From Home to Aurangabad
15 to 17 January
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We departed from Newark International Airport at about 8:30am on a Virgin Atlantic
Airlines Airbus A340-600, arriving at London's Heathrow Airport about six hours later.
The plane had a sleek modernistic silver and gray decor and an advanced entertainment
system. Only about one fourth of the seats were occupied.
For the nine hour flight from London to Mumbai we were on an Airbus A340-300 with
almost every seat occupied. The plane seemed crowded, rickety, and old-fashioned compared
to the sleek A340-600 with which we started the trip. We got little sleep on this long
flight and arrived in Mumbai at about noon local time. India is 10.5 hours ahead of New
York time.
From Mumbai's International Airport we took a taxi to Mumbai's main railway station,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus ("CST"), a very large ornate structure from British colonial
days, formerly known as Victoria Terminus. We deposited our bags at the "Coat Room" of
the station, took a walk in the neighborhood, did a little grocery shopping, had dinner in an
Italian-style restaurant, and returned to CST for our 9:05pm train to Aurangabad, the No.
7057 Devagiri Express.
On the train we had the pleasure of meeting Amarjit Singh and his wife. Mr. Singh is a Sikh
of Indian origin living in the Toronto, Canada, area where he operates a dairy specializing in
the processing of cheese. Mr. and Mrs. Singh were on their way to a town an hour or two
beyond Aurangabad to attend a specialSikh religious ceremony. Although Sikhs account for
less than 5% of India's population they hold a disproportionately large share of top jobs in
business and government, especially as military and police officers. Sikhs can be easily
identified by their distinctive turbans and uncut hair, and have a reputation of being well
educated, energetic, reliable, and adhering to high moral standards.
After a good night's sleep our train arrived in Aurangabad in the early morning, an hour or
two behind schedule. From the station we took an autorickshaw taxi to the nearby MTDC
Holiday Resort but the only available rooms seemed overpriced and adjoined a road with
much traffic noise. We then tried the Hotel Shree Maya, which had no vacancies. The taxi
then took us to the Hotel Sai Residency, which we took at a nightly rate of Rs. 841
(US$23).
After checking into the Hotel Sai Residency I took a neighborhood walk to find a place
selling bottled drinking water and a restaurant for breakfast. Nearby I found a great
restaurant, the Kailash (Station Road at Pampadura Rd., tel. 0240-2352031), very clean
and modern, nicely decorated, where we had an excellent breakfast. We returned to this
restaurant often during our days in Aurangabad.
In the same building as the Kailash Restaurant we looked at the Nandanvan Hotel, whose
rooms were similar to the Sai Residency, but at only Rs 364 (US$10) per night and with a
much more friendly staff. We immediately made a reservation for the following day.
We later took an initial exploratory walk in Aurangabad, got a supply of Indian rupees from
an ATM, and visited the tourist office at the MTDC Holiday Resort to buy tickets (Rs. 300,
US$8 each) for the next day's excursion to the famed Ajanta Caves. We then walked to the
nearby Aurangabad railway station where we bought tickets to leave Aurangabad 20
January by overnight class 2A sleeper to Hyderabad/Secunderabad on train No. 1485
Kakinda Express, scheduled to leave Aurangabad 20 January at 8:55pm and arrive in
Hyderabad/Secunderabad the following morning at 9:20am; total fare for us two after
30% senior discount came to Rs. 1410 (US$38). For class 2A Indian Railways at night
provide two tiers of bunks, each bunk with a thin mattress, two sheets, a blanket, a pillow
with pillow-case, and a curtain for some privacy. Class 3A is very similar except that the
bunks are 3-tier, making travel a bit more crowded and slightly noisier.
At the Mumbai airport we changed US$100 into Indian rupees. During this trip the
exchange rate generally we got was about 37 to 38 Indian rupees per U.S. dollar. During
our previous 2005 trip to India we were getting around 44 rupees per US$.