Short version. We were standing at the train station in Darjeeling trying to book tickets to Varanasi and we informed that there were restrictions in place on trains from Siligory ( near Darjeeling) to Varanasi, and all other trains to locations nearby or on the same route as Varanasi were sold out ! A very quick decision was made to head to Kolkata first and book a train from there to Varanasi, onto Agra and then Delhi. We hadn’t yet had the pleasure of experiencing a long distance Indian train ride at this point so were quite positively naive about the experience and the cheap prices - a mere 600 rupees each $20! WOW a bargain! It is very true you always get what you pay for and this was no exception to the rule! Thankfully the first train ride which was Sleeper, AC class ( Air Conditioning) twice the price was bearable -JUST! Little did we know how basic even this class would be and what was installed for us in the lower class seats !
Another plan unfolded and in a matter of 1 hour all the tickets were pre-booked - oh what a journey we were about to embark upon ! Surely Indian trains would be more comfortable than Turkish night buses?????
The inside and outside view of the trains ( the class we obtained tickets for)
There are carriages for women, military, 1st and 2nd class and sleepers, people carrying produce or animals , and general- people crushed together standing room only and people hanging out the doors- literally!
Beggars work the platforms when you stop at stations or they board the train seeking money by sweeping the floor around you with their clothes to performing gymnastics up and down the narrow isles. They also search the cubicles for food left by travellers .
You get allocated a seat number in certain classes and then you have to move everyone out who is 'minding ' the seat for you. I awoke in the middle of the night , sleeping on the bottom tier ( three tiered sleeper) to step on a man who had fallen off the top sleeper in his semi drunken state.
Toilets- squat and a few european empty directly onto the railway tracks and all rubbish - plastic cups from drinks of chai , tin foil from the food trays ,to bottles are thrown out of the window onto the track. I could not participate in this 'cultural practice' even with encouragement from locals who were giving me permission or willing to do it on my behalf!
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