The Indian Bermuda Triangle
Trip Start
Nov 04, 2009
1
63
83
Trip End
Jan 28, 2010
Rajgir, Bihar, India
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Anyway we have two trains to catch today and due to the chain pulling antics on the way out to Rajgir we are not hopeful of making our connection, although we have allowed about 2 hours between trains, and the other train is coming from S India and may itself be running late, but at least we are prepared for the delay this time. We clip clop to the station and find our train already in, but locked. We get the standard breakfast of travellers, tea and biscuits and wait on the platform for someone to let us on to the train. We get on and find we are once more alone in the carriage, but that doesn't last. The chain pulling doesn't seem so bad today, just restricted to the small stations where the train doesn't normally stop and we make relatively good progress. We also come to the conclusion that not very many people buy a ticket to travel along this line as you see everyone trying to pile on to the back of the train at every station. After about an hour about 100 people try to get in to the carriage with us, we are not sure how many have a ticket but there we go. Two squeeze on to the bench with us and four opposite us. Someone tries to move our luggage, but the men opposite tell them to leave it there. They probably said something along the lines of - those two daft foreigners are probably the only people on this train with a ticket so the least we can do is leave their luggage there - of course we will never know what was actually said, but :o).
We eventually get to Patna and we have made good time, we are looking good to catch our connection - excellent news. We go to the electronic time table only to find our train isn't on there - is this starting to sound familiar yet?? We resigned ourself to being delayed once more, and went to the waiting room and Martin went to find out more info. To our surprise apart from a platform change the train was scheduled in on time - fantastic. We wait and with plenty of time go to the right platform, and when a train comes in - we find it isn't ours!!!! I am left on the platform with the bags ignoring the contstant requests for money from old and young alike while Martin tries to find out what is going on. The staring here has surpassed anything so far, including Shekhawati and it even gets to the point where men will stop in front of you and eye you up and down as you are walking along while talking to their mates. After a few such incidents I have had enough and refuse to walk around, I must be looking mean as they are starting to scatter out of my way like skittles. It is as we first feared instead of our train leaving at 1.10 in the afternoon, it is now going to be after 4pm, so we decide to make our way back to the waiting room, which is a sanctuary of comfy seats and no one taking much notice of us, but I am determined to find some food. As luck would have it there is a good, clean restaurant on Platform 1 and we feel better for some food and a cup of tea, and we head back to the waiting room. Further attempts to get information are useless but Martin did mention that no one gives him a second glance while he is on his own and he finds it much easier to get around so I am stuck in the waiting room until our train comes in.
We have after careful consideration come to the conclusion that India may have it's very own Bermuda triangle, but here it is trains that go missing, and it is centred on Patna. Martin has gone to find out information regarding how long our train is going to be, but all he can get in response is that it is lost?!? :S We carry on sitting and waiting, and eventually someone turns up and decides our train has been found and it will be due in shortly - we raise our hopes slightly, but not too far as the spectre of disappointment is never too far away!! It is now almost 7pm, yep 7pm we should be arriving at Allahabad in 15 minutes, but we still haven't left Patna. We eventually move to Platform 2 and join the host of other people milling around and at last our train comes in - excellent news - but alas Patna hasn't finished with us yet. We were on a waiting list for seats on this train - yes we remember Darjeeling - but we were given confirmed seat numbers earlier. We get on the train to find one berth thankfully empty - yippee - but the other occuped - oh no!! We double check our info, and for the first time we find we are separated and someone is sleeping happily in our other bunk. We decide to share a bunk, which considering as a one person bed they are pretty uncomfortable, for 2 it is even more uncomfortable - but we are on the move!! We chat to a guy sharing the sleeping compartment and he and his girlfriend had been on the train for 2 days and one night already - owch!! They had another night and a day to go now that is a long time, plus delays that doesn't bear thinking about. We settle down and set our alarm for the estimated arrival time at Allahabad, and try to sleep.
