Off to Varanasi

21/2 - Hot shower, shave and look out world, here comes Gil, if I can catch you up.
There's a structure going up opposite the hotel about the size of a leisure centre and 95% of it is bamboo of different thickness. It is only the framework and may be temporary, but is impressive. Got a rickshaw for Rs80 and I was expecting 90, so that is a surprise, but I am not sure it will make it, there is a lot of chugging and grinding going on and the bloke is spouting something about Rs80. I gave him 90 and he smiled, so we are both happy.
Found my platform, took a chance it would not change and went down. I am loads better today after a good kip, the steps were no problem, in a Gil no problem sort of way.
The Northerners are not as friendly as the Southerners. I wont make anymore of that, I wouldn't want to upset our soft southern jessies.
Having said that, 2 lads sat next to me on the platform and we had a right chin way. They are from Ahamabad. They have been travelling around temples for a couple of weeks. Their village is Panna and they tell me it has the only diamond mine in India. Mohan, the younger one, tells me they have a part-time business in diamonds and he is in insurance too. He travels around visiting temples 3 or 4 times a year and then he tells me he is poor. It's all relative I suppose.
Mohan tells me I must visit Khujarao, absolutely must. It is the next place to his village and has magnificent temples. He offered me a tour of his village if I call there too and gave me his number. I have marked the page in the LP, so you never know. He and Sanjay were good company waiting for the train, which is late, but no surprise there. The printing on my ticket is not good, but I get the correct seat, even if it is in the wrong carriage. This is the first time I've travelled AC, I promised myself I would do it once, but so far it looks like the cockroaches prefer it too, they are everywhere, until the guard tells me I am in the wrong carriage. When I move, there are none. Fussy cockroaches, just because that carriage is less busy. Before the guard came the bloke sat with me toldme I must go to Khajarao, so I guess I must. He also gave me a tip for Agra, the Raja Swami temple. It is not finished, but he thinks it is more beautiful than the Taj Mahal. Now all I have to do is remember to go.
When I moved everyone was crashed on the seats, so there was nowhere to sit. I stowed and chained my gear and got talking to a Ghorka lad, who speaks better English than me. He is from Darjeeling and tells me it is a good job I never made it to Darjeeling. The strike is definitely indefinite. He got out because he knew there was an Army coach leaving, so he went and slept at the army place to make sure he got a place at 6.30 a.m. He is a teacher at the Varanasi University and originally from Nepal.
We'd been going about an hour and dinner turns up and the train stops and about 30 minutes later it is still stopped. If my Hindi and Bengali are anyting to go by, it is leaves on the track and the wrong type of snow.
This AC class is not much better than sleeper. 2 sheets, a blanket and a pillow are provided, but I think I'll go back to sleeper. I did get the seat by the door, outside of the carriage, all day without being disturbed. It is really interesting watching the countryside go by. Lots of hamlets with the whole family in the fields pulling up the rice. They look easy, great places to live, but I don't know how I'd take to crapping in the field everyday. Soft western jessie. Sat in the door seat, I got befriended by a couple of blokes, the chat is back to normal, it must have just been Kolkata.