Calcutta

I eventually got here six hours late on the train yesterday. The place I'd booked into is, I'm sure, the original Black hole! I shouldn't really complain. I've got a clean bed and a fairly good en suite with cable TV for just over three quid. I was knackered yesterday so I didn't do much. I had a wander round and saw some sights. Today I'm cramming as much in as possible because I have a train tonight to Puri in Orrissa and the beach at last.
There isn't really a lot to say about here, it's just another noisy crowded Indian city. I'll be glad to get back out into the country.
The casualty list is getting bigger. My MP3 still doesn't work. My camera is on the blink. The strap broke on my day pack. I ripped a pair of trousers on a rickshaw. The lead for charging my phone isn't working. I'm getting nervous about going to the loo in case anything comes off in my hand!
There was a big train derailment last night about a hundred miles north of here. There were over 200 casualties (or as the news reported it - cashew alities!). The only other option is to go by bus but if you could see the way they drive here you'd understand why I think the train is safer.
I must admit that I'm beginning to rethink the last third of my travels. I'm sorely tempted to just make my way to Goa via Hampi and sit on a beach for a few weeks. I know myself though and I'll get bored in a week and want to move on. Trouble is, if I move on I have to backtrack over 600 miles and that means a 1200 mile round trip as I would have to go through Goa again on the way home. I don't know, maybe things will improve if stuff stops breaking as I enter Southern India properly. Everyone I talk to and myself included agree that the South is the India. We'll see.
My rough calculations (you need to do something on 12 hour train journeys!) have me past the 3000 mile stage with roughly 2500 miles to do if I stick to my original plan. Even if I go to Goa now the train journey from there to Delhi is 36 hours! This place is vast. It's only now in week 6 that I'm starting to see progress on the map. i've also been in 14 different hotels and taken one sleeper bus and 8 sleeper trains and heaps of daytime ones. I try to take overnight trains because you get to travel hundreds of miles and get a bed for a couple of quid and don't have to pay for a hotel! My train tonight is a nine hour express and it cost 257/- that's 3.10.
I have to go now and try and find a hotel in the next place.