(unknown source, captures the attitude towards our travel week)SATURDAY 6TH MARCH
In the end, it wasn't our train, although it was going to the right place. We plonked ourselves down and stuck around feigning ignorance until the true seat owners came along, and then drifted down the carriages in search of empty beds. We found some, and tried our luck a little more.
The ticket collector eventually did come around, and told us we should move to General Compartment. This is the lowest rank of carriage, and is mostly filled with people who have not seen 'whites' before. Being so determined to get to Ahmedabad (which is in Gujarat), we moved down there at twelve at night, and actually found seats. It wasn't the most comfortable of journeys, and the following five hours consisted of light napping on each other's shoulders and moving feet around so that the children sleeping on the floor would have enough space, but we got there in the end.
Cue Saturday morning, used to catch up on sleep in some hotel somewhere near the station.
When we eventually got and cleaned up, we set off to see the city.
Starting with a thali, which is a collection of curries, dahl and other bits and pieces, we saw a mosque and wandered around for a while. Walking into an old fort which was due to be fixed, it was interesting to see the British influence on the architecture, espescially as it was right next ot a Hindu temple.
We stumbled upon an art showroom, filled with watercolour and collage pieces commenting on the expansion and modernisation of the city over the past twenty years. Vibrant colours and stylised figures made the paintings rather hopeful in their semi-criticism, and the artist was pleased to see us 'youth' interested in his depictions of our peers.
We headed off to the Law Gardens, which turned out to be a park. It was calm and a nice way to end the day.
By evening we made our way to the train station, where we caught our train to Udaipur, our first stop in Rajasthan.
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