A Miracle and a Half

Leo Smith

Spirits were high as we woke up on the church floor at Saraswatipur, about to embark on a journey to Varanasi. However as we ate our noodles for breakfast we were told that the train was cancelled. Long story short at around 6 that night we boarded a little purple bus, that would take us to Varanasi instead of the train.

As we boarded the bus spirits were high, we thought that the journey was only going to be 16 hours, which to most of us didn't seem that bad. The playlist was ringing through the booms, and the bus was cruising along at 30 km/h.  It wasn't till about 12 o'clock that night when the first disaster struck. Just as I was about to recline my chair to sleep, I realised that my chair was broken, and therefore I couldn't recline at all. To make matters worse, cam who was in front of me had his chair all the way back in a sleeping position. I had very little space to say the least. As a result I got to hear everyone else sleep on the coach, as I sat hunched up in my chair for the whole night. I have to give credit to miller who came up with the great idea to sleep on the bus floor with his silk liner- true kiwi ingenuity. 

As morning came around from a very sleepless night, the bus pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of no where for breakfast. In true India immersion fashion we all decided to go the the little diary stall to stock up on biscuits, instead of serving our selves from the dirty pots of curry, with many flies on them, sitting on the side of the road. As we hopped back on the bus we were told that it wouldn't be till about 5 that night when we would be arriving, which was a bit of a blow to the face.

Many games of 500 later we finally stopped again at around 3 in the afternoon, for a lunch stop, which once again didn't result in us getting any food due to the lack of energy, appetites and appealing meals. We got a quick confidence booster handshake from Tom as we crawled back on to the bus for the remaining 60 km. Mr Jordan began singing the wheels on the bus for the last hour and then we arrived after what seemed like years of not moving. This can only be described as one of the most relieving moments of my life.

I must say that I'm very surprised that we arrived in Varanasi, after the many mishaps that happened over the way, hence the name of the blog. One positive that has come from all of this was that now the crowded overnight trains seem as appealing as ever, and we can't wait for the journeys that await. Right now we are enjoying sunny Varanasi, in our beautiful hotel, exited for what is to come, as long as it doesn't include more journeys in the little purple bus.