The Indian railway system employs a whoping 1.5 million people. It’s the 2nd greatest employer in the world. At a glance, it looks like a chaotic excuse to trample passangers, but behind the scenes things are surprisingly well run.
The 12 hour journey to Varanasi was surreal to say the least. I can honestly say it’s the closest (I hope) I’ll ever be to sleeping in jail (without all the raping and with slightly worse bathrooms). There are various classes:
- First come, first served, concentration camp style, cargo, get out or get stampeeded– literally. This option is not available to foreigners as far as I can tell, and is hardly different than hitchiking on an empty trailer with 200 other people.
- 2nd class/sleeper. 95% of people travel here. Six dirty bunk beds to a few square feet. No bedding. No AC. No heater. We used this option.
- 3 A/C. The middle class of traveling options. Clean sheets, actual padding on the beds.
- 2 A/C. Upper middle class.
- First class. Posers.
A few hours into our journey I was having serious regrets about submitting Yano to this, but she seemed to be taking it in stride– smiling throughout, and falling asleep within 4.5 minutes of departure. We met a Kuwaiti immigrant, an Afghani who I had to help find his seat, and a million staring Indians. Needless to say, we didn’t see any tourists.
Dheeraj had warned me that not even he traveled in sleeper class. I wanted to see it for myself. He was right. We should’ve booked 3AC.
When we got to Varanasi we met a couple Aussie backpacker girls who had taken a 16 hour similar journey and were doing back-to-back 12 hour over night trains: sleeper class. I felt like a wuss, having thought of signing up for 1st class for our next leg. In my defense, I thought the odds of getting sick were highly in our favor… that is, until we saw the Ganges river, and realized what a treat the train ride had been… but I’ll leave that story for our next post. In the meantime, I’ve uploaded more pictures at the same address, and will continue to do so throughout.
Time for some curried pancakes.
Merry Christmas mommy and daddy we missed you so much….. please come back soon and do not forget our doggie gifts.
Ps. The girls: Karma & Dixie also misses you guys!!!!!
At least you can open the window in sleeper class… Just wait till there is a fight over how cold the AC is in AC classes, blasting cold or cold with frostbite.