Sunday 23rd April. I slept well on my first night in Delhi, probably aided by all the walking and heat on Saturday and, after getting a taste of New Delhi Railway Station, was really looking forward to the trip. First, I was to have lunch with a former Microsoft colleague at her house in Gurugram, which was absolutely wonderful. There had been a cock-up with the Uber driver so time was a little limited but it’s always great meeting someone you have known for a while in a different part of the world.
My hosts urged me to leave plenty of time for the ride to the station and they were quite right. Train 12952 was due to depart at 16:55 and it is recommended to be there an hour beforehand, which I was. The train was waiting and looked absolutely resplendent (living up to it’s name in Hindi – Tejas or Brilliance) in saffron and yellow but not yet ready for boarding. For this journey I was travelling 2nd class aircon 2 tier.
A couple of masala chais later and the train was opened it. No mad scramble, all very orderly. I was assigned a side upper berth but switched with a child so she could have the berth above her mother. They were most appreciative! The berth was supplied with 2 bed sheets and face towel in a brown paper bag, a blanket, pillow and face towel.
Bang on time the Tejas Rajdhani Express slowly pulled out across a complex web of rails starting its 1,384km journey south to Mumbai, arriving 15.5hrs later. I was surprised by the level of security on the train – with at least 3 armed soldiers frequently walking up and down. The carriage was served by one attendant in charge of linens and another responsible for the delivery of food which he did exceptionally efficiently, first taking note of whether you want veg or non-veg, which I found out didnt have to be consistent across both meal servings. The ticket conductor came through to check ID’s against his handheld device. He was immaculately presented. It was his train.
The first service arrived around 5:30pm which I thought was dinner. A little worried that it didn’t look like much to keep me going until breakfast I was pleased I had back-up supplies of coconut biscuits, banana, tangerine and a carton of mango juice. However the people I was sharing the 4 berth compartment with were very keen to kindly share some of their food with me, which did the trick. Dinner however turned out to be afternoon tea – as dinner came around 8 and represented a very substantial, tasty tray of vegetables, chicken curry, dal, rice, chapatis and pickles. Again, my meal was supplemented by my compartment friends!
The timing of the train, close to sunset, and my seat/berth position meant that the opportunity to sit and watch India slip by was a bit limited.
Just after midnight, the little girl and her Mum were jumping off and the conductor had suggested I should move to my original assignment so that I wasn’t disturbed which I did and then bedded down for the rest of the night. I remember waking up a few times at stations but generally the train was quiet and smooth and I slept well, although did feel a little claustrophobic in the top berth due to the curved ceiling.
I’m pleased to report that the toilets remained incredibly clean throughout the journey and there was liquid soap right through to the end. A few tips for travelling on the sleeper trains would be to carry a small pack of tissue paper (non supplied in the squat toilet – but is in the western style toilet which is opposite – however one may be occupied when you REALLY need it), take liquid hand sanitiser and also keep your shoes handy by your bunk so you can put them on QUICKLY when you REALLY NEED TO!!!
Breakfast was served pretty much as soon as I surfaced – a satisfactory omelette, 2 pieces of bread with butter and tea. No complaints at all. By this point, we were rolling through the outskirts of Mumbai and the amount of commuter trains increased. We arrived in to Mumbai Central bang on time at 08:35. I’d put the whole journey at pretty much a 9/10 but I’d be hard pushed to say why I dropped a point of that. Excellent all round. Small tip to the 2 attendants seemed to be appreciated – it was asked for – even though the napkins with the meal service had printed “No tipping”! But they both deserved every rupee and I hope others tipped them as well.
I chose to walk from Central to where I am staying – and was tortured by the sights of boxes and boxes of beautiful ripe Alphonso mangoes at approx. Rs2,000 for a box of 24. Bargain. Hopefully I can get some in Delhi to take home.
I am staying in a small homestay place in the middle of Mumbai, down some small back lanes with only the occasional motorbike disturbing the peace. It is an incredible old historical house with just 4 bedrooms run by the Ferreira family. Highly recommended.
After a quick recharge, I headed off in the direction of the Gateway of India, meandering through the chaotic streets teeming with energy and people going about their business. And more boxes of mangoes. I couldn’t help myself, getting a cold fresh juice on a street stand (think that had some early morning clearance effect in Delhi…if you get my drift?!) but it was delicious, and also buying 2 smaller ones to eat back at the guest house. With the temperature feeling like 37C it was pretty exhausting but I made it on foot to the Fort area, first taking a quick peek in to the architectural marvel of what used to be called Victoria Terminus – now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus – a historic terminal train station and UNESCO World Heritage Site before heading to a restaurant I’d targeted – a Parsi restaurant where I ordered a speciality berry chicken pulao. It was absolutely amazing and I researched the web to find a recipe to try at home. A quick look-see at the Gateway before ambling up to Churchgate area past more imposing Victorian Gothic administration buildings such as the High Court.
To ease the feet, I took a local EMU 2 stops for Rs5 (5p) and walked back to the guest house to cool off.
What a fabulous if not very hot, sweaty, sore footed day, fighting off the continual temptation of mangoes galore!
