after a 5 hour bus ride, a 25 hour train ride, and 6 cups of chai each, we finally make it to calcutta. crowded, polluted, poor, and squalid…the poverty is definitely in-your-face and very saddening. locally regarded as the cultural and intellectual capital of the nation, we did enjoy several days touring the city sights and eating delicious bengali cuisine. first we visited the magnificent victoria memorial, which so reminds us of our own u.s. capitol building. another highlight was the kali temple - calcutta's holiest spot. hundreds of worshippers swarmed the temple making flower offerings and sacrificing goats to the three-eyed kali, goddess of the temple. we found the visit to be very enjoyable, even though the touts and beggars were in full force and always seemed to be trailing us close behind. on our final day we visited mother teresa's mission to visit her tomb and see the room she slept in. she was such a tiny, remarkable woman with a huge heart. we said a prayer, made a donation to the mission, and signed the guestbook as we made our exit. we had a great time in calcutta, until the day we left…
we figured 3 hours would be enough time to get a cab to the station, buy a couple of train tickets (for a future journey), and grab some breakfast and snacks prior to our 11:45am departure to gaya. after paying the inflated 100 rupee cab fare to howrah station, we quickly learn that the tourist ticket office is located back in town, and not at the train station (where it should be). yes - it is possible to trip plan for over a year and still overlook important facts such as this. we make our way past the taxi wallahs and drivers and lug our packs to the pre-paid cab line. Our 2nd hired cab deposits us at the tourist train ticketing office, which we learn has just opened in the last few minutes. the single working ticket seller calls out "number one". we are number 21. we wait for 15 minutes…he is on number 3. we accept the fact that we do not have enough time to wait and leave the office to hire our 3rd cab. this time we are quoted the fair rate of 50 rupees - we must have a look of defeat in our eyes, or simply look pathetic. we reach back to howrah station and learn even more bad (very bad) news. we are at the WRONG station all together. our train to gaya departs from kolkata station…45 minutes away!!! we head back through the taxi wallahs and drivers - back to the pre paid cab line - we appear to be complete lunatics at this point. our 4th hired cab driver of the day is the most passive, calm, safe, and SLOWEST driver in all of calcutta. he respects pedestrians and animals in the streets and barely even honks his horn. he doesn't pull out in front of buses, nor does he cut anyone off. what is this? did he just start driving yesterday? he stops 4 times to pop the hood and pour water somewhere in the motor. he stops 4 more times to ask for directions. unreal. we tell him our train leaves in 10 minutes and that we are in a rush…he obviously speaks no english as he bobbles his head and smiles. we arrive to the station at 11:41 and think that we may just have a chance to make the train. we blast our way, running through the station like we are crazy westerners. we reach our platform and amazingly, our compartment is directly in front of us at the base of the stairs. out of breath and ready to pass out from heat exhaustion (a common feeling in india), we take our seats. the train begins to pull away less than 45 seconds later…
we are happy to have made the train and say to each other, "how much worse can the day get?" well... a lot worse. the first six hours of the journey are fine. we both settle into our individual berths for napping, reading, and chai. out of nowhere, i begin to feel really nauseous and hot. david feels my forehead and says i'm burning up with fever. i go to the toilet and puke milk tea. i go back to my berth and feel like crap. the train reaches a station then doesn't pull away for over an hour as several armed guards with huge assault rifles patrol the compartments of the train. after an hour and a half delay, the train finally continues on. i continue puking for the remainder of the journey - seems i got a hold of some spoiled milk? at one point, david comes to me and says, "i don't want to worry you, but the conductor just told me that there are bandits in the area." i think, oh great - just what i need…some bandits to complete my day. after yet more delays, we finally reach gaya almost 3 hours late. tired and without much energy, we decide to stay in gaya for the night and make the short journey to bodhgaya (our destination) on the following morning. we stay at a hotel located directly across from the train station that turns out to be a real shit hole of a hotel - the worst we've stayed in as of yet. at least the sheets are clean…enough. i hit the bed still fully clothed and begin to immediately fall asleep. i can hear the bbc news in the background of david saying that he's hungry but there are only sweet shops open this late. the day definitely got worse. this traveling business…it's not always fun and games. sometimes it's about stressful mornings, delayed trains, crappy hotels, bandits, and puking. you just can't cry over spoiled milk…
alina
