Don't read this if you're squeamish about bodily functions or travel disasters.
The summary is I'm ok in all essentials.
Sunday started as usual with breakfast at my hotel, then there was a very sweet farewell from the hotel staff. Then came the first challenge: there were rumours of a Ghorkaland rally in the vicinity of Siliguri. This can affect traffic, and I was advised to use a "Sikkim National Transport" bus rather than a jeep, in case there were problems it had better chances of passing through. So I spent 5 hours squashed into a 5-seat row where there was really only room for 3 or 4. This was only to Siliguri, so I still needed transport to cover the 10km or so to the train station at NJP. It appears there are no conventional taxis in Siliguri, given the choice between a personal cycle-rickshaw or a shared motorised rickshaw, I chose the latter. Again, what would seat 4 people in comfort usually squashed in 7 or 8
I reached NJP feeling strangely unhungry and unthirsty, considering I'd been travelling for 6 hours without lunch. The train station restaurants didn't look all that appetising, so I bought some packaged crackers and biscuits and a bottle of sprite.
I had allowed heaps of time so now had about 6 hours to wait until my train. This passed quietly until around 8pm the crackers and sprite decided they didn't agree with me at all. I was sick twice more before the train departed at 22.40, by which time my stomach was well and truly emptied.
On the third occasion, I realised that the stomach cramps were also helping me to lose ... sewage... from the other end. not pleasant! And no access to a shower, either. However, I do have a collection of handy wipes and on boarding the train I rescued a clean pair of knickers. I had just padlocked my two bags (large rucksack, smaller daysack) under my standard lower berth (perpendicular to direction of travel), when the conductor turned up and asked if I would swap with another passenger to a side lower berth (along the windows, parallel to direction of travel). No problem, as long as it's handy for the bog that's all I care about!
So I was in the process of moving myself into this side berth, when a jerk threw me into it - back to the engine, right arm pressed to the window. Another jerk threw the conductor straight down the corridor - I remember thinking that anything which throws a conductor around is pretty serious.
There was lots of vibrating as we crossed the shingle, followed by a brief sinking-stomach lurch. I just had time to wonder whether the carriage would turn over or not, and what I should do about it, when we stopped with another big lurch. This threw a passenger towards me, but fortunately most of his weight was caught by an iron railing around my berth, so I was only slightly squashed.
The carriage settled at a 30 - 40 degree angle, doors were openable on both sides, the biggest challenge was moving self and luggage up such an angle. I put my shoes back on, and unlocked all my luggage, which promptly fell to the bottom of my seat. A man was holding the door open shouting "juldi juldi, leave your luggage". This suggested 2 possibilities, one that he wanted to steal it, and the other that there might be a fire. At this stage no one knew what was going on and there were rumours of a bomb. In the end, the deciding factor was that I was sufficiently weak from dehydration not to be able to grab my main rucksack at all easily, so I thought dicretion would be better than valour and abandoned it.
Once out of the train, I fell into a ditch in the dark and then was sick again. The locals all tried to reassure me, thinking it was fear, but at that stage I was still feeling fine emotionally. Unfortunately my torch was in the rucksack. 5 - 10 minutes later some men volunteered to go back in and look for it, but it was never found.
Most people had gathered on the up side of the train, so there was a nervous moment as we crossed through to join them, a couple of carriages up from mine. After hanging around fruitlessly for 20 minutes, some friendly Nepalis took me back to their sleeper carriage and donated me a berth. My (upper class) carriage came with blankets, sleeper class doesn't, and my own blanket was in my rucksack, so I spent about 4 freezing hours snoozing - this took us up to about 4am. At this point, the police came through offering a choice of return train to NJP or onward train to Delhi.
I had no particular reason to go back, so I voted for onward train - I think the only person from this carriage who did. So then came the long walk down the sleepers to get to the Delhi end of the accident. At which point I saw the state of the more serious half dozen carriages or so and felt a lot more upset. I didn't take any pictures but they would probably have been news-saleable if I had.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/071210/43/6o8nz.html
At 430 I reached the platform at a local station (Nijbari) where of course there was almost no organisation: anyone in authority had been redirected to look after the injured. Eventually someone lent me a railway blanket rescued from the train. So I waited - cold, queasy, and sitting in a revolting puddle of my own ... mess.
It amazes me how many blessings I found to count during this time!
A local train reversed down towards us at 0830 or so. (I later discovered that there had been one at 0400 which I missed, fortunately I didn't realise so wasn't too worried about time). As a local train, it didn't have any berths, but it was half empty, warm, and I was able to snooze across 3-seats in relative comfort.
We arrived at Kotihar around lunchtime, and then changed to a "special train" where they had carefully reserved everyone's seats as in the previous train (not sure it was the best idea, but hey) and fortunately I still had my very ragged ticket. I was also interviewed by the local press on the platform, but extremely dehydrated, not sure how coherent I was !
From Kotihar we took longer than usual to get to Mughal Sarai (mainline station near Varanasi), eventually arriving around 2am. A kind lady on the train (with a head injury, but seemed conscious) donated me some salwar kameeze (baggy trousers and tunic) so I was finally able to shed my revolting trousers and clean up a bit! My hotel said it was too late to send a driver, and suggested I make my own way into town - not my idea of a safe journey! So I spent another few hours in the AC ladies waiting room, uncomfortably on a bench, noisy and rather too well lit for sleeping, but clean and safe. By this stage I was able to sip water while sitting or lying, although standing up still held risks for the contents of my stomach.
At 630 I headed for the railway police to report my missing rucksack through an "FIR", which took an hour and a half. Then I found a (regular) taxi, paid over the odds, and was dropped in Varanasi city centre, not too far from the Ghats (which are not open for road traffic). I made my way to the hotel who were reasonably rude about my failure to arrive the night before - I tried to mention the accident but it seems an unpopular subject and apparently is not a good excuse. The police also advised me not to put it on my FIR.
I have just had my first source of energy - freshly squeezed apple juice - and if it keeps, will head back for some dry rice or bread later. I have a reasonable room and it has a hot shower which I am much looking forward to!!
11 Dec 2007
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