train dreams? cabin fever? all aboard?

I always thought of sleeper trains as glamorous chambered cars like in British murder mysteries or Harry Potter. As you might have guessed, despite years of British meddling, Indian trains are a little different. Allow me to elaborate:

Directly after the ceremony, the entire family packed into taxis to the train station. By whole family I mean my sister and me, her husband, his elderly mother and aunt, his brother and his brother's wife and two children. At first, because the taxis had not arrived to the house together, all the luggage and all the women were packed into one car. In a fleeting moment of clarity I vetoed this plan in favor of having at least one person of the male persuasion in each car. (When I say clarity I mean terror at the thought of the two white chicks and the two old ladies arriving alone with ten suitcases.)

So that's nine people to keep track of as we wended our way through crowds, up escalators, over bridges, down stairs, and running to a train we were typically late for.

You should note that many Indians have never seen an escalator before coming to the train station and are therefore a little fuzzy on its proper use. I am not particularly good at escalators either, living in perpetual fear that I will be sucked into one and disappear forever, but I am a relative pro. I am also, all things considered, pretty pro at navigating train stations, but I will admit that I was overwhelmed to the point of having a mild panic attack. I didn't cry but I was close.

S (T's brother) had graciously made all the arrangements and sprung for an air-conditioned sleeper car. We settled into one of the train compartments and broke out a porridge dinner. This was the only meal on the entire trip that I passed on in favor of more American fare: a cheese sandwich and a granola bar.

The cars do not have compartments per-se. Only curtains separate the bunks from the hallway and the beds themselves are numbered and assigned to people. As such our berths were scattered throughout the train. We were lucky though to be pretty close together; M and I had top bunks above T's mom and auntie (K chitti).

I didn't take this picture but it's a fair representation

Pro tips:

• Wear closed toe-shoes or at least socks if at all possible.
• Bring a sleep sack and travel pillow. They provide blankets on the train but they're not suuuuper clean. 
• There is a Western style toilet and a squat toilet. Your choice but if you think aiming is hard without a toilet to sit on, try it on a moving train. (That's where the closed-toe shoes come in.)
• Keep your "carry-on" and shoes on the bunk with you....even if you might have peed on them. 
• The tea is really good and didn't kill me so it might not kill you either.
• If you happen to be sharing a "compartment" with strangers and you have the bottom bunk, you may want to stake your claim by laying down as soon as possible. Otherwise, a family like T's who have bought the top bunks will insist that they have the right to sit with you and this will set off a string of heated arguments to the point of potential insult. Maybe. (Ok this really did happen on the train home. Ironically M and I had already moved to K chitti's bottom bunk elsewhere on the train to sit there together so the arguments weren't strictly necessary.)
• HAVE FUN! IT'S AN ADVENTURE!