Hello Blue City!

Our train is scheduled to leave at 12:20pm, but it’s been raining all morning and, big surprise, the train is delayed – 3 hours!!  That means we will get into Jodhpur at somewhere around 9 pm, if we’re lucky.  The train station is chaos – rain means delays, delays mean people everywhere, sitting, sleeping, begging, pulling gargantuan loads of cargo on these two-wheeled carriers (very efficient actually) . . . if you’ve been in an Indian rail station, you know what it’s like.  If not, words are inadequate . . .

There is an ‘Upper Class’ waiting room (yes, that’s what it was called).  Even has a ‘Ladies only’ and ‘Gents’ area.  Not too bad, seats reasonably comfortable (except for the ones that had come unbolted from the floor and nearly dumped an unsuspecting white woman when she went to sit down) and clearly a higher-paying class of passenger.  Nobody was sleeping on the floor or begging.  Decent place to wait – for 3 hours. 

Finally, our train arrives!  And we find our AC2-Two Tier car, seats 7 and 9.  A wee digression – Indian train travel is available in nine classes (yes nine!)  Our first ride was AC First Class, top of the line.  Large, closed compartment, coat racks, a real ladder to the upper bunk, a trash container – free food en route.  Pretty decent all around.  Max four people – two on either side of the compartment and no one-overs on the other side of the aisle.  Next down, AC-Two Tier.  Almost the same as AC First but smaller and there’s an up and down compartment across the aisle (like Tim and I had on our Jhansi-Agra run).  The two tier means that with the beds engaged, you are sleeping one over the other.  We haven’t done AC Three Tier but that means three to a sleeping side – yikes!  Probably fine for a family but these kids aren’t doing that!  I won’t bore you with the remaining 6 classes – you’ve no doubt seen them on PBS specials.  What they do is afford even the poorest Indians transport.

And we are so fortunate on this ride (which turned out to be over 7 hrs long) – our car mates are delightful!  There are two Indian couples across the aisle who we learn are en route to a posting – the men are in the Army – in Jodhpur.  They are obviously all good friends and full of youthful exuberance – so sweet.  Our car mates are Alka, an Indian Revenue Service accountant en route to Jodhpur to join her husband who has been posted there and she’s hoping for a transfer from Jaipur soon.  And finally John Gardner, a lifelong traveler and hunting lodge owner/falconer from the UK.  What a fun ride!  Sadly, I didn’t get photos of any of these folks . . . but did get their emails and a promise from John to look us up at at our guesthouse the next day.

Another of those trusting rides into the darkness with a stranger from the RR station.  Off we go in a tuk tuk into the bowels of the Brampuri district, snuggled under the Fort’s walls.  And we have to walk the last few hundred feet to Shahi Heritage Guest House - the tuk tuk can’t even get into this narrow street.   The owner, Mr. Bantu, awaits us and assures us we can still get something to eat, despite the hour (it’s close to 11 p.m.).  Then the astonishing climb to the top and our home for the next 6 nights/5 days. 

The cows live next door.