by Indrajit Sundaram
In my last post Looking for the Pause Button, I had talked about how, like the Eagles say it, the sound of our own wheels can drive us crazy. However, without wheels of some sort, we can’t go where we want to. My journey both on the road as well as personally, has been roughed out more often than I care to remember. Hitching a ride here, catching a train there, walking and walking endless miles, navigating breakdowns, riots, inordinate delays, changes of plans and grossly overcrowded vehicles. So, you will understand why my journey to Kolkata that I’m going to share was an experience so exotic to my life that I’m still finding it hard to believe, and of course, am itching to do it again when I get the chance. If you’re thinking twice about retiring to India because you’ve heard of how chaotic transport is, well, this may change your train of thought!
It all happened in a rather low-key, random way. I had once met and spent some time in Kolkata with someone who knew me in Delhi. He had been talking about visiting someone he knew in Darjeeling, and he was going to catch a bus from Kolkata to Siliguri for that trip. I was rather concerned hearing that and mentioned that my memories of bus journeys could be described in one word- ‘Bus!’, which in Hindi, conveys ‘Stop, that’s enough’. He seemed surprised and said that he was going to do a Redbus booking, and that the buses were very comfortable. I boggled at him a bit, much like a bee would at a plastic flower wondering why something felt not quite right. However, I decided not to labour the point.
Well, it so happened that I had to make an emergency trip to Kolkata with Hannah, my daughter, for some work, and there were no train tickets available on any train for any day at any time. While I was mulling my options, I suddenly remembered the Redbus comment my friend had made, and looked it up online. I have to say I was surprised that the buses seemed luxury buses and most of them were either semi-sleeper or completely sleeper vehicles. Now, you must know I had never travelled on a sleeper bus before and had no idea what it was like. I saw there was a range of prices, so I decided to go for a combination of good rating and decent price, and settled for a company that offered me a sleeper trip to Kolkata (a journey of over 500 Km) for about $22, with a 10% discount on the return to boot. The bus I was looking at had double and single bunks so I booked a double for Hannah and me on the upper level thinking it would be jolly to be above the crowd in the seats below.
Our bus actually looked a lot nicer than in the photo!
I was surprised at how professional the booking interface and communication was, until the day of actual travel. I got two contradictory messages on where to board the bus, and on trying to clear it up, I was frustrated that no one was picking up the given help lines. Anyway, the long story short of it was that, thankfully, the original boarding location very near the Tenzing Norgay bus stand, stood, and Hannah and I got there without trouble. I was surprised by how polite the company personnel were who were super-helpful with the storing and boarding process. I was taken aback at how modern and luxurious the bus was (I believe it was a Volvo). Hannah and I climbed up into our double bed, excitedly exploring all the facilities like the backrest, pillows, blankets, AC vents, charger points, shoe storage racks. Everything was very clean, comfortable and disinfected. We were further surprised when the bus personnel handed out water and snacks for the journey, included in the fare.
Rather smug about the bus. I think the companies that made my T-shirt and the bus curtains were in cahoots with each other.
We set off, bang on time, at 6 pm, Hannah and I feeling rather smug as we looked out from our insulated luxury cabin at the chaos of traffic outside. We chatted of this and that, and as an hour passed, then two, we started to feel rather cold. I closed the AC vents, and continued to feel cold for another hour, until I realised that being so close to the roof, we were right up where the AC was coming through and it was going to be a cold night. I decided to sleep a bit and found that for that degree of cold, the blanket was rather thin, so I stayed in a cold doze until the bus stopped for dinner somewhere lit up rather garishly. We had carried dinner with us, so we got off the bus as we weren’t allowed to eat inside. There was a serpentine queue outside the toilets as many other buses had stopped at the same time as ours, so you can imagine the state of the toilets! Lulled by the luxury of the bus, or hypothermia, I’m not sure, I had forgotten my nasty memories of night bus stops, and was feeling very on edge. We quickly ate, and after some confusion trying to find a clean place for a young girl to go, the bus tooting and irate, anxious to be off, all the while, we got back in and settled in for the night. In the rush outside, I had forgotten about the cold, so not wanting to disturb Hannah, I curled up the best I could on the comfortable, but now very cold bed, and tried to get the best out of the thin blanket. Then I realised that on the upper level, one sways and lurches all night while the crowd down below are all jolly and snug and unmoved by the vagaries of physics.
Upper beds with lower seaters
We reached Kolkata early, at 5:30 in the morning! I was very stiff and achy, and had hardly got any sleep in the cold, cold night. My mind was full of cold thoughts, and the way I walked past beggars, anyone would have thought me cold-hearted. Even the Metro station was cold, the tickets were cold, the seat was cold. Even the electronic displays were cold. You get the idea. I had learned a cold lesson, and on our return, I astutely booked a bed on the lower level in an all-sleeper bus with the same company to get my 10% discount. This time we ate dinner before boarding, finished our restroom visits smart and early, and drank very little water before the travel, all with a knowing air. That night on our return lower-level bed, we enjoyed a warm sleep sans the insane swaying, and it didn’t matter that the bus was a couple hours late.
The all sleeper lower level
A thumbs up for high-tech, luxury sleeper buses with a lower bed to oneself, a stomach full of food beforehand, and no quickly-filling bladder to manage. No sitting with creaky knees for 8 hours on a train and fighting my way through railway station crowds…
Oh, but the trains have toilets…
Oh.
Oh, well… Hmm… Well, now…