So it was time to head back. Claire and I had booked tickets for the Kerala Express departing at (or rather, not leaving before) 9.40 am.
I have to admit that being by this time completely under the influence of Lord Krishna that I was looking forward to this journey. I had my place on the train booked using (for the last time) my Indrail Pass. Claire had to pay for her ticket. It cost her only £10 which is pretty good value to go First Class for the enormous distance. I had hoped that we could share a compartment and had relished the thought of how we might spend the nights locked in. I think I remember saying to Claire that we could let the rhythm of the train do all the work. The journey of over 2000km on the Kerala Express was scheduled to take over 50 hours and involved two nights in the sleeping compartment.
So it was a bit of a blow to find that the powers that be do not allow men and women who are not married to each other to travel in the same sleeping compartment! Major bummer! This was more than a little frustrating but it did mean that we could behave like teenagers and meet in the corridor for furtive snogs at regular intervals. I should like to put it on record that Claire was one of the best snoggers I've ever snogged. Somehow we managed to get through the journey without letting our desire get completely out of control. I imagine anything really lewd could have sparked an international incident.
There isn't a great deal to say about the journey. The train trundled North, the scenery slipped past. We pulled into stations, got off and strolled around while the train was in being unloaded and loaded up, smoked, had cups of chai and snacks and jumped back on as the train slowly moved off. When the compartments were converted into bedrooms in the evening we would sneak out into the corridor and snog until it was late enough go to sleep. Breakfast was served in the morning and we ordered our meals for the rest of the day and they were served on time. We didn't set off before 9.40 am but I don't think the train departed much later than that on Saturday 15 December and we arrived in New Delhi Railway Station at the end of the Main Bazaar at 3.00 pm on Sunday 17 December. I make that just over 53 hours.
We checked in to the Metropolis Tourist Home and got a room to ourselves. I think it cost Rs200 between us. Claire went off to meet a friend of hers called Sadie and it says that we met a couple of nice Australians. I can't remember anything about them now.
