Friday 27th - The Plan Falls Apart.

We allow ourselves a lie in this morning and are almost last in to breakfast after which we pack our bags and laze around on the verandah,  writing up the blog and watching the wildlife. There are peacocks parading, several mongooses and a whole tribe of monkeys appears. At the front of the cottage there is a large tree with a fruit bat colony that we had managed to overlook previously.

Check out is 10 am so we shift our bags across to the main building and go for a short walk to look at the colony of Painted Storks that we saw as we arrived on Wednesday. Today they are all up in the tree tops but as we watch they take to the air en masse and fly a couple of lazy circuits before landing back on top of the trees. This happens two or three times and is quite a spectacle. We return to the lodge for a final cup of tea before setting out by car for Tundla Junction where we will catch our next train.

Due to the lack of bridges over the Yamuna the quickest way to Tundla is to go via Agra. This means a return trip over the strip of pitted rubble that has been called a highway. There are some real maniacs on the road today, most of them driving buses, and we are amazed that there are no accidents. Because we are due to be on the train from just after 4 pm until 10 am tomorrow we decide that a meal would be in order. We ask Vinod if he knows a place and he does. The prices are a bit ritzy but the food is OK. As we eat other tourists arrive to eat, no doubt on the recommendation of their drivers. One table of Americans decide to order Chicken Maryland. We left wondering if they got what they expected. 

Vinod is keen that we take a photo of the Taj Mahal and stops at a place with a good view. We read in the paper that there is a debate under way about how to clean it. The photo is taken. What D really wants is a shot of the railway bridge passing in front of the Taj but the opportunity does not arise. The traffic getting out of Agra is bad but once we hit the motorway we make good progress and arrive at the station about an hour before our train is due at 16.10. We ward off a porter who wants to charge us 300 rupees to carry our bags and see us onto the correct coach. When he sees that we are quite prepared to carry our bags the price drops but he has missed his chance. He tells us a story about a two minute stop and last minute platform changes. D does not budge.

The station here is a bit unusual with an island platform enclosed in a very Brunellian train shed. We locate the Waiting Room and grab a corner near to an electric socket. There is a chai vendor just along the platform and we avail of a cup each. This trip is a bit strange as it is one train but two different bookings - Tundla to Delhi in 3 tier AC and Delhi to Kalka in 1AC. If the train is on time we need to change coaches at around 8 p.m. There is a good data connection so we check things out.  The good news is that we have the 2 berth coupe from Delhi, the bad news is that the train is six hours late. D goes to check for information boards. The only one he can find is all in Hindi and there are no train numbers listed. Neither are there any overhead indicators on the platforms to show train number and coach position. 

We while away the time reading and whinging on Facebook.  This place has quite a high mosquito count so out comes the bug spray. Next we notice a rat scavenging under the seats. The power fails for a few minutes and then there are two rats. At dusk the train shed fills with hundreds, possibly thousands, of roosting starlings making enough noise to drown out the noise of the trains passing through the station. Before long they begin to make their mark on the platform surfaces.

At least the station announcer is keeping us informed about the trains that are coming and going in Hindi, English and a third language that we,  of course,  know nothing about. Then the English starts to disappear from these announcements and some trains seem to come and go unheralded. Is it coincidence that another porter appears to suggest that we will need help? D weakens and we agree a price of 100 rupees which will probably have our Indian friends rolling in the aisles. What Lord Cornwallis had to say about Tundla Junction has gone unrecorded but he could not have had a lower opinion of it than we do. We can't wait to leave.

But wait we do. Each update makes the train a bit later until there is finally an announcement just before midnight. The train will be in shortly and Indian Railways deeply regrets having messed the Ws about. At 12.20 the train arrives and the porter appears, picks up our two rucsacs and leads us for about fifty yards along the platform to coach B3. Most people in the coach are in bed but he wakes them all up by asking at each bay if this is 41 and 42. Our lower berth has a young woman in it who he evicts in order to errect D's middle berth where he dumps the bags and holds out his hand. D gives him the agreed fee and he says 'Two bags, two hundred' Every time we have used porters there has been a row like this which is why we haven't used them at all on our last three trips until now. We just want to get to sleep so D coughs up.

The middle berths are not as claustrophobic as D expected but those upper berths really are a long way up.  Sleep! Fat chance. The evicted woman sits opposite us chuntering to the bloke in the lower berth, then the coach attendant arrives, switches on the lights, has a row with the woman, goes away, comes back with our sheets and switches the lights out. Then the TTE arrives, switches the lights on, checks our tickets, has a row with both the man and woman opposite which results in her being sent out of the coach. Every now and then somebody gets up to go to the loo and switches the lights on. As we do not know what time we will arrive in Delhi D has ordered an alarm call from Indian Railways. This comes at 2.30 and a voice says 'You are now approaching Old Delhi station. We get there at about 4.20. We have no chance of making our 5.30 connection nearly 270 km away.

When asked why he comes to India D always tells people that it is for the train travel.