Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I boarded an overnight train to Bangalore as part of my journey to the Dussehra festival in Mysore. I shared a compartment with a small Keralan family and a lady called Tara. I've enjoyed all of my rail journeys so far and was pretty excited to try an overnight train in the 'sleeper' class. As the train crawled out of Ernakulam station, I could not wait to begin my thirteen hour train to Bangalore.
Dinner was quite an experience. The family shared their meal with me which was a lot of fun and I in return offered some chocolate for dessert. Tara spoke English really well and she helpfully explained how the sleeping arrangements work in the compartment. There are eight sleeping berths in each compartment and everybody sits on the lower ones when you're not sleeping or lying down. The berth is a basic, soft leather mattress, with the upper berths folded away during the day. I occupied one of the middle berths.There's no air conditioning but the windows afford great circulation and fantastic views also. I was having a really enjoyable trip. Until bed time.
I was well aware I'd bought a cheap ticket so my expectations weren't too high. I opted for a sleeper class fare after all. As it turned out, I should have lowered my expectations. And then lowered them some more for good measure. At night it was freezing. Someone decided to open the window next to my berth during the night. It also rained at one point so I woke up with a soaked, frozen face several times. Luckily my mind was distracted by the periodic wafts of urine coming from the toilets next to the compartment. I just about got three hours sleep. I think. Despite setting an alarm for the next morning it was not necessary. The grandad of the family unit woke me up with an affectionate poke in the ribs around six o'clock because he wanted to sit below my berth. Surprisingly, I wasn't too fussed as I was fairly awake anyway.
So in conclusion, the people were fantastic. Great company. But after my experience I had already thought about my comments on the station feedback form. Perhaps the Indian Rail company should consider renaming the sleeper class. Whilst it had crossed my mind that I may have simply been unlucky with my journey, I'm somewhat reluctant to buy a sleepless class fare again.
Keep calm and curry on some might say.
- comments