Monday 23rd - Heading North

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Our trip from Gondia to Gwalior on the Chhattisgarh Express lasts about as long as the overnight narrow gauge trip but covers 907 km, more than twice the distance. An hour or so after we went to sleep we went through Nagpur again, completing a circle of about 800 km circumference.  In fact we don't just go through it, we change direction there which puts us in possession of the forward facing seats for the daytime hours.

We get a decent nights sleep and are awoken as the other two occupants of the cabin prepare to disembark at Bhopal. They have a bit of hanging around as the train is now running 40 minutes late. We take our time rousing ourselves and risk an onboard omelette sandwich for breakfast. It is not going to be remembered as one of the culinary highs of this year's trip. The chai on this train comes in larger cups than normal and is most welcome.

A couple of stops after Bhopal an elderly couple take up residence opposite and tell us that they are travelling to Jhansi.  He has a little English and we converse for a while, discussing families and his stone quarrying business.  As the conversation dries up a little he explains that he and his wife are Jains and have a totally vegetarian diet. For good measure he adds that they only eat and drink once per day at 11 a.m. We may have misunderstood what he was saying as he did not have the figure of a man who got by on one meal per day. At 11 a.m. his wife opened a large carrier bag containing steel plates and various food containers. From another bag she produces a small milk churn which turns out to be full of water. He offers us some of the peanuts and spicy dal mix that he has on his plate and then passes round the puris. We explain that we don't really eat during the heat of the day as it kills our appetites. 

The train alternates between high speed dashes and sections of dawdling, with a couple of unscheduled stops thrown in. The Unreserved coaches just ahead of us must be absolutely jammed as people are getting left on the platform at each stop. 

The Satpura NG crew could teach the big boys a lesson in timekeeping as we get in almost an hour and a half late. There is a silver lining to this cloud as it gives us a quick view of one of the NG locos running round the train in Platform 5 prior to the afternoon departure. Officially that is tomorrow's treat.

 Outside the station we see a sign for prepaid autos. By the time we discover that there is no kiosk we have a gaggle of automen and taxi drivers wanting our business and arguing with each other. We go with the first chap who approached us after all of the others had announced that the fare would be 100 rupees.

The trip to our hotel takes about 15 minutes and we twice cross the NG line on the way. Neemrana's Deo Bagh is part of a small chain of Heritage hotels that gets good reviews. It has been chosen to placate R who was extremely unhappy with last year's choice of hotel here, conveniently situated by the station and cheap as well. She does go on about hygiene at times.

The new place stands in its own grounds, well away from the road noise, and is basically a series of individual rooms with their own terraces around a large lawn. The room has a kettle and fridge as well as AC and a fan. The terrace has its own fan. R indicates her satisfaction.  The bathroom even has a totally decadent rain shower with almost instant hot water. What luxury. We get scrubbed up and take a turn around the grounds. There are peacocks and parakeets, as well as a couple of temples and a summer house. All rather splendid. Best of all we can hear the hooters on the NG locos as they pass quite close by. We sit on our terrace watching the bats as night falls and then enjoy a buffet supper in the rather smart dining room.