India

HOWRAH BRIDGE

CHENNAI CENTRAL STATION...      ALL THESE PEOPLE CAN'T BE CATCHING MY TRAIN !!!!

AT LAST...THIS IS MY COACH #

MY TAXI IS WAITING FOR ME.!!

CHENNAI TO KOLKATA :

 I arrive at Chennai Central in anticipation of my first train journey so far in India...Chennai to Calcutta.aboard the "Coromandel Express" Train  #12842 .Departing at 20.55.. I find my Platform # and Train number ...then my Coach # 21, Class A1 (air con) , then my Berth #21 and seat #18....this takes awhile as the platform is really crowded with people just everywhere..sitting, standing ,sleeping, ...porters with large trolleys people with immense packages...a really crazy platform scene...and it is really hot..finally am settled in my berth and is nice and cool..Seems like half of Chenai's residents are saying goodbye to the other half ..just so many people on the station...hard to comprehend this amount of people ...after sometime in India this all seems quite normal.!!!!!
.The "Coromandel Express" leaves Chennai Central on time.. This is a long and quite comfortable journey of some 29 hours with some companions in the berth from Goa in the south west on their way to Calcutta for work..Two young fellows who are quite pleasant company on the long journey..There are freshly laundered sheets and pillowcase in a brown paper packet for my bed and I quickly make it up.
The journey turns out to be 37 hours as we arrive in Howrah Station  (Calcutta )8 hours late..Arrival does not come quick enough as am really hungry as have used up all my bananas and milk that I have purchased along the way..I find a pay for a "PRE Paid" Taxi to avoid being "Ripped off" and these are a great idea that I use in other places as well. We cross the Howrah bridge that connects Howrah and Kolkata across the river Hooghly(.known locally as Rabindra Setu ) with its traffic constant traffic  jam and amazing cacophany of people,pushing carts, pedestrians.. cars , animals, busses .taxis.and trucks..a traffic nightmare with just the worst hot , dusty, polluted air to be breathed...I find my accomodation and immediately go out to eat.I find a great place closeby. I see that it has a framed award from "Trip Advisor" for its good food.....and of course have a cold beer to wash away the terrible taste of the dust..as the temperature is no cooler here..