People have been telling us that there's nothing like traveling by train in India. I can now say that they're absolutely right. The good thing is that you can get just about anywhere by train. We had heard that it's a five-hour drive between Delhi and Agra, but just a three-hour train ride. Hiring a car and driver to make the trip costs infinitely more than train tickets do, even first-class tickets. So we bought train tickets. No problem.
The driver we'd been using in Delhi dropped us off at one of the main stations there, and we were immediately swallowed up in a mass of people. If you ever travel here by train, travel light or you'll be doomed. We fought our way through the crowds of coolies outside the station and through security, which was a bag scanner and a metal detector. Inside the station there were so many people we could barely move. This photo doesn't begin to to do it justice, because it was taken on the outskirts and after we had gotten our bearings.
We stood for a bit trying to figure out where to go while pretending to look like we knew exactly what we were doing. Showing any kind of confusion or trepidation here will draw all kinds of unwanted help, most of it with a hefty price tag. We long ago learned that if you act like you know what you're doing, then everyone will think you do and will leave you alone to do it. We weren't entirely successful, though, because people kept walking by us and telling us our train was delayed for three hours. How did they know we were going to Agra? No idea.
There was a man at the station whose job seemed to be to try to herd the crowds of people in the right direction. He walked around waving a long bamboo stick and blowing a whistle. He'd use the stick to push people away from lines they weren't supposed to be in or windows that were closed ... at least I think that's what he was doing. It was hilarious! I've never seen anything like it. This people-herder passed our little group several times, and every time he did he gave us a quick glance and moved on, as if wondering what we thought we were doing.
We already had our tickets, so all we had to do was figure out which platform we had to be on and when. Our train wasn't showing up on any of the screens, though, so after making a few calls to see if there was any way out of it, John left us in a corner and joined the throngs in front of a window marked "enquiries." About 30 seconds later, our train showed up on the screen with the platform number and the information that it was, indeed, delayed for three hours.
Caroline was just about to go after John when he came back. We thought he'd seen the information on the screen, but no! The people-herder had seen him at the back of the line and very kindly shoved about a million people out of the way and ushered him right up to the window. Ha! I wish I had a photo of that guy.
So we had a three-hour wait on the train platform with about 5 million other people. Awesome. The kids actually did really well. They read or played games, and John occasionally took them on excursions to find chips and candy. They quickly gained doting fans among the other passengers.
I had to turn my brain off a little and deal with the fact that I wasn't going to keep the kids off that filthy floor for three hours. You'll be glad to know that no one picked up any dread diseases.
Speaking of dread diseases, I think the worst part of all this for me was the toilet issue. Not to worry, I won't go into too much detail. It took several swims through the masses of humanity to even find the restroom (I gave up and went back to the platform twice), and once I found it I almost wished I hadn't. I'm pretty sure it's the worst I've ever seen, and that's saying something.
The bathroom was, of course, as far away from our platform as it is possible to be, so I took several trips with kids right through the center of the crowds. The only other Westerners I saw were small groups of college-age backpackers. I was a little surprised, because we do know several families who regularly take the trains.
Here are our neighbors on the platform.
When the train finally arrived we had to battle crowds surging in all directions to find our car. Caroline and Evie caught the worst of this, for some reason. Evie proved again what a trooper she is, though, and simply kept hold of Carrie until they fought their way free. Here we are safely in our compartment, which wasn't half bad.
Honestly, once we were on the train, everything was dandy. We bought biryani and a deck of playing cards from the vendors who walk the train between stations. The kid who sold us the playing cards was hilarious. I ended up giving him about half of what he initially wanted for the cards, but he laughed through the whole negotiation. Caroline and I taught the kids to play War, and that kept them busy for quite a while. And there really was someone who wandered by occasionally, calling out "chai, chai, coffee, coffee!" So fun. Eventually, Evie and Johnny climbed to the upper bunks and slept until we finally arrived in Agra close to midnight.
And guess what? We're doing it again in March. We plan to take the train to Mysore over Johnny's spring break. It's going to be awesome.
The driver we'd been using in Delhi dropped us off at one of the main stations there, and we were immediately swallowed up in a mass of people. If you ever travel here by train, travel light or you'll be doomed. We fought our way through the crowds of coolies outside the station and through security, which was a bag scanner and a metal detector. Inside the station there were so many people we could barely move. This photo doesn't begin to to do it justice, because it was taken on the outskirts and after we had gotten our bearings.
 |
| This is taken over the sparsest section of the crowd. Most of the station had no spare space to speak of. |
There was a man at the station whose job seemed to be to try to herd the crowds of people in the right direction. He walked around waving a long bamboo stick and blowing a whistle. He'd use the stick to push people away from lines they weren't supposed to be in or windows that were closed ... at least I think that's what he was doing. It was hilarious! I've never seen anything like it. This people-herder passed our little group several times, and every time he did he gave us a quick glance and moved on, as if wondering what we thought we were doing.
We already had our tickets, so all we had to do was figure out which platform we had to be on and when. Our train wasn't showing up on any of the screens, though, so after making a few calls to see if there was any way out of it, John left us in a corner and joined the throngs in front of a window marked "enquiries." About 30 seconds later, our train showed up on the screen with the platform number and the information that it was, indeed, delayed for three hours.
Caroline was just about to go after John when he came back. We thought he'd seen the information on the screen, but no! The people-herder had seen him at the back of the line and very kindly shoved about a million people out of the way and ushered him right up to the window. Ha! I wish I had a photo of that guy.
So we had a three-hour wait on the train platform with about 5 million other people. Awesome. The kids actually did really well. They read or played games, and John occasionally took them on excursions to find chips and candy. They quickly gained doting fans among the other passengers.
I had to turn my brain off a little and deal with the fact that I wasn't going to keep the kids off that filthy floor for three hours. You'll be glad to know that no one picked up any dread diseases.
Speaking of dread diseases, I think the worst part of all this for me was the toilet issue. Not to worry, I won't go into too much detail. It took several swims through the masses of humanity to even find the restroom (I gave up and went back to the platform twice), and once I found it I almost wished I hadn't. I'm pretty sure it's the worst I've ever seen, and that's saying something.
The bathroom was, of course, as far away from our platform as it is possible to be, so I took several trips with kids right through the center of the crowds. The only other Westerners I saw were small groups of college-age backpackers. I was a little surprised, because we do know several families who regularly take the trains.
Here are our neighbors on the platform.
 |
| Johnny's expression just cracks me up in this one. |
Honestly, once we were on the train, everything was dandy. We bought biryani and a deck of playing cards from the vendors who walk the train between stations. The kid who sold us the playing cards was hilarious. I ended up giving him about half of what he initially wanted for the cards, but he laughed through the whole negotiation. Caroline and I taught the kids to play War, and that kept them busy for quite a while. And there really was someone who wandered by occasionally, calling out "chai, chai, coffee, coffee!" So fun. Eventually, Evie and Johnny climbed to the upper bunks and slept until we finally arrived in Agra close to midnight.
And guess what? We're doing it again in March. We plan to take the train to Mysore over Johnny's spring break. It's going to be awesome.
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