Day 17: Night train (and Day train) to Alwar

 

10pm: We are at Bhopal Junction waiting for our night train. 

The send off from our community in Bhopal was wonderful. Generous and joyful. "When will you come back, Saddharaja?" one middle-aged mother asked me. "In 2027", I replied. A boxed dress shirt was thrust into my hand as we left.

10.14pm: The train arrived a little late, but we are on it, it is moving and we have berths. Mine is a narrow one along a window. A challenge to sleep here.

5am Saturday 18th January: I found a way to get some sleep and was more comfy than I thought possible. We are running late, of course - about 4 hours. We just reached Agra, and are sat in NM & NS's berth with food from the breakfast-wallahs (itinerant hot food sellers).

Dishing out the aloo-parathas (potato-chipattis with ketchup & yoghurt)

It could be mid-day before we reach Alwar. We have missed our connection at Mathura long ago, and may need to get a bus.

This is India.

11.45am We got down at Mathura (as our train was delayed by dense fog) and are now waiting for our train to Alwar. It's massively late, and is now supposed to be arriving at midday, ha ha, we'll see. Adityabodhi and I have been passing the time by doing yoga on the end of the platform! It could be evening when we reach Alwar.

1.30pm. We are actually on the train to Alwar now. It's a sleeper, so we can doze on the way. Just glad to be on a train, after all the hassle we had...

4pm: We have finally arrived in Alwar, Rajasthan. It has been a 15+ hour journey. 

We were met by an enthusiastic group of men - all in their 30s, I'd say. They are alumni from Nagaloka College in Nagpur and all living at Alwar. Most are now married.

First impressions of Alwar is just another, chaotic, crazy Indian city. I'm sure there is more to Alwar than that.

We are accommodated with a family on the outskirts. It's a big house with basic amenities. The elderly couple who own it live here with an extended family.

It is very cold here in Alwar now the sun has gone down. In the afternoon the sun is out and it gets to 22C. But evening, night and morning will be cold - down to 76C. I can easily 'do basic' in hot climates, but this will be challenging.

As always with Indian houses, there is absolutely no heating. They just put loads of clothes on and take them off as it gets warmer in the day.

I have never understood the psychology of no heating in winter. I guess the cold weather is such a short period of time, they just tough it out.

Around 8pm, the community will gather at the vihar for an evening event.

Tomorrow, we have a Day Retreat at the vihar, which is about two kilometres away.