India has the worlds most extensive rail network system in the world. There are trains going to and from everywhere, 24hours a day. It’s crazy.

Sometimes they run on time.. Most of the time they don’t. If even one train is slightly delayed for whatever reason, it has a domino effect on the entire country.

We’ve taken quite a few trains and, so far, have been pretty lucky! They’ve all either been on time or only half an hour or so delayed.

Knock on wood.

We really should have knocked on more wood….

We booked our train from Varanasi to NJP (the closest station to Darjeeling) and specifically chose the 9pm departure, 1:30pm arrival. We figured that Gypsy would already be asleep when we left, we would have breakfast on the train, and arrive just after she awoke from her nap. Perfect! A nice, easy 14 hour trip.

So we took our tuktuk to the station and checked the board. Delayed by 1.5 hours. Oh well, it’s coming all the way from Delhi on the other side of the country, that’s to be expected I guess. At least it’s not delayed 17 hours or 11 hours like the 2 trains above ours on the board!

We really should have knocked on wood..

So we casually make or way to the platform and started our wait. Inconveniently the board giving train times and expected arrival times for our platform wasn’t working so I found a page on the internet that I could track it on. Wait.. it’s now 2hours delayed.. Oh well.

2.5 hours.

3 hours.. 

4 hours..

Let’s go and ask the station master. Maybe this webpage is wrong.

“Go away. I don’t know. Leave now.”

Well that was helpful..

5 hours.. It’s 2am. Guess Gypsy and I are going to sleep here on the platform for a bit!

Okay this is getting ridiculous..

Oh yay! It should be here in 15 minutes time finally!!

Did we miss it? It’s been half an hour? Did they change the platform? Let’s go ask the train guy again.

“It’s late. Same platform. Go away!”

Oh hang on, the webpage just refreshed.. 7 hours now..

8 hours..

It’s nearly 5am.. They sun will be up soon..

Hang on, was that our train just announced? Yes! It’s arriving now to a different platform on the other side of the station and only stopping for 3 minutes!?! OMG! Quick! RUN!!

What carriage are we? It doesn’t matter! Just get on before it leaves without us. That would be the ultimate irony.

Okay, here we are. Here are our beds. Now lets get some sleep.

Seriously? I know it’s 5 am, and the sun is coming up, and some people are early risers but Mr room mate. Please turn off your music and stop talking so loudly to your girlfriend..

No? You are awake? Oh look! So is gypsy now… Thanks buddy… Just awesome..

Oh well, it’s only a 14 hour journey. We will sleep when we get there..

22 hours later…

Yes.. It was 8 hours late, and took a further 22 hours to reach our destination..

2 nights for the price of one!!

It was 3 am the following morning when we finally arrived.

Just in time to jump in a jeep for a 4 hour journey to Darjeeling.

OMG, is that the Himalayas? Is that Mt Everest?? Wow..

Okay, I guess it was worth it but still…

We really need to knock on wood more often....

Personal space is a big issue in India. For the most part it just doesn’t exist. You get asked several times a day for a “snap” or photograph which is fun at first, but really annoying after a while. But it’s the people who don’t even ask who really get on your nerves.

That is nothing compared to the amount of unwanted attention a cute, little, Caucasian baby attracts.



This is a letter I posted on our FB page after a particularly infuriating day:


Dear the vast majority of the Indian population that we have encountered over the last month,


TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY CHILD.
DO NOT PULL HER OFF OF HER FATHERS SHOULDERS BY HER ARM SO YOU CAN HAVE A "SNAP".
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RIP HER FROM MY ARMS SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP.
DO NOT JUST PICK HER UP AND WALK AWAY WITH HER SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP.
DO NOT PINCH HER- SHE HAS SEVERAL RED MARKS ALREADY.
DO NOT LEAD HER AWAY BY THE HAND SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP AND DO NOT ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO GO AND LURE HER AWAY FROM US SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP.
DO NOT TRY TO LURE HER TOWARDS YOU WITH CANDY OR MOBILE PHONES SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP AFTER WE HAVE SAID NO.
DO NOT DECLARE “COME” AND EXPECT HER TO GO TO YOU, A COMPLETE STRANGER AND GET ANGRY WITH HER WHEN SHE SAYS NO, ALL SO YOU CAN HAVE A SNAP WITH HER.
IF SHE SAYS NO, IT MEANS NO.


AND LASTLY, IF ONE MORE PERSON SLAPS HER ON THE FACE, I AM REALLY TRULY GOING TO LOSE IT..


Sincerely, two very frustrated parents, and one very clingy and, for the first time in her life, afraid of strangers child.


Thankfully, we haven't been in a situation anywhere near as infuriating as this particular day was since, and slowly but surely Gypsy is starting to trust strangers again. But we are both on guard all the time and have had to resort to a zero tolerance approach which means, no more pictures of that cute, white baby for random Indian strangers....