Travel in India

(Lesley) Just after seeing the Agra fort, we went to the Agra Fort Railway Station and bought our last train tickets. In the last two days we have purchased quite a few train tickets; enough to complete our tour of India, in fact. In the north, the trains are busier and booking ahead seems to be pretty important, which is hard for us because we sort of plan things day to day and have only a vague idea of where we want to be when. However, we have done 3 journeys with wait list tickets and although we always get a berth in the end (by about 10pm). The uncertainty and the overcrowding early on is not easy. It is a challenge that we face and we make the best of it.

Yesterday, on our journey from Kota to Agra, we took a daytime train - a crowded, popular with the locals but not on the tourist route train. There were 14 people already on our seats when we boarded. Our wait list tickets had us doubled up with quite a few folks for the duration of the journey, which ended at 10:30 pm in Agra. We were crammed in like sardines. John spent an hour standing at the joint where the carriages meet. It was near the toilets and his entertainment was watching the cockroaches run up and down the wall and getting to know the chai wallahs as they squeezed past him every few minutes. Later, once we “had” seats, John had a pack on his lap for the first hour. Mhari fared very well because there was a young woman who invited her to join her for the first few hours until we were able to establish that in fact we had seats, (albeit doubled up ones further up the carriage). Young women get some space if the only other passengers around are men. There is sometimes some space or a bag on the berth next to them where another woman can sit. Young guys generally give Mhari even more space than they do other young women. They watch Mhari with fascination and awe but they know to keep away. She turns heads constantly. In truth it is fascinating to travel with Mhari. She is so honest in her emotions. Sam will play along with jokes or scenes out of good will, even if he'd rather be elsewhere but Mhari will only laugh or respond if she is genuinely inspired to do so. She is not as shocked by India as we thought she might be. She mucks in easily eating the local foods and bargains for her treats. The lack of cutlery suits her eating style as does the fashionable habit of wearing the same outfit daily (with a break to wash it once a month.) - Not that Indian women do that, most of them are well dressed in clean outfits. But the travellers tend to wear the same outfits day in day out.

John and I would be having such a boring trip without the kids. They really add a whole other dimension to things - especially where it concerns the locals. Sam is enjoying India. He embraces all the new experiences from bizarre foods sold by street vendors to haggling with sellers and walking away from touts and scam artists. He reads the guide book enthusiastically and we rely on him to lead us whenever we aren't sure where we are going or what there is to see in this town. When chatting with the locals, mention of a temple, mosque or monument sometimes draws a blank response from me. But Sam rescues me with his knowledge and saves the family pride (well at least he keeps me from appearing completely daft). A smart kid reflects well on his parents- doesn't he? We will take our credit -for both of them.

Back to India... today we saw the Taj Mahal. Despite our late arrival in Agra, we woke at 5:20 to get up and get to the gate for the dawn opening. The Taj was, as always, was spectacular. John said as we walked around: I always thought I would come to India and see "this” I'm glad we were able to come and fulfill that dream. Sam saw the Taj twice. Kids under 15 are free so he returned just before closing to get a second peek and take a few more photos. He enjoyed his second viewing just as much as the first, but the character of the visit was very different as he will describe in his blog.