Train station misery

Last night was some experience. we were meant to be going by train to Varanasi at 11pm on an overnight train to arrive at 6 in the morning. We got there in plenty of time and sat ourselves down for a short wait before boarding. The train station is a fantastic place. there is so much hustle and bustle. The place is open 24 hours a day. There are people there all the time, sleeping on the floor, buying and selling food, whole families enjoying a meal and everyone waiting. obviously its absolutely filthy. I've often heard of people talk about rats being the size of cats but never really understood how that could be. I now understand. All along the tracks there are hundreds of rats running around with dogs chasing them. There was an announcement that our train was delayed 3 hours so we decided to go to the upper class waiting room. It was fine. I was really tired and needed a soft seat to sleep in. Unfortunately there were a couple of mice running around in there too. To our dismay the train was delayed a further 2 hours, 5 hours delay in all. So instead of departing at 11pm we were now going to be leaving at 4am. That turned into 5am. Eventually we were assured it would be there at 5 so we went back to the platform where we met this really nice banker from Varanasi whom we got chatting to. He was telling us all the places to go see and what to be wary of. He was really helpful. What we hadn't counted on was the train not showing up. By 7 am we were getting a slight bit pissed off. we had an idea that trains were often delayed but this was really taking the biscuit. In the meantime we witnessed a scuffle break out between a number of security guards and an old man. Our banker friend told us that one of the security gurds was being accused of pickpocketing. The banker said that it is not unusual for such a thing to happen. Amazing!! And here was I thinking the security guards were here to protect me. How could I be so naive. anyway by 8:15 in the morning, after 10 hours of waiting for the train we gave up the ghost and got a taxi back to Shashi's house. i'd like to say it was an experience not to be repeated but I just can't say that. It may happen again. The train network in this country my be second to none but at least Irish Rail need not worry about being the worst timekeepers in the world. Oh what a night!!!!