Train from Delhi to Agra:

I left the hotel at 4:45 in the morning to catch my 6 o'clock train to Agra. Karol Bagh was dark and quite when I left. I could see men snoozing in their cycle rickshaws with their feet sticking out as the taxi driver played classic Bollywood on the radio which would occasionally cut to haunting, devotional mantras.

When I arrived at the station I had THREE people tell me that my train was cancelled. The first person led me to security (which I had gone through the day before). There, a man told me that my train had been cancelled and that I needed to take the 7:45 train which would arrive in Agra two hours later. He then led me to the International Tourist Bureau. "But, it's closed!", I said as I had read the hours in my Lonely Planet the day before. He said that someone was there to give me all the details and he took me to the first floor office (which I had been to the day before as well). There a man emerged and said that because the train was cancelled, I needed to catch a government taxi to Nizamuddin station 15 km away in order to make my train and that I needed to leave right then and there. I realized that every time I stopped to look at the board with all of the departure times, they kept me moving with all my luggage. So, I stopped and said, "but it says there that the train is not cancelled." I was told that the board was wrong and was led to a taxi, which looked nothing like the taxi that I had taken to the train station in the first place. Bells started going off and I said, "I need to stop and think about this..." in which the man said, "no time, you need to leave now, you'll miss your train, no trains later." I answered with, "All the same and for my own peace of mind, I would like to make a call and stop and think about this." The man argued with me some more and then walked off in a huff, saying that he was just trying to help. In truth, I felt a bit badly but I went to find some other travelers and asked if they were going to Agra and if the train was cancelled. They told me it was ON TIME... What was that I said about having your wits about you at all times? 6 am and I was on the train (with my name printed on the passenger list on the outside) and off to Agra. 

The train ride to Agra was gorgeous, and for the first time, I really felt like I was in India. As the sun turned from pink to peach, we passed green fields with morning mist and small villages with different coloured buildings in aqua, lavender and blue. Here and there, I could see water buffalo, ponds, pussy willow, thatched round huts and eucalyptus trees. As men in bright shirts worked in the fields, the children made their way to school...

Breakfast was served on the train. To start, we had a 'Meals on Wheels Tea Kit' and Parle-G biscuits, cornflakes with hot milk, followed by toast with jam and butter and curry with poorie. Though still a bit angry about the whole train station debacle, there is nothing like a cup of tea and looking out the window of a train to be cheered right up!

Next stop: Agra!