The second part of our journey to Agra was by train. Upon hearing that the train was delayed, Mansi our tour manager, arranged for some drinks and a place to land for a few minutes instead of going directly to the station, which she described as loud, crowded and with not clean bathrooms.
There is a ban on the sale of alcohol in some of the hotels. Sometimes the explanation is that they are close to the road and other times it is a permit issue. Like so many things here, the explanation is fluid. So the driver stopped and bought beer for those who wanted and we stopped at a hotel that Mansi knows to get something to eat and wait for the delayed train. She arranged for some snacks and we sat in the restaurant to eat. And before we were finished, it was “Hurry up. Time to go”.
I have to say Mansi is good natured and even tempered and cool in all sorts of situations. But standing at the end of the table, we could see she was stressed about catching the train. I am not really sure how the checked luggage got on the train. At some point the bus went to the station and the bags were unloaded, ready to be put on the train. We hopped in the bus and just before arriving to the station Mansi advised us to put all phones and cameras away and to stay together. Time was tight and we needed to be focused on getting to the train.
The station was extremely crowded. A Gate 1 Travel helper (they seem to be in every city stealthily helping us on our journey) led the way through the crowd. I don’t know how far we were strung out. I was close to the front, maybe second or third behind him. His hand was in the air so we could see him. The person in front of me put her hand up, I put mine up, and others in our group followed so we could stick together. We had to go up a set of stairs and over the track, down on the other side to the platform. The train was there, passengers has already gotten off and on. We were running. When we came to the right car, our helper stopped and helped us in the train car. Mansi had given us our seat numbers and after finding our seats, there were four of our party not there, including Mansi. In just a few moments, they came through the other end of the train car. Time was so tight they got on the train and walked through the cars instead of taking a chance on the platform.
It was exciting and exhilarating and we all laughed and celebrated together. This is a good group of eleven travelers. Because we are a small group we are getting some extra things; drinks, snacks, more sites, better services.