Pune

We ask to be taken to the BKS Iyengar Yoga Institute in Pune. It is off the beaten track, and not an easy place to find, housed in a nondescript compound in the residential neighborhood of Model Colony. The auto-driver hears 'yoga', and, mapping it to his customary fares, deposits us by-and-by at the foot of the Rajnish 'Osho' Ashram, where a streetful of Israeli, Japanese and French sannyasins are kicking up a fine old caterwaul -- dancing, spinning arms upraised like dervishes, screaming, yelping and otherwise loudly proclaiming their one-ness with the cosmos. It turns out some elderly Ashram personage has shuffled off her mortal coil, and they are giving her cortege a befitting sendoff. After they pass, peace descends to Koregaon Park, leafy again under banyan trees.

The Deccan Queen leaves Pune for Bombay VT -- Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus -- in the early morning. We cut through tunnels and switchbacks for breathtaking Deccan vistas as we descend to the sea level.