I really like Indian train travel! This time I am travelling first class, and for something in the region of £50, I have travelled 1000 plus miles, had a good nights sleep in an air-con carriage, with evening meal, breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea all thrown in. I’ve watched miles of India pass by, caught up on all my writing, and had the pleasure of Indian company. Nobody wants to harass me or sell me anything. And at the end of my journey, H Murali Krishna of Village Vision Bio-Power, or one of the people from his organization, will be waiting for me and see that I get to my hotel.
They have a clever way of organizing first class. As the carriages are divided up into two or four berth compartments, each with a door, they wait until everyone has booked before allocating berths. As before, sleeping is mixed, so they put couples or unaccompanied females together – it’s all very civilized. You can find your berth allocation by texting your passenger number to a rail text line a couple of hours before the train leaves.
The washroom is spacious. A basin, chrome handrails, hooks but otherwise bare. I hadn’t realized there was a showerhead on the wall. Well, anyone who has spent any time at all in the gritty dust of Delhi will realize what a fantastically welcome sight that is. Five minutes later, and totally re-humanised, I was left contemplating the IRCTC-issue towel I had with me. Expecting only to be able to wash, a towel of, at most, 18 x 30” seemed a trifle small after a shower. But I’ve managed everything else so far.
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