We packed our things and Keshav drove us to the train station. The train ride was from 8:40 AM to 6:35 PM; I’ve only ever rode on metro-like trains (FrontRunner, Trax, New Delhi metro), so I was a bit excited to ride on a real' train! 10 hours though? Not especially looking forward to it...?
About an hour into the ride, some guy came by asking if we wanted anything (coffee, chai, or snacks). We asked how much rupees and he just smiled, said yes, repeated what he had and gestured to it all. So we took some chai thinking it was complementary because we were riding the train. A bit later, he returned asking for payment. We were confused and told him that we thought it was free. He kind of laughed and said no. We hadn’t drank any yet, so we said we did not want it anymore if we had to pay, and handed it back to him. He laughed again and said rupees. We 'fought' back-and-forth like this until for a few minutes, until he finally left and we thought we won. Nope.
He came back a couple minutes later with somebody who spoke some English, and he explained we need to pay for the chai. We told him that we thought it was free because we're on the train and he didn't tell us how much it was when we asked, and if it wasn’t free then we'll give it back because we haven’t drank any yet. He told us that was not allowed, so we told them we're sorry for the misunderstanding but we didn't have enough money to pay until we got to Mumbai (we were planning on stopping at an ATM there). After a while of pointless arguing, they finally left us be without paying.
One of our tickets was for 37/lower berth (bed) and the other 38/upper berth, but we just sat on the lower berths because nobody else was sitting by us.
After 4 hours or so (now 12:00PM-ish) an older couple and their daughter joined us. We introduced ourselves and I could tell the couple were talking about how the lady’s ticket was for the the upper berth. I knew she’d probably have some difficulties climbing up and didn’t think the man would have much more luck, so I told them they could take my bottom berth to them and I climbed up top. Once they got settled in, they fell sleep and the daughter left to her assigned berth.
I was looking at the train ticket and noticed that it said, "dep[arture] 08:40" and "arr[ival] 06:35" and thought it was a bit odd. I looked closer and saw it really says, "dep 28-01 08:40" and "arr 29-01 06:35": departure January 28, 8:40AM and arrival January 29, 6:35AM. 22 hours total.
I immediately said, “oh no. Ben, I have some good news and some bad news: which one do you want to hear first?”
“Uh, good”, he says.
“I read the ticket incorrectly; the ride isn’t going to be 10 hours long!”
“Oh, really? Good..” he hesitates for a moment, “and the bad news?”
“I now read the ticket correctly... It’s in military time: it’s going to be 22 hours long.”
Immediately we both start freaking out a little bit; neither of us were prepared for this long of a ride. We hardly had any cash left so we couldn’t afford any snacks on the train and we didn't download any music/movies on our phones (2017 problems... but really, we weren't looking forward to it).
The best thing we thought to do was to sleep, which I figured I’d have some trouble with. Ben didn’t, and fell asleep soon after so I decided to walk around on the train. It pretty much looks exactly how I would expect train to look? Other berths and windows pretty much, nothing too cool. I went to the cart divider and opened the door to the outside while we were moving! I sat with my feet kind of hanging out of the train for a little bit, just watching everything pass. It was kind of relaxing?
When I returned to my seat, the man had woken up from his nap. We exchanged hellos and while I was searching for my notebook in my bag, he asked me some basic questions about our trip: how long we’ve been here, what we’ve done so far, how long we'll be here for, where else we’re going etc. I answered one question while in my bag and as I was answering the next he scooted over so I could come sit by him. I did and we talked for an hour and 15 minutes!
He had a soft and quiet voice, so I couldn't always hear him (also that he had an accent and not the best English). I can’t remember his name but he was a really nice guy. He used to be an attorney but is now retired. He was in Jaipur helping his daughter move back to Bombay.
I asked him what the difference between Bombay and Mumbai was: he said it used to be called Bombay but was renamed to Mumbai in 1995 because Bombay was used by the British "negatively", so the government felt like they need to change it. He kind of "disagreed", and said that a lot of older folks still call it Bombay because that is what they grew up saying.
After we talked, I took nap for about 2 hours and woke up to the couple sitting by each other, Ben (still?) asleep, and the daughter asleep in the man’s berth.
There was also now a younger couple sitting in the chairs across from us. I introduced myself and a sleeping Ben; they said had met Ben when they first got on the train 30 minutes ago. I went to the bathroom and then back to sleep for an hour and half.
When I woke up (now 5:40PM-ish), Ben was up and was talking to the younger couple; they are from Mumbai and took a trip up to Jaipur to visit his mother. They had a bag of moong dal and I asked what it was. They offered me some: they were basically dried + salted lentils? Looked like harder Rice Krispies? I drifted back to sleep once again and woke up at 10:00 PM.
The younger couple now had a plate of papadum (cooked, crisp, spice-y, tortilla), rice, and vegetables. They offered me the last few pieces of papadum. I woke Ben up and we feasted! They must be super cheap/come with a lot because they probably gave us 9 or 10 of them. They were actually super good, it could've been because we were starving though.
They told us that we would be approaching a stop soon so we could get out and stretch her legs and get some 'real food' for 30 minutes.
Ben stayed on the train but I got out and walked around at the train station. For 10:30 PM, it was very busy. I saw the older man looking at the ice cream and I kind of walked up and said hello. He asked which one I wanted and I said I did not have any money. He said that he would buy me one and asked again which one I wanted, so I chose one and he said I should grab one for my friend as well! I thanked him and we ate our ice cream cones on the busy train platform. I went back onto the train and gave Ben his ice cream, which he was so happy to have hahaha
We both fell asleep at about 11:30 PM. I kind of tossed and turned between 4:30 AM and 6:30 AM, but woke up in Mumbai!
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| A road side mosque: Luharo Ki Maszid |
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| Lovely art at the train station |
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| Ben on the train |
He came back a couple minutes later with somebody who spoke some English, and he explained we need to pay for the chai. We told him that we thought it was free because we're on the train and he didn't tell us how much it was when we asked, and if it wasn’t free then we'll give it back because we haven’t drank any yet. He told us that was not allowed, so we told them we're sorry for the misunderstanding but we didn't have enough money to pay until we got to Mumbai (we were planning on stopping at an ATM there). After a while of pointless arguing, they finally left us be without paying.
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| People getting onto the train |
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| Not sure what they're building |
Building something
After 4 hours or so (now 12:00PM-ish) an older couple and their daughter joined us. We introduced ourselves and I could tell the couple were talking about how the lady’s ticket was for the the upper berth. I knew she’d probably have some difficulties climbing up and didn’t think the man would have much more luck, so I told them they could take my bottom berth to them and I climbed up top. Once they got settled in, they fell sleep and the daughter left to her assigned berth.
 |
| Sleeping guy |
I immediately said, “oh no. Ben, I have some good news and some bad news: which one do you want to hear first?”
“Uh, good”, he says.
“I read the ticket incorrectly; the ride isn’t going to be 10 hours long!”
“Oh, really? Good..” he hesitates for a moment, “and the bad news?”
“I now read the ticket correctly... It’s in military time: it’s going to be 22 hours long.”
Immediately we both start freaking out a little bit; neither of us were prepared for this long of a ride. We hardly had any cash left so we couldn’t afford any snacks on the train and we didn't download any music/movies on our phones (2017 problems... but really, we weren't looking forward to it).
 |
| Train ticket from Jaipur to Mumbai Times are on the bottom right side |
When I returned to my seat, the man had woken up from his nap. We exchanged hellos and while I was searching for my notebook in my bag, he asked me some basic questions about our trip: how long we’ve been here, what we’ve done so far, how long we'll be here for, where else we’re going etc. I answered one question while in my bag and as I was answering the next he scooted over so I could come sit by him. I did and we talked for an hour and 15 minutes!
He had a soft and quiet voice, so I couldn't always hear him (also that he had an accent and not the best English). I can’t remember his name but he was a really nice guy. He used to be an attorney but is now retired. He was in Jaipur helping his daughter move back to Bombay.
I asked him what the difference between Bombay and Mumbai was: he said it used to be called Bombay but was renamed to Mumbai in 1995 because Bombay was used by the British "negatively", so the government felt like they need to change it. He kind of "disagreed", and said that a lot of older folks still call it Bombay because that is what they grew up saying.
After we talked, I took nap for about 2 hours and woke up to the couple sitting by each other, Ben (still?) asleep, and the daughter asleep in the man’s berth.
There was also now a younger couple sitting in the chairs across from us. I introduced myself and a sleeping Ben; they said had met Ben when they first got on the train 30 minutes ago. I went to the bathroom and then back to sleep for an hour and half.
 |
| Sleeping girl |
The younger couple now had a plate of papadum (cooked, crisp, spice-y, tortilla), rice, and vegetables. They offered me the last few pieces of papadum. I woke Ben up and we feasted! They must be super cheap/come with a lot because they probably gave us 9 or 10 of them. They were actually super good, it could've been because we were starving though.
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| Moong Dal |
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| Thinkin' bout life and eatin' papadum |
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| Sandwich making like crazy |
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| Sleeping Ben |
We both fell asleep at about 11:30 PM. I kind of tossed and turned between 4:30 AM and 6:30 AM, but woke up in Mumbai!
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