Chasing trains, India

This continues the previous India post - "Kennet Lane"

Above: Indian Railways train ticket

Managed to not fall asleep on the 645 train to Agra and alight when i saw the yellow Agra Cantonment sign 3 hours later when the train pulled in (instead of being carried off all the way to Lucknow or Varanasi - which would have happened seeing they don't announce the stops, only some vague announcement about please do not go to the toilets during breaks to avoid stampedes and please don't take too long to buy your chai or we will leave without you - ok the latter isn't but i wish they did - having darn near marooned me at a few weirdly fantastic Soviet looking industrial towns complete with belching smokestacks in the middle of nowhere in central India after i hopped off to join the stampede for chai and parantha).

The song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol probably took on an ironic twist here, me chasing trains, goddamn it, that seemed determined to leave without half its passengers (just as i almost got my chai/pakoda). What follows is screaming and shouting (cheering and encouragement) from the people in the train for the people out of the train (despatched to go hunt for food) to run and grab hold of whatever they can and pull themsleves onto the train that is fast hurtling out of the station without advance notice.

The evening Shatabdi form Amritsar to New Delhi, Carriage C7