Night Train

After Mumbai, I headed east to Bandahvgarh National Park in Mahdya Pradesh, where I hoped to see a tiger. My original plan, until December, had been to go to Rajasthan, but I really wanted to go to Varanasi too, and I couldn't figure out an itinerary to do both without being too rushed. So I scrapped Rajasthan and substituted Bandahvgarh and Khajuraho.

To get to Bandahvgarh, I had to fly to Bhopal and then take a train overnight to a town called Katni. I was a little worried about navigating the train system. These woories were not allayed upon arrival at the train station when I saw that all of the signs were in Hindi, which I do not speak. Or read.

I had about 3 hours to kill in Bhopal, so I found the cloak room, where I locked up my bags and wandered out into the streets around the train station to try to find a place to eat. It was dark and there was a haze of dust from the dirt roads. Which is a little unsettling in a town known as the site of a deadly poison gas leak.

I could not have been more conspicuous if I had two heads. Literally everyone was staring at me. I found a small place with samosas cooking out front, and went in and was offered a table upstairs. I could hear them downstairs talking about the "American." They sent a succession of people upstairs to ask me what I wanted, and it took a few tries to communicate that I wanted a coke and a samosa.

After that, I decided to go in search of an internet cafe and ran across a guy who spoke pretty good english and offered to take me to one on his motorcycle. I declined, so he walked with me, and then sat with me while I checked my emal, and then walked me back to the train station and showed me the first class waiting room. Which was nice, but also a little irritating.

So, the train came and I found my cabin by pure luck. I was sharing with an accountant from Jabalpur. And then I started worrying about how I would know when to get off the train. So I didn't sleep that well, although it was relatively comfortable. I woke up early and the porter let me know when we got to Katni. But I still haven't figured out the mysterious system by which people know when to get off the train. Which worries me because I'm on a train right now.