All aboard: Kolkata to Delhi, and all the glory of India between, on the Maharajas' Express

Mail on Sunday

India, said author Nirad Chaudhuri, can make even the lowliest commoner feel like royalty. You only have to stand in the street and do something a bit different and a crowd will gather, looking at you in awe. Before you know it, you have attracted a following.

But, even allowing for this very Indian trick, the way we were greeted as we arrived at the Kolkata station to board the Maharajas' Express did make us feel special.

Nothing during the previous two nights in Kolkata - formerly known as Calcutta - had prepared us for Chitpur station, as far removed as possible from the mania of Howrah, the city's historic rail station.