Magical and Lucky in Khajuraho

I saw a tiger! 

I had to be up at 5 motherf*cking AM, but I saw a tiger right in front of my face. 

She was gorgeous and magical, as have been all the days in Khajuraho so far. We’ve seen the Western and Eastern temples, folk dancing, Ken Gharial Canyon, Pandav caves and falls and, of course, tiger spotting in Panna National Park. Our time here overlapped the Shivaratri festival with thousands of devotees pouring in from the surrounding countryside, so being in town has had a carnival-like feel.

Khajuraho has been good to us, although we almost didn’t get here. We seem to have a bit of a running theme here, running being the operative word, and that theme is: running to catch our transport. The other underlying theme is being damn lucky to get it.  

We were catching the overnight “express” to Khajuraho. We made it to the correct train station, unlike 3 years ago when we had to rush rickshaw across Delhi after our taxis took us to the wrong one and disappeared. (see Every which way but loose) Right place, right time, no problem, right? Our carriage was AB and we had our sleeper berths figured out. All organized and good.

We made our way to the platform, passing an office I read as “Head Examiner” until I passed the pillar blocking the word “Ticket.” My reading of it was more fun.

On the platform map for our train there was no car AB. G asked the official inside the station but he didn’t seem too certain as he told her to just wait for car A1. We dutifully waited in the spot for A1 on the platform and as the train pulled in, we piled on. It didn’t look right but both G & I were assured we were in the right car. A fella selling food came along and asked where I was going. “Khajaraho is car AB. I know this train. I will take you!” This may all sound reasonable to people who have never boarded an Indian train at a crowded Delhi station but it was pure chaos. I couldn’t communicate what I was doing or why to G, or my friends in the group, who were all mired in a sea of humans and baggage. I yelled and signalled and ran after him. It seemed like forever that they all got off that crowded car and back down on the platform to be able to fight through the crowds. He led me past all the first, second and third class sleepers, then beyond where the signed platforms ended to where the beaten up general cars were. I know all of us were thinking that this cannot possibly be right and were wondering if we were going to miss the train altogether. I had decided to trust this food seller but they hadn’t. They were just trying to not lose me. 

We kept running for a ridiculous amount of time further away from cars that might look like ours. Then my new friend called out “AB car!” and so it was. It was way beyond where anyone would reasonably expect it. We later understood that the train would uncouple and split into two distinct trains with complete sets of cars. There is no way in hell we would have found our car without him. We all piled on and settled in for the overnight ride.

Magical and lucky, right?