February 4, 1896: In the afternoon the Clemens party started for Benares, some 90 miles from Allahabad.
The journey to Benares was all in daylight, and occupied but a few hours. It was admirably dusty. The dust settled upon you in a thick ashy layer and turned you into a fakeer, with nothing lacking to the role but the cow manure and the sense of holiness. There was a change of cars about mid-afternoon at Moghul-serai—if that was the name—and a wait of two hours there for the Benares train. We could have found a carriage and driven to the sacred city, but we should have lost the wait.
We got away by and by, and soon reached the outer edge of Benares; then there was another wait; but, as usual, with something to look at. This was a cluster of little canvas-boxes—palanquins. A canvas-box is not much of a sight—when empty; but when there is a lady in it, it is an object of interest. These boxes were grouped apart, in the full blaze of the terrible sun during the three-quarters of an hour that we tarried there. They contained zenana ladies. They had to sit up; there was not room enough to stretch out. They probably did not mind it. They are used to the close captivity of their dwellings all their lives; when they go a journey they are carried to the train in these boxes; in the train they have to be secluded from inspection. Many people pity them, and I always did it myself and never charged anything; but it is doubtful if this compassion is valued.
(FE)
Parsons:
The day of the carriage excursion to the Fort, Mark Twain also covered the 72 miles to Benares by the East Indian and the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railways. Although there was a two-hour wait in the mid-afternoon (probably at Mirzapur), with a change to the Benares train, and a 45 minute wait at
Moghi Serai, a junction outside the holy city, there was so much to engage his eye that Twain thought the journey took only a few hours, being too short if anything. From the Kasi Station there was a long drive to the hotel in the western outskirts of Benares and then a mile beyond to the bungalow annex which the Clemenses were to have entirely to themselves [“MT India” 82].
Note: Parsons gives 72 miles to Benares, while Ahluwalia estimates “about” 90 miles.
Sam’s notebook:
Feb. 4, 2.10 p.m. Station 9 m W of Benares. Change cars. There 2 hours. Wonderful crowd of natives — hundreds and hundreds. Thought this would all become commonplace in a week: 3 weeks of it have only enhanced its fascinations. I think I shoud always like to wait an hour for my train in India... [NB 36 TS 37].
(Fears)