An early morning rise again. This time we wanted to take a boat trip along the river at dawn. It took quite a while before someone would offer a good price, + even then he tried to pull a fast one by packing us into a boat with a couple of French guys, without consulting either of us. Ultimately, we did all go together, but now at a reduced rate. He wasn’t the oarsman either – also a bit of a cheat. We were rowed by a young boy, who soon showed himself not really up to the task. He simply wasn’t strong enough, + we were slow. The clear danger was that, as we had only hired the boat for an hour, we wouldn’t have time to see all we wanted to see. I think, in fact, we saw what was normal for an hour’s trip – at one stage, one of the Frenchmen took the oars, + tho’ he was clumsy at first, he was certainly stronger + faster. But really there was not so much to see of real interest. We saw the burning ghat at least, but really a bonfire is a bonfire, whether it burns leaves or people.
Our man didn’t come to buy the watch at 8 o’clock either, which depressed both of us more than we would have thought, since we had not allowed ourselves to come to depend on it, but we hid our disappointment in food, + went off to have a late breakfast, Val to a restaurant serving Indian food, me back to Aces for egg + chips, + baked beans on toast. That done, there was just about enough time to pack + pay, + get ourselves off to the stn.
We could not, however, believe our carriage, when finally, with the aid of a pestering platform urchin, we found it. It was dark, dirty, dusty, dingy, dilapidated, drab + desperately depressing. Virtually the only feature marking it off from 2nd class was the fact that it was smaller, + had a modicum of comfort, with an old + badly-sprung bench seat. And one other advantage, the sole redeeming feature, so far as I could see, was that it offered privacy. We were the only ones booked into our compartment – it was only designed to sleep 2 in any case, + the door was lockable. And, very soon, locked. The door had its own problems to cause us, however, when later on we could not get it to open. It was supposed to slide, but had slipped out of its runner. Eventually, with a lot of manhandling, we forced it back in.
We spent the afternoon dozing, attempting the crossword, reading, + munching on cheese biscuits bought in Varanasi. And later, to our surprise, a carriage attendant suddenly appeared, I’ve no idea where from. He asked us if we wanted dinner, so, as it was expensive, we ordered just the one. And, despite his promptings, no beer – I have sworn off booze entirely until we return to England. Well, Europe, anyway. The meal, arriving at the next station, was very good, tho’ cold. Not intentionally cold, just dished up too early. Later, with Val asleep on the upper berth, I thought I would attempt to get something on the radio. I did not have great hopes of success. So was particularly delighted to discover not merely something, but the BBC, coming thro’ loud + clear. With the radio wedged firmly in the window + the headphones on, I passed a very pleasant evening, listening to the Sports on Saturday Special. West Ham won 3-1 with 2 late goals, at home to Leicester, to make my day complete.
Two modes of transport, and ultimately both of them proving disappointing, most especially the train, after gambling quite a bit of our dwindling reserves on it.
