"No sleeper tickets," the railway station guy happily told me. "Only seat."
So seat it was among the lower castes in a not too full carriage at the very front of the train. Fourteen hours later at 06.10 and 48 seconds I wandered out into the warm Bombay dawn, birds screeching a fanfare from the trees.
It took me another 3 hours to find the hotel which wasn't a hotel but an apartment with a grumpy 40 year old houseboy watching cricket on TV who wouldn't give me a room key. I was too tired to argue, locked the bedroom door from the inside, showered and slept until afternoon. The communal pool and city could wait.