"Adventures do occur, but not punctually."
- E.M. Forster, A Passage to India
On this occasion, I must contest Forster's words. This train, the Mithila Express, actually left Calcutta's Howrah Station on time, a first ( and possibly last) for my time in India.
Time dilates, ideas churn, words blurr between sips of chai, as this sleeper carriage meanders from Kolkata to the northern reaches of the Gangetic plain. It will take some time, I'm not sure, maybe months or years even, for me to digest my experience of India, this mysterious and mystical, magical and dazzling sub-continent, and I doubt I will ever truly grasp or comprehend the fascinating feast to the senses that is Hindustan.
As our favourite mantra goes @leahbuffalino , 'onwards and upwards', quite literally, to an otherworldly land wedged between two giants, a paradise of tea slopes, prayer flags, and wild, wild peaks proudly scraping the heavenly realms.
