Arriving in Bombay

13th March 1924

When they arrived in Bombay, the bustling, busy port intrigued Sandy. His senses were assaulted by a wealth of new impressions, as he wandered around, slightly dazed and finding his land legs after three weeks at sea. He took photographs of the dockers unloading the ship and watched with amusement as their heavy boxes of equipment were bundled onto groaning carts and pushed off towards the station. This was his first taste of India and he loved it. His next letter, written from Darjeeling, talked of the great adventure of the train journey across the country. The journey from Bombay took three days and the men slept on the train. The trip left some of them feeling tired and short of sleep.

Sandy, however, did not seem to suffer at all and was in high spirits when he wrote to Lilian, ‘Just a line to say all is going very well. We wasted no time getting here spending 3 nights only & all in trains between Bombay & here. The temperature was well over 100° F in the shade while we were crossing to Calcutta & 99 in the shade at Calcutta. It was wonderful to get out of the train at wayside stations at 11 or 12 p.m. & see India by a full moon & just cool enough to live in shirt sleeves.' The train, having no corridors, had to stop to allow the passengers to get off and walk to the restaurant car for their meals. The guard discovered one morning that Sandy had overslept and missed breakfast.

To his great amusement the guard stopped the Bombay to Calcutta mail train while he got dressed and walked down to the restaurant car for his meal. As there were so few passengers on the train the four of them were more or less at liberty to choose where they would like the train to stop for their lunch or dinner, so they picked spots where the scenery was most beautiful or the wayside attractions the most amusing.