And off to Varanasi - ditched the train and got myself a driver

Not wanting to experience another train nightmare, I have taken the plunge and cancelled my train ticket and invested nine times more in having a driver take me across states from Birah to Uttar Pradesh.I Must remember this is a holiday and not an endurance test!!!  It's amazing that this is the peak season to travel in India, but up north it's covered in fog. A recent BBC documentary highlighted the alarming increase in pollution due to booming car sales. This is resulting in cities choking under the strain with a sharp increase in respiratory diseases. My fellow train traveller for the 22 hour trip said that when she was growing up there was never fog like this.