Sunday, 13th February 1994
The Rajdhani Express was sitting in the platform at Mumbai Central. The train was painted a different red colour to all the other express trains and the train crew were all dressed very smartly.
The compartment was very nice. There were flowers on the table and brass wall lamps and fittings. The service was excellent too and we got tea, coffee and sweets served on departure. We left on time.
The only problem was the noise. We were sharing a compartment with two Indian gentlemen who were very loud talkers. In addition to their constant chatter there was background music on the loud speakers too.
We made our dinner order and then visited the pantry car to watch the food being cooked. It was all brought to our compartment and we enjoyed an excellent meal of pea soup, chickpea masala, dahl, cauliflower curry, rice and chapattis. There was salad too and multi coloured ice cream for dessert.
We fell asleep.
Monday, 14th February 1994
There was a commotion at 4:30am in the cabin. The train had pulled into Kota and our travel companions alighted very noisily. We fell back to sleep quickly.
When we woke up we noticed that the train had picked up speed and was travelling quite fast.
We were brought breakfast. For the last time we had our firm favourite “vegetable cutlet and tomato sauce” with toast and coffee. Actually the coffee they had on the Rajdhani was very good.
We pulled into New Dehli bang on time at 9:55am and we, just like the old hands we now were, bartered successfully and got a taxi for 55 rupees back to the Imperial Hotel.
It was actually quite nice to be back in the familiar surroundings. We had a tasty lunch of frontier chicken and fish tikka salad whilst relaxing on the verandah.
In the afternoon we walked around Delhi. We went first to the red fort, then to the mosque and finally to the Ghandi Ghat.
In the evening we popped out of the hotel and walked along the Janpath and back to Nerulas for a light dinner. We walked around Connaught Place a bit and then walked all the way back to the hotel.
Trains To Beyond 