I love trains, especially indian ones. They feel like tiny home on wheels and, while may not be particulary clean, they offer this feeling of freedom when you lean out of moving train or just sit near open doors and watch things whiz by. Indians are very communicative and move frequently from car to car, so it's a great chance to meet new friends and just kill some time.
In our attempt to reach northern India, we bought ticket about halfway through Chennai and Assam. We couldn't get full ticket because Indian trains are always full and tickets should be booked 7-14 days in advance. And we, of course, waited till the last day. Nevertheless, with the plan to get out in this unknown town of ours, later we decided that we will try to reach Kolkata. If train has some free seats and is not on very busy path, you can sometimes buy ticket directly from conductor. When he checked our booking number, we asked about if it would be possible for us to reach Kolkata on this train even though we only have ticket till Brahmapur, he said yes and left. Ok, we'll arrange everything later, we thought. Initial yourney was expected to be 17 hours long, but by 20 hours it was already 7 hours behind schedule, so lot of people didn't get on this train who otherwise would, and that gave us the chance to keep our seats/beds.
By this point, lack of conductors (we saw one only once after our first encounter), we decided that we will go as far as possible. If needed, we would pay for the ticket, if possible - try not to =].
At one point we almost got cought - new conductor came and asked everyone for their ticket and when our turn came, conversation went by something like this:
- Conductor: Ticket please [with his eyes looking on his device and not seeing us]
- Me: We have only PNR number, not printed ticket [he can check from-to/who info from that number on his device]
- Conductor: [Looks at me, sees I'm foreigher and smiles] What's your country? Where are you going? Are you alone?
After pointing in Artur's direction and telling I'm traveling with him (who was reading newspaper during our conversation and conductor didn't see him), conductor smiled, asked some more questions, thanked us and went away. Phew. No more conductors after that.
For three days this train was our home. It was full of roadtrip, trailer-like moments. If you have a chance to take long-trip train ride in India - don't miss it.
In total, we covered about 2000 km in 58 hours, of which half was without ticket. My longest train ride ever.
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