Friday 28th February - Last Train

Bed tea arrives at 06.30 and is welcome. D has been awake for a while and notes that we leave the last scheduled stop, Kanpur, 45 minutes late. They day is another grey one but it is not raining. Even D realises that photos of IRCTC meal trays can become less than enthralling so here is the last one. 

Note the smiling features of the steward. That is the smile of a shark. Unlike South Western Railway, who operate the Rajdhani that we took from Bangalore to Nagpur, Northern Railway do not decorate the coaches and staff uniforms with exhortations not to tip. When the steward makes a final appearance with a tray and some breath freshener he is not too happy with D's offering and hustles for a bit more. Cheeky sod. We accept that he works hard for long hours but we haven't asked him to do anything that isn't part of the job. Perhaps it's something to do with being closer to Delhi.

A great effort is made to catch up the lost minutes but all is for nothing when we get to the outskirts of Delhi and crawl the last ten miles. Arrival is 50 minutes late, maybe not too bad for a trip of 1874 km. These days NDLS is equipped with escalators so there is absolutely no need to engage a porter. We stride out towards the east side pre paid taxi booth, where there seems to be a bit of a scrum. Only two people are actually in the queue, the remainder of the throng are cabbies hoping to get a piece of the action. The standard vehicles from the NDLS ranks are beaten up small minibus type vans. We are not proud. Our driver knows his way around and avoids most of the congestion on the way out to the leafy suburbs of Lutyens Delhi. Lutyens Bungalow is our go to place in Delhi but it is three years since our last stay and we wonder if anything has changed. The answer is not very much for which we are thankful. We get a lovely warm welcome from Shukla and most of the staff are familiar faces. We get a different room in the main building, bigger than any we have had here before.

Every one of our bags is emptied in readiness for a full repack before we leave, late on Monday. Then we get showers with hot water. Luxury. We feel less tired than we expected so decide to go out and get some things ticked off the shopping list. We are still looking for Orange Bites and therefore need to target a Big Bazaar. R was also very taken with the thumb socks that she saw in their Kolkata branch but inexplicably failed to purchase. We then want to go to Lajpatnagar, our favourite small market in Delhi. 

The Delhi Metro system has expanded considerably since our last visit and now has inner and outer circle lines, not totally complete but good for getting about on the south side of the city. Our trip this afternoon takes us south on the Yellow line, east on the Magenta line, north on the Violet line, west on the Pink line and finally north on the Yellow line. As a totally unexpected bonus our travel cards from three years ago are still alive and have Rs 78 credit on each. R even gets seats on most of the trips.

Big Bazaar at Kalkaji Mandir does not have Orange Bites so we have to make do with Kismi Toffees. They do have a good selection of Chaat Masalas and black salt so we can stock up on those. R also finds her thumb socks and a rather nice pair of terracotta and gold palazzo pants. At Lajpatnagar D is able to add to his collection of small stainless steel bowls and R finds a couple of things she requires. We finally remember to have a fresh coconut. 

Back at the Bungalow we enjoy a beer on the terrace and watch the parakeets. There is an outsider to the group of rose rings, a smaller grey headed bird, and R has to get the book out. Unmistakably a female Plum Headed Parakeet, and apparently an unusual visitor.

 We have opted for supper at the communal table which has already moved outside. There are a couple from Northamptonshire, in India for the first time in 30 years, a lady from Seattle who has been visiting a friend in Jaipur, and a Canadian, who now lives in Israel and is going to a friend's wedding in a week's time. He is looking for ideas to fill in the time before and is interested to learn about  Corbett NP and the Sparrownest at Ramnagar. Fatigue catches up with us and we retire after the bread & butter pudding. Somebody thinks it is cold in Delhi tonight.