Agra and Jaipur
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007I arrived at the Varanasi train station about an hour early and found my train already at the station. This was not so surprising as the train orginated in Varanasi. I boarded the train and got my first view of sleeper class which is the second lowest class of the eight available in India. The car is arranged with six berths on one side of the aisle stacked three high and two berths running lengthwise along the corridor on the other. I had a top berth in the six. Much to my surprise, all the other five bunks were taken up by foreigners. Most travel at least 3 AC (the next class up). The windows opened but the windows had bars on them for security. In this class, no bedding is given, but this okay as I have a sleeping bag. The main difference between sleeper and 3 AC is the air conditioning and the bedding. As it wasn’t hot, I didn’t feel the need to pay a 2-3 times higher price for it. The train did get a little warm when we weren’t moving though. The bottom two bunks form a seating bench during the day.
I spent the first few hours visiting with the other people on the train and reading a newspaper that I had bought. As there is no dining car on the train, an attendant came by and took dinner orders. The choice was thali and only thali. This came about an hour later and was decent. It only cost 30 rupees. There were also many people selling tea and coffee. There were people passing selling different things to eat. Unlike China, I didn’t see any chicken feet for sale. We went to bed (everyone sort of has to agree on the time as we all share the bottom bed as a seat). At around 9:00 pm we went to bed. I didn’t get much sleep that night due to the cacophany of snoring around me. We were supposed to arrive in Agra at 6:00 am. Upon waking, we found we were going to be four hours late. In the morning, I ate my remaining crackers for breakfast. I passed the time watching the scenery out the windows and observing the policeman armed with rifles roaming the train. At one point, a cross dressing eunuch came strolling regally down the aisle bedecked in a bright sarri. He stopped at our section, waved, blew kisses, and then kept going. There are a caste of eunuchs and transgender people in India. They tend to show up uninivited to parties and weddings in groups requesting money. If you give them what they want they perform if not, I believe, they curse you. [read on]
cjun