Train to Aurangabad March 8

Drying the hay

After yesterday, I was nervous about getting to the train on time but at 05:30 there was no traffic at all. We were on our 2^nd class air conditioned coach by 20 to six. The train left at 6:15 dead on time. The landscape was dry and arid with green patches where the farmers had irrigated the fields. Our coach seemed to have several dedicated people who cooked, cleaned and washed while we were still in the seats. My favourite was the food man who took our orders for breakfast and delivered a hot omlette. He then served coffee and tea, which looked really poor. He poured powder out of a plastic dispenser and then filled the cup with hot water and served it. It tasted wonderful. It was only later, when Joan had her third cup, that I realized he was pouring hot milk out of his water jug. Instant coffee never tasted so good. 

He also took our order for lunch and then delivered a cardboard box of fried rice with veggies. It looked ordinary but the taste was nice. I had just about finished mine when Joan handed me a plate of unknown food. The family across the aisle had brought their lunch and the mother made up a plate for us. We tasted it somewhat timidly and had no idea what it was. At this point the boy came over and told me to mix everything together and put it in the bread to eat. I mixed and folded and we ate everything. It was delicious but we still have no idea what we ate.

Mini Tag Mahal

In the late afternoon we visited the mini Taj Mahal. It is a copy of the real Taj except the builder skimped on the material and used plaster instead of marble for most of the walls. Now 400 years later it is easy to see that plaster does not age as well as marble. None the less it is still an impressive building. It is the tomb of the wife of a Raj, She is the only one buried there. As the guide remarked “women are expensive”.