Our travel day to Varanasi was one of the most uncomfortable days we have ever had. The train was to leave at 12:00 and arrive in Varanasi at 2:45 PM. We arrived at the train station at 11:00, since one of our seats was wait-listed. Getting our seat assignment we settled in for a quick thali lunch and watched one of the only arguments we have witnessed in India over a gent eating his sack lunch in the train station “restaurant”. We did not mind the argument, since it occupied everyone’s attention and we were able to hang out for an extra half hour while the issue was settled. Then the hell started…
We found one of the few seats available in the station. Most people were sprawled out on the filthy ground covered with orange peels and litter. Swarms of flies, thousands of them were on the ground everywhere we looked. Not too many landed on us at any given moment unless someone walked by and stirred them up. The heat was excruciating with no breeze passing through. Beggars were regularly interrupting us for a rupee every 15 minutes or so. And so we waited. And waited. And waited.
Our train was 8 hours late.
It was 10:30 PM by the time we arrived in Varanasi. M80 firecrackers were being set off in the parking lot in baskets when we arrived. We were immediately informed that India had won the cricket game. A good reason for everyone to go deaf, if you ask me. The scene at the train station was amazing. All trains were running late and Varanasi is a huge pilgrim destination. Everywhere we looked was a sea of people sleeping on the ground.
Surrounded by about six touts, we made it out towards the ‘pre-paid’ taxi stand which of course was closed. Along the way we passed about 20 families cooking over open fires on the dirt median between the taxis and auto-rickshaws. There were people everywhere, at least what we could see between the con men pushing us along towards their taxis. Our early in the day goal had changed from going to a guesthouse in the old town (which is not reputed to be completely safe at night) to getting our butts over to a Radisson we found while hatching a backup plan on the train. We skirted the touts by veering in front of some police officers and got a bored looking auto-rickshaw driver to negotiate with us before they physically surrounded us again. It took me to forcibly push a guy repeatedly out of our vehicle before we could leave. That slimy, persistent bastard was up to no good; he either wanted to redirect us to a different hotel or get a commission for delivering us to our hotel. We were having absolutely no part of his crap. We left him cussing us out in the parking lot, and us muttering about the nightmare of the day in general.
The hotel was wonderful. The shower worked. There were no mosquitos. The room was quiet. Oh, thank you, Krishna and Shiva.
