clear the level crossing near the hotel entrance. The three man team who man the gates are thrilled to be the centre of attention and even offer D a bidi which is politely refused. The train is less busy than the one D took last year or even yesterday - not one person is travelling on the roof.
Breakfast is slightly more leisurely today and the auto is ready at 8.30. R, who feels a bit better today, tells D that this hotel has made up for the dump he booked in Gwalior last year. At the station there are two trains, both late running and both forecast to be a Platform 2 at the same time. While D tries to find out more R is ensnared in conversation by a young man who wishes to practice his English. D's fact finding takes him over to the NG platform where the Big Man is sitting in the same seat in the same coach as yesterday. This train is also much quieter and he has not locked the doors. Greetings are exchanged.
Back on Platform 2 the train that is not ours is announced and arrives, then departs. Soon our train , number 18507, is announced as arriving. It pulls in 20 minutes later and the running order is the opposite of the platform indicators, which means a 13 coach length dash along the platform to coach A1. We have to evict a group of women from our side berths, which they are using as a sandwich preparation area. By the time that we are settled in it is 10.05 and we are under way, 40 minutes late. We make good progress and actually recover 10 minutes by the time that we pull into Agra Cantonment.
We cross over to Platform 1 and pass a large delegation of men in uniform or suits with name badges who look like some kind of tour of inspection. The station seems to be rather clean and strangely quiet. At the main entrance/exit there are no touts and hardly any activity. There is quite a heavy police presence and a shifty looking crowd watching from the far side of the car park. It was most refreshing and if maintained will ruin Agra's reputation as 'Tout City'. Our driver, Vinod, arrives a couple of minutes later and we get loaded up. It takes a while to get out of Agra but we get going on the highway out to the south east heading for our next stay, the Chambal Safari Lodge.
Vinod has decent English but he is quite reserved. His driving style is not aggressive and he is not heavy handed on the horn. About an hour out of Agra D remarks positively on the subject of the road surface. Within a couple of miles the good road runs out and we are toiling along amongst the potholes. This road is lined with brickyards and an additional hazard is the bricks scattered around the road from overloaded carts and trucks. The gaps between brickyards are mostly occupied by tyre repair businesses. It wasn't quite forty miles of bad road but it felt like it. Just as we are getting fed up we turn off onto a very minor road, but one that it well maintained. We pass a pond full of painted storks and we are there.
The Lodge has a central block containg the restaurant, office and the owners' home and the guest accommodation is in small bungalows dotted around in pairs amongst the trees. Ours is cool and airy with a well equipped bathroomm and a rear verandah with deck chairs and charpoys. We unload our bags and head over to the lawn in front of the restaurant for a cup of tea. All of the other guests appear to be Europeans and most are having an alfresco lunch but we stick to our regime. The lady of the house comes to chat to us. The house has been in her husband's Singh family for generations and has been restored from dereliction. The conversation somehow turns to the raw deal that women get in India and stretches beyond a second cup of tea.
We are invited to join a nature walk around the grounds and the local fields. Other guests participating include an older French couple and a Scandinavian chap in full jungle fatigues who carries a serious camera with a paparazzi long lens. It is a very gentle stroll but Bhoopendra, our guide, knows the patch and finds some interesting birds for us including a brown headed barbet and a collared scops owl that looks like it belongs in a Dilbert cartoon. We continue through the fields to some wetland on the edge of a small village where there are waders and kingfishers to watch. The village itself is one of the poorest places that we have seen with not a single car to be seen and very few motorbikes. On the way back to the lodge R makes a great spot. Two spotted owlets, one above the other in a large tree.
It is starting to get dark and a bonfire is lit on the lawn. There is a bar here so we can enjoy a beer as we chat to other guests, most of who are appalled by Indian trains. The Lodge appears to specialise in high end tour groups and people who book through Cox & Kings. The office staff are a little surprised that we have booked direct. Supper is a buffet, preceeded by soup and a tandoori grilled starter. R gets to visit the tandoor which looks a bit like an oil drum. The secret is that the inside is coated in fireclay. After supper we sit at the bonfire, chatting to Mrs Singh and drinking tea until it starts to gently rain which we take as a cue to say good night.
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