Places: Ayodhya, Varanasi, Gaya, Kolkata
Company: Wife & Daughter
Time: Dec 20th, 2018 - Jan 1st, 2019.
Occasion: Paavani's National Spelling Bee competition at Kolkata.
Expenses: Rs 29,000
Prologue: So, this whole trip was because of our daughter winning multiple rounds of Wiz Spelling Bee competition - class-level, school-level, district-level & state-level. Top 10 state level winners were nominated for National level competition to be held in Kolkata. Even though we knew we'd go to Kolkata some time during Christmas holidays to Kolkata, we didn't've the exact dates published until late September. Once the dates were announced, planning & ticketing started. Now, the pre-departure was more adventurous than the trip itself!
The motto that we stuck to was that this'd be more of a vacation to Kolkata (and thereabouts) but since we'd be in the vicinity, we'd attend the National Level Spelling Bee competition anyway! This was so that there was no pressure on our daughter to perform and excel, and also no pressure to us while we were vacationing (for preparation & studies). Considering the spell bee competition was on 29th Dec 2018, this kind of finalized the last leg of the journey: KOLK to Bangalore departure on 30th. We wished this entire trip to be conducted in train, so we started charting the itinerary and booking tickets. So, the first ticket booked was from KOLK to Bangalore departing on 30th Dec. And I wanted at least one long leg of the journey to be in 3AC, so I booked this leg in 3AC and rest were all deemed for Non-AC sleeper. Next part of the puzzle was to fill in the dates up until 29th Dec starting from Christmas holidays commencement which was from 22nd.
One of the option was to visit Darjeeling and thereabouts. But considering it was winter, we rejected the idea. Next thought was just Kolkata (in & around) but that seemed too much - to spend a week in one city. Finally we decided on the itinerary: Bangalore - Allahabad (dip at Triveni Sangam) - Varanasi (Kashi Temple) - Gaya (Bodh Gaya) - Kolkata - Bangalore. We didn't really wanted to do a religious pilgrimage kinda trip but these were the only cities that seemed worth visiting en route to Kolkata. So be it. With this in mind, & considering we’d depart on Friday 21st evening (official start of holidays), I started booking the train tickets.
Now, there was no train starting on Friday evening BLR to Allahabad. After much research, I found out that there is one more station called Allahabad Cheoki to which there are more direct trains from BLR. However none again departing on Friday evening. Earliest was Saturday morning, and that’d reach 1 am Monday morning which was not ideal. When I looked at the route map of that train, I saw that the train was first going to Chennai, which is direct east of BLR (instead of ALD which is direct north of BLR). So, we’d lose full 7 hours just because of that train’s route. So, I thought, why not take a train up north to, say Nagpur, and then catch another train from NGP to ALD. I remembered having done this in our Dwarka trip when I could not find a suitable direct train from Veraval to Mumbai and I planned via Rajkot.
So, I booked from BLR to NGP on Friday evening and NGP to ALD on Saturday evening, destined to reach ALD on Sunday noon. While I got confirmed seats to NGP, NGP to ALD was Waitlisted at 6 & 7 which I thought had a reasonable chance to get confirmed since I was booking tickets 3 months in advance. Rest of the train tickets to KOLK were fairly simple to choose amongst many options given by IRCTC: ALD to Varanasi on Sunday evening, Varanasi to Gaya on Tuesday evening, Gaya to KOLK on Thursday noon destined to reach Howrah on Friday early morning. I then booked hotels in Varanasi, Gaya and Kolkata. So, all tickets were booked and confirmed (except NGP to ALD train ticket) by September end, and then we waited…
Sept turned to Oct which turned to Nov and the Waitlisted tickets from NGP to ALD didn’t budge! I got concerned, so I started looking at options. Found out that if we break that journey too, we’d still have all legs of the journey confirmed. So, as a back-up, I booked couple more train tickets: NGP to Jabalpur and JBP to Manduadih (which is about 15-20 kms from Varanasi). So, now, even if NGP-ALD stayed at WL 6/7 even till the very end, I can always cancel that and instead take the NGP-JBP and JBP-MDDH route albeit this meant (1) we skipped ALD altogether and (2) it was all touch & go - meaning BLR to NGP happened on time allowing us to take the NGP-JBP which ran on time and then catch onto JBP-MDDH. This’d entail 2.5 days (from Fri evening to Sun night) of on-the-track edge-of-the-seat train adventure! Now, that the sore part of the reservation (NGP-ALD WL 6/7) somewhat had a backup, we continued to wait…
Nov turned to Dec. On Dec 16th, I received an SMS that the train that I had booked from BLR to NGP was cancelled. “Inconvenience caused is regretted”. OMG! The very first leg of the journey was extremely crucial and that itself was now broken. There were so many connecting trains that I was supposed to take and now everything was in jeopardy! Within a few hours, I got another SMS that the train that I had booked from JBP to MDDH was also cancelled! So the 'backup' was also broken! Now, the whole trip had to be re-planned - & quick! So next couple of days went in re-planning the whole thing which went along the lines of -
(a) Shall we cancel the whole trip? No, we cant since it is once in a life time opportunity for Tontu’s spell bee competition.
(b) How about one-way flight? Flight rates on Christmas to be booked few days in advance had ballooned to unreachable heights.
(c) How about taking a bus to NGP? Too tiring to travel in bus for more than 24 hours.
(d) How about just going to KOLK couple of days before the competition? Possible…
(e) How about Tatkal ticket booking on some other train that passes by some other city closer to Varanasi on or before our departure to Gaya? Very possible…
And thats how we started exploring trains that run to cities closer to Varanasi (other than ALD since it now was not working out from timing perspective). Our “Prayag” bath at Triveni Sangam was now not an option any more. Hence I came across couple of cities: Jhansi & Lucknow. Jhansi seemed far, so zoned on Lucknow. There was a train going to Gorakhpur via Lucknow on Thursday Dec 20th (instead of our original plan of leaving on Friday) so started planning to book Tatkal for this train. In order to be successful, I had to be super-fast on Wednesday. So, I came across this website and I tried it one day before to ensure it works. Tatkal for AC starts at 10 am and Non AC at 11 am. In order to not leave any stone unturned, I thought I will try AC tatkal first and if unsuccessful try Non AC Tatkal. As it happened, lo and behold, at 10:01 am, I had confirmed Tatkal AC tickets for Lucknow!
This train would reach Lucknow on Saturday evening, so we had time until Sunday evening for check-in into our Varanasi hotel, and we somehow had to get there. When I started researching for places to see in and around Lucknow, I came across Ayodhya which was about 3 hours from Lucknow, so then this idea popped into the head that perhaps we can go to Ayodhya. So started searching for trains from LKO to AYO and realized to my both horror & delight that the same train that left BLR to LKO would head towards to AYO before reaching Gorakhpur! So, on the same day that I booked from BLR to LKO, I booked same train from LKO to AYO. I lost some money because BLR to AYO was cheaper than BLR-LKO and LKO-AYO even though it is the same train on same date! To mitigate the loss, I booked LKO-AYO on Non-AC, so we’d’ve to get down at LKO from our AC compartment and board non-AC sleeper compartment.
AYO to Varanasi trains were not many in number and not feasible from timing perspective. There was just one train and that train was cancelled on the day that I needed. So we somehow had to travel to Varanasi on our own via bus - either direct or with the help of multiple legs. That'd be an adventure - especially considering public buses didn't seem that much in number in North India (like South) nor were there any helpful websites.
Finally, all train ticket bookings were confirmed and I finished cancelling all irrelevant train tickets that I now had booked (for example - Allahabad to Varanasi, Nagpur to Jabalpur, etc.). There was one other train that I wanted to badly change: Varanasi to Gaya Train number 13010 Doon Express. This train - I realized only later - was notorious for its exorbitant delays ranging from an average of 5 hours to 10 hours. It seemed to never have run on time ever! But, alas, there was no other appropriate train. Either starting too late in the night or reaching too late in the night, so I left it as is.
Regarding hotel bookings, the only pending one now was at Ayodhya. I searched for some hotels or dharamsalas but found none. That’s something we had to deal with once we reached.
Hence, our itinerary was now:
- BLR - LKO (AC)
- LKO - AYO (Non AC but same train as above) - Accommodation to find
- AYO - Varanasi (not sure about mode of travel yet) - Accommodation booked.
- Varanasi - Gaya (booked in train that was always late) - Accommodation booked.
- Gaya - KOLK (confirmed non-AC) - Accommodation booked
- KOLK - BLR (AC)
Packing ensued. We knew it’d be slightly cold and hence took few jackets and shawls. Pre-journey adventure done, we were ready to depart! Finally! Phew…
Highlights:
Day 0 (Dec 20th): Departure
We left our house at about 9 pm, took the Metro to Yeswantpur Railway Station and reached at about 10 pm. We still had more than 1.5 hours to wait for our train. Had our home-packed dinner at the station itself. The Gorakhpur train was full. Seemed like this train was very popular. Right on time, it departed at 11:40 pm and our trip started…
Days 1 (Dec 21st): Train
Whole day in train. Played games with Paavani, did some spelling practice, slept for few hours, read some books, just had some nice conversations within ourselves and with families around us traveling along with us, ate home-packed food until it lasted and then ate train food (not so great). One co-traveler mentioned that Jamuns would be great at Orai. So, had some jamuns at that railway station and it was yummy!
Day 2 (Dec 22nd): Reached Ayodhya
Same thing as yesterday contd! At about 4 pm, we reached LKO. Train was about 3 hours late. Even at 4 pm, at LKO station, we could see an unbelievable crowd - and the jarring thing was everyone was wearing a fluffy winter jacket, similar to snow jackets and we had packed very light winter jackets. It gave us a hint that we were badly prepared for the North Indian cold (since we were used only to the South Indian cold!). Anyways, we got down at LKO station, walked through the bustling crowd that was trying to onboard the train, and got on to our reserved coach. But that was a joke! Someone was already sitting at our seat. In fact, the whole coach had unreserved folks sitting! And it was crowded like anything! 5 people were sitting in a 3-seater, and there were people everywhere - even on upper berths although it was not night yet! The world was so different between AC compartment and Non-AC compartment! The toilets stank like anything. And to think, I had initially booked in Non-AC compartment! Imagine staying in this stink hole with crowded people for 2 whole days with extreme cold (especially at night). That’d’ve been a horror! So glad that things turned out the way they did! All that brouhaha over cancelled train was actually for our own good!
Finally reached AYO at about 7:30 pm. And we got down our train after almost 2 days on it. And boy, was it cold outside! There was a cold mist covering us too. Everyone was wrapped up nice and neat and we seemed to be the only one inappropriately dressed. And even at AYO station, there was a huge crowd trying to get on the train, and it was tough for us to get out! Realized one big thing - train journey in south India is nowhere comparable to train journey in North India!
We went out of the station in search of a room (or even open-air with mattress) and immediately came across a Gujurati Dharamshaala called “Shri Rambalak Dasji Gujarati Dharamshala”. We entered and asked for a room and were told there were none. The manager questioned us more like how many of us, from where, to where, when departing, etc. and finally relented after seeing we had a 8-year old daughter with us. And that saved us for the night for it was getting colder and colder. The room had hot water and some fluffy bedsheets that’d keep us warm for the night. So glad for the manager to giving us the room. Had a nice hot dinner right outside and went back to the room for the night.
Day 3 (Dec 23rd): Ayodhya & Reached Varanasi
Bath done, we headed out for a quick local breakfast. The cashier himself offered us to take around the town’s main places, and we hopped on his auto. His first stop was the River Sarayu where apparently Rama left Ayodhya for his 14 years ‘vanavaas’! We sprinkled river water on our head and then our next stop was apparently the ‘Palace of Lord Ram’. It seemed to be in tatters now. Quick darshan and we headed next to the main thing: Ayodhya Ram Temple where Rama took birth. The same temple which is in extreme controversy because of a Mosque being built in the same place. Hence lots of security everywhere. Had to walk a lot. The birthplace temple itself is very tiny and far from the queue to see. Anyways. Quick bow and we were on our way.
The driver next took us to Chardham temple. Apparently Lord Rama’s mother wanted to go to Chardham pilgrimage - Rameshwara, Puri Jagannath, Dwaraka and Badrinath. So, Rama got the idols created right in Ayodhya itself so that his mother needn’t travel far! And then we went to Luv Kush Mandir which was huge and great with nice carvings everywhere. Next stop was Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple atop a small hillock. Another quick darshan. Then we went to Kanak Bhavan which was the gift to Sita after marriage - a nice palace! And our last stop for the day in Ayodhya was the site where the Future Ram temple’s structures was being constructed - complete with pillars and entrances, etc. which would be shifted to Ram’s birth place as soon as the Court ordered. That done, we went back to our room, packed and left.
We asked here and there and finally made our way to the bus stop. Thankfully for us, we were exactly on time! At 1 pm, the bus left to Varanasi. It was a long drive on a dusty, construction road. So lot of bumps and humps. And the bus wasn’t that great either. We just had some fruits and some snacks which we had packed for lunch. The cities on our way was dirty, the entire state was dirty in fact. Right in the middle of a busy town that we passed was an official men’s peeing area! That was the pit stop for our bus! Gosh, were we glad finally when we reached Varanasi at about 8 pm.
Day 4 (Dec 24th): Varanasi
The hotelier arranged an auto driver for us for sight-seeing Varanasi. We walked nearby for a south Indian breakfast. The driver came around 9 and we walked to his auto which was pretty far. First stop was Tulasi Mandir. Quick darshan. Then we went to Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple. Did some shopping as well here. Then went to Birla temple inside the Benares University - now this was amazing piece of architecture and very pleasing. Inside was a Shiva idol to which one and all could offer prayers. The writings on the wall was pretty soulful too. We spent a long time here. Nice garden area too. Next was a Devi temple. Quick darshan. Then we went to a temple called Kinaram Mandir, we were not familiar with it but the driver seemed very devout about it. Another quick darshan, then went to Sarnath where we wanted to spend quite some time. But on the way, we stopped at Kala Bhairaveshwar temple. Apparently this is very powerful temple and idol. We were just in time for the noon closure. Just had a glimpse of the idol before they closed the doors.
Continued to Sarnath. Went in and around the famous places of Sarnath such as the Stupa (where Buddha met his disciples), Tibetan temple, etc. Nice peaceful garden everywhere, and it was very pleasing. We skipped the museum because we were running out of time, thanks to the traffic inside the city. Next stop was the Fort but to be honest, we could have skipped this. This fort was pretty far from Sarnath and the driver tried to discourage us but we kept pushing him. Once we reached, the Fort didn’t seem that great and we ditched the plan of paying the entrance fees and entering it. Also we were running out of time for the evening Ganga Aarti on the ghats. The drive to the ghat was another long one. But we made it right on time to the ghat just when the Ganga Aarthi started.
The rituals went on for about an hour and was overall a nice experience. It wasn’t mesmerizing but fair enough. That done, we walked back to our room, thinking we will keep the final Kashi Viswanath temple visit for the morning after bath. We walked back to our hotel via the small alleys using Google Maps, had dinner on the way, and reached safely. Another restful night.
Before sleeping, I checked the live running status of our upcoming train Doon Express the next day and it was running late by about 4 hours. Which’d mean our train (expected to leave Varanasi by 4 PM would arrive only at 8 PM which’d in turn imply that we’d reach Gaya at 1 am instead of 9 pm provided it’s maintain a 4 hour delay all through. Now, in this cold, that was very inconvenient. By chance, I looked at the previous day’s train (the Doon express which was supposed to arrive Varanasi the previous day) and that train was running 24 hours late! Which meant two Doon express trains will arrive on 25th - one which was 24 hours late and one which was 4 hours late! I made up my mind to take the 24-hr-late running train instead of the 4-hr-late running train even though the tickets I had was for the latter, only because the timing was convenient - both for departure from Varanasi and arrival at Gaya!
Day 5 (Dec 25th): Varanasi & Reached Gaya
We intended to take a bath in the Ganga but looking at the polluted water, we were not so keen. Also, it was extremely cold. So, instead we took a bottle of the Ganga water (the river was right behind our hotel - nice view from terrace) and poured it on ourselves before taking bath at our own room! That way, it solved the dual purpose of having Ganga splashed on us as well as washing away the pollutants from our body!
The main thing about Varanasi is Kashi Vishwanath temple and we had saved it for the last. Realized, it was not the right thing to do. We had a train to catch in the noon, and when we came down to the hotel reception, we informed the hotelier that we intended to see the Kashi Vishwanath temple before heading to the railway station and the person in charge told it’d not be possible because the Kashi Vishwanath temple itself will take 4-5 hours, and we were aghast. We never imagined that KV temple will have a queue as long as Tirumala temple! The previous day we finished so may temples and we thought this’d be just as simple. How naive of us! While we were wondering what to do, an elderly gentleman (hotelier’s dad) heard us and informed that we could ask the security at the temple for the quick darshan queue.
With some hope in mind, we walked quickly towards the temple. The queue was huge! We asked the security and they navigated us to a distant check-post. Oh yeah, there was immense security everywhere and check-posts all around. Finally after about 10 mins more of frantic walking, we found a super-clean (very rare in Kashi) reception which was apparently a temple official block offering quick darshan. I think it was about Rs 300 per person which we were ok to give considering we had a train to catch. A Pandit was assigned to us and he took us to one of the many temple entrances. Some miscommunication between the security guards and we were asked to another gate. Security at that gate asked us to go back to the first gate. Finally we made our way in. We had a nice darshan of Kashi Vishwanath. Sat down and spent some time imbibing the energy. Then the Pandit tied a sacred string to our wrists and we made our way back. We got some prasadam too. We headed quickly back to our hotel and packed our belongings and asked the previous day’s auto driver to pick us up by about 11 am. We met the elderly gentleman who had come like a God to us to inform us about the quick darshan and bowed down to him. Without him, we’d have to leave Kashi without seeing the main temple! He gave a wise tip: any time you visit a sacred place, ensure to first visit the main point of interest instead of keeping it for the last!
But still there was one place we had not seen: The famous Harish Chandra Ghat. The hotelier said it is walkable from ghat to ghat and we could see it after a quick 10 min walk. We rushed to the ghats and quickly passed one ghat after the next. Soon, we were in HCG. As suspected, some bodies were being burnt. We sat there for some time. And it was time to head back again. Ran back to the hotel, took our belongings, and ran through the alleyways to the auto which took us to the railway station. We had reached by about 1:30 pm.
The 24-hr running late train was now running late by 25 hours and our train was now delayed by 5 hours. The station was announcing late arrival for almost all trains! I then realized that this was the norm in North India due to the weather - for trains to run late. Very unlikely in South India! Another learning - to not depend on train’s schedule to plan itinerary especially in winter. The previous day’s train came chugging along and we got onto it. Thankfully no one was sitting in the place for which our tickets were booked, so we sat on the same seats although knowing fully well that wasn’t our seats in the first place. After about 2 hours, the TTE came and checked our tickets. I told him that this was the train and this was the date of departure, and these were the seats. He checked the charts and couldn’t figure out why the PNR was not matching. Finally he got it and told us that we were in the wrong train - and officially we were traveling ticketless although we had the tickets for the same train number leaving Varanasi on the same date! Flummoxed, finally he told us to carry on in the same train since the seats were empty anyways! I was so glad I planned it this way and it worked out too! It was perfect in terms of timing, because we reached Gaya at about 8 pm when it was just getting colder.
Right close to the station, we had dinner. It was pretty good. And then walked to our hotel called Hotel Grand Palace which was very close to the station. Retired for the night.
Day 6 (Dec 26th): Bodh Gaya & Gaya
We had home-packed breakfast and went out for tea. At the tea stand we asked for Bodh Gaya city tour and an auto wallah who was also right there drinking tea offered to take us. After some bargaining, we agreed, and off we went on our way to Bodh Gaya. However, once we reached BG, we realized much of the sight-seeing can and should be done on foot and there was not much of a need for a vehicle or the driver. The driver had told us that he’d show us around but considering there were maps everywhere, there was really no need. So, we fought with him that he had duped us and there really was nothing there for him to do. We parted our ways after agreeing on an amount. The main Bodh Gaya temple called Mahabodhi temple is pretty awesome. It has a huge Buddha statue as well as the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment. There was a guide who kept coming behind us forcing us to take his services and he’d narrate details about each and every spot in the temple. We kept refusing him but he kept coming behind us. Finally we got rid of him and with some peace around us, we were able to sit and meditate in front of the tree, and experience the environment of absolute tranquillity around us. 
Once we were done with the Mahabodhi temple, we started walking towards the Giant Buddha statue. Along the way, we had lunch in one of the restaurants, and then visited a number of other Buddhist temples such as Indosan Nipponji temple, Royal Bhutan Monastery, Japanese temple, Daijokyo Buddhist temple, etc. They are all within walking distance of one another. Each one of them has excellent architecture, a sense of peace and calm and very soothing. The Giant Buddha statue itself is great. Took a number of pics, and then it was time to head back. We took a auto ride back to Gaya closer to the Vishnupad temple which is supposed to be the famous temple in Gaya. A quick darshan, and we were done with Gaya. We took the ride back to our hotel and for once, we had a lot of time in our hands. Had dinner outside and retired for the night.
Day 7 (Dec 27th): Departure from Gaya
After sunset however, the localites cramping inside the train stopped and we had enough space to sit in our own seatsThe only thing I was worried though, was spending the cold night in a non-AC sleeper coach. So, we wore multiple layers of clothing and went to sleep. That definitely helped. Locals around us were surprised we were sleeping with such thin blankets! In fact, to beat the cold, I was awake up until 11 am and finally went to sleep. Rest of the journey was uneventful.
Day 8 (Dec 28th): Kolkata
We arrived right on time at 4 am and walked out. Someone guided us on the bus to take and we took that bus. At that time of the night, it was surprising to see so many people up and about. In fact, road-side vendors were frying Poori too! After about an hour’s journey, we reached our stop. From that stop onwards, we had to walk about 10 min to reach our room: The Cornfield Retreat. The owner had arranged everything. I was pretty pleased about this room. It is actually a house set in a residential area. The room had everything - from books to games to TV (including Netflix!) to coffee maker to - you name it! The owner spoke to me over the phone and instructed everything. including the switches. So, there was no need for a face to face meet up at all! Anyways, after reaching at about 5 am, we slept for a short time and got up at around 9ish. Only negative thing about this is that there are no good eateries around this place. But there was a market, so we shopped for some fruits and bread and had that for breakfast. Wifey was not feeling too well - suspecting the poori that she had the previous night at one of the stations. Still, we went sight-seeing Kolkata. 
We took the bus to Victoria Memorial. We bought tickets to both the memorial and the garden. But the memorial was something that didn’t interest us much. In fact, we were out in less than 15 minutes. But spent more time at the garden which was fabulous. And then we went next to the St. Paul’s cathedral which was very close. Spent about half hour there and then started walking towards Princep Ghat via Maidan where Paavani went or a horse ride. Half way through, wifey felt really sick and we decided enough walking, and took a bus which took us close to the Princep Ghat. 
Now, the walk to the ghat was nice, along the river Hooghly. It was very pleasant and calm and soothing. I always felt there should be a river in a city. Unfortunately there is no river in Bangalore. We spent a long time on the river bank taking a number of snaps and selfies. At sunset, we thought it was better to head back, and took a taxi back to our room. The taxi, was of course, was the typical Kolkata taxi: a black Ambassador! Back at the room, we ordered dinner and practised last minute spellings of some complex words for daughter and slept early.
Day 9 (Dec 29th) : Kolkata
It was the Wiz National Spelling Bee Finals 2019! Our room was actually near to the location of the event. Still, we thought we can take the public transport, and climbed aboard the famous Kolkata tram! Unfortunately it wasn’t really going the way I wanted it to! We had to de-board and then take an auto! Finally, we reached the destination. It was an auditorium of a school. Formalities (which included filling up a form) done, Paavani went inside to finish her round of spelling.
And then we had a long wait until results had to be announced. Just beside the school was a mall, where daughter and me had a light lunch. It was results time - and Paavani had secured 28th rank! It was, for us, a great achievement considering there were almost 200 participants. We headed back to our room, and ate some street food (not so great) & Baskin Robbins ice cream (good) [as a treat to Paavani] on our way back. Saw Padmaavat at the room and went to sleep.
Day 10 (Dec 30th) : Departed Kolkata
Day 11 (Dec 31st) : Train
Whole day in train; got up when we felt like; ate when we wanted; read what we liked; conversed heartily; took a nap when we wished. And that’s how the last day of 2018 was spent while we traveled from Kolkata to Bangalore…
Day 12 (Jan 1st) : Reach Bangalore
We reached Bangalore in the morning right on time as per the train schedule. From Yeswantpur (where we had boarded) to Yeswantpur (where we finally got down from the train)! By the time reached home, it was almost noon - and boy, did it feel good to be back!
Epilogue: Well, this itinerary was never even in our wish list. I mean, Allahabad-Varanasi-Gaya is not an itinerary that Hindus generally plan in their 30s considering these are auspicious cities to carry out funeral-related rituals of parents. But thanks to our daughter’s spelling abilities, we were fortunate enough to make it this early in our lives! And thanks to the journey via land, Paavani got to see many of India’s rivers like Tungabhadra, Krishna, Narmada, Godavari, Yamuna and many more tributaries - although many were running dry. The train journey had its lesson and experiences too:
- To the best possible extent, try avoiding breaking journeys in trains and choose only direct trains because delay or cancellation of trains in different legs will cause immense difficulty.
- Never plan for long journeys in Non-AC.
- Itineraries that include Northern India should factor train delays especially in winters.
- Choose fast trains over passenger trains so that you don’t get squeezed by 6 people in a two-seater!
- Never plan for Non-AC train if itineraries include North India especially in winters. The AC keeps you warm from the cold!
By the way, the following train links helped me a lot in planning:
Trains between stations with average delay times: https://indiarailinfo.com/
Train running history: https://etrain.info
Live train running status: https://trainstatus.info
Just as how Chris mentioned “….there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun” we kept seeing the setting sun in different horizons: On Days 1 & 2 in the train to Ayodhya, on day 3 in the bus to Varanasi, on day 4 in the Ganges before the Arathi, on day 5 in the train to Gaya, on day 6 in the auto back from Bodhgaya to our hotel, on day 7 in the train to Kolkata, on day 8 over Hooghly river at Princep Ghat & on day 10 in the train to Bangalore…! Now that was quite a nomadic life!
But the relief we felt after we got back home was somewhat immense. It was mainly due to the food & cleanliness. The kind of food that we were eating in all the places were substandard and did not seem hygienic at all. Amongst the four main cities we visited (Ayodhya, Varanasi, Gaya, Kolkata), it seemed Varanasi had the best cuisine in terms of choices. In fact, our stay at Varanasi (of all) seemed very cosy with its gullies and evening chais. Now, that experience was something altogether! The stay at Ayodhya was very soothing especially due to the early morning bhajans and religious ceremonies. The stay at Gaya was like in a typical hotel with no additional sentiments attached. And the stay at Kolkata was very homely because, well, it was a home!
Finally, I have now visited all four metropolitan cities of India: Had finished Bombay, Delhi and Madras in the 1990s and had to wait until now for Kolkata! Ayodhya was not really in the plan but happened thanks to the last minute cancellation of our train. And we are glad it turned out so! Accommodation in Ayodhya and train from AYO to Varanasi was not planned but somehow both happened smoothly. Fortune favours the brave, eh?!
All in all, it was another wonderful adventure - both before the actual travel and during the actual travel! :-)
