The Adventures of Vince the Cat - Vince Discovers the Golden Triangle

Vince was very excited that he had taken his first trip to Paris earlier on in the year and now, although he could hardly believe it, he, Heidi and her best friend Jon were on their way to India!

On the plane Vince had seen Heidi looking at a map of the world.

“It’s about 4,650 miles.” Heidi said showing Vince and Jon on the map that she had been studying during the flight. As it was going to be a very long flight, after they had studied the map, had some delicious food and watched a film they decided to get a few hours’ sleep on the plane.

They knew that when they arrived in Delhi it would be extremely hot. They had read articles in their guide books which advised of the noise and the heat that they would encounter. They read that it was so hot there it would feel like stepping into an oven.

Their hotel was located in the centre of Delhi. After they had collected their luggage, they managed to find their way out of the busy airport to meet their driver, who would take them the relatively short distance into the city centre.

Everyone seemed to be rushing and pushing and Vince was very glad that he was safe in his travel basket. As he sat looking out of the taxi window from his basket on Heidi’s knee, Vince held his breath. Cars and trucks of all descriptions zoomed in and out of each other on the road, tooting their horns. Several times he heard Heidi gasp and had to shut his eyes, quite sure that they were going to crash.

Suddenly, all the cars around them came to a stop. Vince craned his neck to see what was going on and saw two large cows sitting in the middle of the road! Now Vince was confused, with all the mad driving, why would the drivers not beep at the cows to get them out of the way? Jon couldn’t believe his eyes either, he had heard that cows often sat in the road but didn’t expect to see it.

“So… one of the main religions in India is Hinduism and cows are considered sacred,” said Heidi. “This is why everyone is so tolerant when they see cows just wandering around in the road.”

The driver dropped them off at their hotel so they could check in and leave their luggage. Vince was very glad when they arrived safe and sound after having driven through all of the crazy traffic.

The hotel staff greeted them and gave them all a refreshing drink while they checked their passports and allocated the room. They gave them each a fresh coconut to drink from, which even Vince found delicious. Then it was off to explore…

“We’ll go to Connaught Place and when we get there we can hire a Tuk Tuk.” Jon said. “It says in the guide books that Connaught Place was named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.”

When they arrived at Connaught Place they could see lots of Tuk Tuks and the drivers were all calling out to them and trying to attract their attention.

Some of the Tuk Tuks looked quite beaten up and almost unroadworthy. They wandered round a little way and spotted a beautiful new Tuk Tuk, so they approached the driver who explained his Tuk Tuk was fully equipped with a stereo system connected to his iPhone! So, he could play any music they wanted on their journey. This was great news as they all loved listening to music.

As they got closer to the centre of Connaught Place the fountains and lights greeted them. There were people everywhere and the driver was talking nonstop, telling them about his beloved city.

“I wonder if we will see any cats while we are here, it would be nice for Vince to meet a new friend on our trip,” Heidi said.

Suddenly, Vince saw a cat run towards them dodging through the cars and even jumping over some of them. She was making straight for them!

Vince watched as the cat jumped over cars and weaved in and out of the traffic until she landed right on top of their Tuk Tuk. The cat was called Anoushka and she popped her head over the canopy and winked at Vince who winked back.

They asked the driver what Anoushka meant and he told them that it meant ‘one who fulfils dreams and aspirations’!

They all loved her name and were very happy that she had decided to join them. She was a magnificent and beautiful Indian Siamese cat.

She looked quite different to Vince and his friends back in England. She had much shorter fur with elegant, beautiful dark markings on her face, her tail and paws.

“I’m pleased you’ve found a new friend Vince, maybe she would like to join us on the rest of our trip?” Heidi said.

Vince twitched his whiskers and started purring loudly. They decided that after travelling around for a while on the Tuk Tuk that they would go and get something refreshing to drink so they asked the driver to drop them at a little café.

It was such a wonderful place with many people, sights, new sounds and smells. The buildings resembled some of the Georgian buildings back home in England. Anoushka had decided that she would really like to spend more time with them and started to give Vince his own guided tour as Jon and Heidi tried some masala chai tea.

Anoushka knew where the best restaurants and cafés were and so they wandered off to an adjoining café where she showed Vince some titbits that had fallen off one of the tables. She darted underneath the dining tables and came out with the things that had fallen down. Vince had a go and came out with a shrimp! Anoushka looked impressed.

“Wow it is so busy and so colourful,” Jon said.

After a few minutes or so Anoushka and Vince wandered back to where Heidi and Jon were sitting chatting and looked up longingly, so Heidi reached down and gave them both a stroke. They both started purring in unison.

The next morning, they all had to get up and leave their hotel very early to go to the train station.

Vince was excited because he knew that they were off to join the Maharajas’ Express.

The driver who took them to the station said; “You’re so fortunate to be seeing India from the comfort of the ‘Maharajas’ Express’, it has everything you could possibly want on your journey to discover the ‘Golden Triangle’. Have a wonderful time! India really is incredible!”

When they arrived at the station Anoushka was waiting for them, she was equally as excited. They hurried to greet the staff who were waiting for them.

The magnificent train’s staff were all dressed up in their very smart uniforms and they greeted them with fresh juices and coconut water. They were all given necklaces made of flowers to wear. The pollen from the flowers made Anoushka sneeze!

“Welcome to The Maharajas’ Express, I’m Aditya and I will be looking after you throughout the journey to discover the ‘Golden Triangle’. He held his hands together and bowed to them before taking them along the red carpet to their suite on the train. As they walked up the platform they saw monkeys playing. Vince stared at them. He had never seen animals like that before, they were very strange looking cats!

Flowers had been meticulously placed along the whole length of the red carpet which adorned the entire length of the platform.

When they reached their section of the train Aditya, the butler, bowed again and smiled, he explained, “These suites have been named after the legendary jewels of the Maharajas.

You have everything you could possibly need and I will be here 24/7 during your journey should you need anything. Please just ask me.”