car on the search for a conductor, but none was
to be been. We ended up in the back end of the last car in the train, and we
were faced with a choice. Do we go and find a conductor, and attempt to find
beds, though we will be separated, do we stay in general class and try to find
seats and not be able to sit together, or do we huddle on the dirty metal floor
behind the last row of seats, where at least we would be together and there was
a wall between us and the men’s eyes.
 |
| On the floor of general class |
Because we were not sure where to find a conductor, and we
certainly did not want to sit alone we decided to stay on the floor next to the
doors, and away from the men. A nice man who had been sitting there before
respectfully left even though it was the coolest part of the compartment, and
warned us that men sometimes tried to jump on the train without a ticket, so
under no circumstances were we supposed to open the door. Slightly freaked out
we nodded and sat down. The floor smelled like pee and looked even worse, but
at least there was a breeze from the window in the door, and we were together.
By that time we were exhausted from all the excitement, and
we could not believe where we were. With the help of the snacks we brought
along and a general sense of adventure we decided to make the best of it. We took the attitude that on the whole this situation was hilarious. It is a select group of
foreign women who have ridden in general class, on the floor no less, and with
a laugh we joined the club.
 |
| Princess Alex and the peasants sleeping on the floor |
For a few hours we laughed and talked, but when it was time
to go to bed we were in another predicament. How were the three of us going to
sleep in this cramped spot while keeping out stuff safe? We tried a few
positions out, but in the end Princess Alex ended up being able to lay complete
out, while Tania and I huddled under sheets with cold wind blowing on us from
the windows in the doors that could not be shut. Alex and Tania managed to go in
and out of sleep, and while I did not sleep I was not totally uncomfortable.
The car lights were still on, but the car was quite and peaceful. All was
relatively well.
Until…
About two in the morning we stop at a major station and the
first major influx of people come into the car. Everyone starts jockeying for
seats, and a fight breaks out. It almost came towards us, but the man who had
told us about train jumpers managed to stop them, saying no one could go back
there because there were foreign ladies. It was scary, but after a minute
everything died down, and the car was once again calm.
An hour later the nice man woke us to tell us that he had to
get off the train, but our stop was the next major one. We thanked him and he
was gone. We got up, organized our stuff, and at the next stop, under the
directions of the other men in the car, got off the train. We headed out to
look for the bus that would take us to Agra, and all was well.
Until…
It was four in the morning, so no buses were running. We did
not really know where we were, but we were clearly not getting to Agra before
sunrise. There was a bus tour of Russian people who we followed for a while,
but they said they were going someplace different, and they did not really seem to understand India away. However, some of the orderlies who were helping them
told us that the buses started running at 7am. Knowing that we were safer
waiting for the bus at the train station then taking an auto into Agra when we
did not have a hotel reservation we headed into a chaii stand, to wait for
three hours. We entertained ourselves with discussions of the pace of Indian modernization,
Alex’s secret Dungeons and Dragons history, and my pathetic ability to make 185
jokes. (We all know how bad I am at those in general, but at this point I was
out of practice and sleep deprived, but they were too so they thought I was
funny.) The chaii stand people liked us, and we had a generally good few hours.
At 6:30 we got on an auto that took us to the bus stop,
where we found the bus that took us to Agra. Another auto drive later, we had
finally made it. We found a hotel, managed to bargain the room down to half the
offered price, and settled in for a nap. By this time it was 8:00am, and we
were willing to put off our adventures for sleep.
As a way to deal with the situation we made good and bad
lists on the train. We kept them up through out the rest of the trip, but here
is the first installment.
Things that went
wrong on the way to Agra
Taj is closed of Fridays
Travel agent almost gives away tickets
Travel agent cannot read military time and tells us the
wrong time for our train. Good thing I can
Tania forgets she has the train tickets
Tania thinks she forgets her passport
We get on a train to Calcutta
We try to get off on the wrong side of the train
Auto driver tries to get 400 rupees from us. Alex chooses to
sit on her backpack
We go to the wrong part of the train station
We buy tickets for a train whose scheduled departure time
has already passed.
Tania had to budge Indian men in line
We cannot find the track
Walk in the wrong direction on the train making us sprint
back to…
GENERAL CLASS
We have to sit on the floor being undressed by Indian eyes
We have to sit on the floor being undressed by Indian eyes
The chocolate bars were expired
Tania forgets a sheet to sleep on
The floor smells like pee
We don’t know how to say the train station name
Things that went
right on the way to Agra
- We finally get on a train to Agra
- We have our health
- Tania knows where her passport is
- Snickers bars are delicious
- Wal-Mart brand raisins: Also yummy
- Nice men on both trains
- Helpful men at train stations
- Floors are dry. It is no longer raining
- Figured out we were headed to Calcutta before we got to Calcutta.
- Train does not feel like jail
- Our outfits look coordinated, with a black and maroon theme
- Not SO many bugs or SOO many people
- No extraneous mammals
- Shira gets to use her raincoat
- Tania does not have a migraine
- Alex told a funny poop story
- HILARITY
- Alex finds 5 Rupees: cool gold coin
- Shira finds extra hand sanitizer in purse
- Cookies
No comments:
Post a Comment