Lyrics from Crosby, Stills and Nash?
No, we actually took the Shatabdi Express to Delhi yesterday morning to accompany Mark, Satwinder and Jackie on the first leg of their journey home to Canada.
Their week in Chandigarh was over!
The morning train departed at 6:53 am so it was an early morning for us. And it was a chilly morning, around 10 degrees celsius.
The luggage of the homeward bound travellers went to Delhi by car so we did not have to struggle with it during the train's two minute stop.
Gurneet had booked us in Executive Class (925 rupees one way) and we had a comfortable journey of 3 hours and 20 minutes.
The train can travel up to 130 kph, but the average speed is 76 kph. There were only two stops in the 266 km journey--at Ambala and Kurukshetra.
We were served breakfast--aircraft style. The washroom was good, the seats were comfortable, and we didn't need the AC which, I understand, these coaches have. Fortunately, there was also mobile phone service all along the way. Gurneet could continue to get his business done.
As we got closer to the city, we passed areas of extreme poverty. What a contrast this was to the luxurious Imperial Hotel where we had lunch and the Radisson where we stayed the night.
We saw mounds of garbage being picked over by human, pigs and cows.
India is a country of contrasts!
On our arrival at Delhi Station around 10:15 am, the tuk tuks were all lined up waiting for passengers.
A familiar face was waiting on the platform to meet us--well, meet Satwinder, actually.
Parm Bains had flown in from Canada that morning. And Satwinder was heading off to Frankfurt to visit their son.
Our crew arrived in good shape, ready to spend some time in the beautiful city of Delhi before Mark, Satwinder and Jackie had to catch their 3:00 am flight.
One last glance at a train (not ours but similar) and the group split up for a few hours. The women went off to do what women do best. The men had some adventures of their own planned for the day.
These I will describe tomorrow. This morning was another 4:30 am wake up call so Gurneet, George and I could catch an early morning flight back to Chandigarh--to be on time for class.
So now, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
