Another Day another Train..oh and a Bus

June 26, 2010 in Travel Stories, Update

Cramed into my bunk on the 32 Hour train ride from Varanassi

It’s 3am and for the fifth time tonight I’ve been awoken as someone tries to sit on my bunk. Kicking them off, as I’ve barely got enough space for myself, I look down at the ridiculous number of people crammed into the train carriage. Every inch of floor is taken up with snoring men, squirming children or luggage and up and down the walkway people are literally sleeping on-top of one-another.

Welcome to the Indian train network.

It is said that at any one time more Indians are on a train, or waiting for one, than the entire Australian population (22 odd million). I used to think this was an exaggeration but now I’m not sure.

Arriving at the Varanasi train station you are confronted with what looks like a sea of a thousand people all camping in the main terminal, add to this the several 1000 waiting on the walkways, steps and platforms and I can see how the numbers start to add up.

When my train, Varanasi to Mumbai (Bombay) Express, finally arrived 3 hours late the rush of people was immense. Because ‘General Class’ is first come first served Children, chickens and luggage where thrown aboard even before the train was fully in the station. One mother even went to the extent of boosting her small child through the bared window so he could reserve a seat!

I was lucky, in respect, as I’d booked a bunk in the 3rd Class AC carriage, at least guaranteeing me a place on board. That said when I first found my allotted spot I did have to removed the 5 full suitcases that had been hoisted there but the family in the bunks below. They had apparently booked two bunks, for the five of them, meaning within ten minutes of leaving the station I was joined by two of their children looking for a place to play cards.

What surprised me more was after the ticket inspector had walked through the sheer number of extra ‘family members’ that appeared from the other carriages. The family of five below me grew to a family of seven, all seemingly carrying 4 suitcases each.

The journey was, luckily, rather uneventful. I did enjoyed watching the chaos that ensued every time a group needed to exit the train at one of the ‘Short stops’, which weren’t actually stops at all, the train merely slowed through the station allowing passengers to tumble from the doorways onto the platform, followed closely by their luggage and children.

After thirty two hours the train finally slowed as it entered the outer Mumbai area. The view from the train window summed up India quite well. Next to the train line slums of blue plastic and scavenged corrugated iron sheets grew out of the mountains of rubbish that seem to signify the outskirts of every Indian city. Far on the horizon ‘New Mumbai’, its high rise buildings, five star hotels and multi-million dollar marina, glinted in the smoggy sun.

The train pulled into the Mumbai Central Station and I exited happy that, for now at least, I’d get a break outside in the somewhat fresh air until my 11pm train to Goa, well that was the plan anyway.

I was wrong.

Being the now seasoned traveler I am, I had overlooked the fact that it was Sunday. I say overlooked, I had NO idea what day of the week it was. Had I had any idea that today was the sabbath then I would have known that the foreign ticket office was shut and I was now faced with the prospect of 1) Sleeping in the Station or 2) taking the ten hour Mumbai to Goa train in General seating class along with Cows, Chickens and 1,000,000 Indians. It took nearly an hour, plus a trip to an internet cafe to realize my mistake.

Luckily being the resourceful chap I am, and because both of the previous prospects sounded as appealing as getting my chest waxed, I found a travel agency that was open and booked an overnight coach , a 14 hour journey now awaited me on a bus that offered ‘the latest movies’.

The coach in the poster, the one that the agent had pointed to in his dingy little shop, was not to far removed from the one that pulled up at 8pm that night, although I will say the Bollywood movie they played, while being most nonsensical thing I have ever witnessed, kept me entertained before I finally dozed off. Once again, aside from the crazy burst into song at any moment movie, the journey was, as the train, uneventful.