A tatkal affair

'It's the season of ripe, juicy sweet mangoes,
Of humid heat, threatening clouds and smell of new earth
So does one need more reason to set sail for Kerala? '

Hence I found myself in Rishikesh railway station at 5:45 am for a tatkal ticket. Trains are the cheapest way to travel in India short, long or medium distance. The fares have been frozen for ever and so tickets especially for long distance travel are very popular. Bookings for overnight trains open 2 months before departure date and on some trains get booked within an hour. Unfortunately the train I wanted to board fell in that category. Once a week to Trivandrum, and the decision to go home was taken just a couple of days back. The Railways brought in the tatkal scheme for people like me who wanted the ticket at short notice but dont mind paying the extra odd 150 or 300/-.Bookings for tatkal start 2 days before the journey and on popular routes finish in minutes. So it was crucial that I be first in the queue when the counters opened at 8 am. I was first in the queue but when the action started the reservation clerk started entering the details of people who were not in the queue at all. I learn later that if you care to pay a baksheesh of 100/- per person your details are entered first in the computer. No standing in queues ! 3 minutes and he was still slamming away on the keyboard. The guys at the back thinking that I was just hanging around even after my ticket was issued started heckling me. The clerk finally got to my ticket but by that time I was on the waiting list. I had to take the  ticket anyway and board the train.

Three days on a train is hard enough but without a ticket, well well... I had come prepared mentally so the first    day I slept on the bunks whenever one was free. During the night I just rolled out the bedsheet and lay down on the floor. Anyone trying to duplicate this stunt be warned that it can be only done at ordinary 2nd class sleeper class not the air conditioned coaches. They dont let folks without a confirmed ticket anywhere near the AC coach ! To tell the truth, it was not that uncomfortable except when people crushed my head when they were sleepwalking to use the loo. The timing is important, you unroll your 'carpet ' after more or less everyone goes to 'bed'. There were a fair number of people like me sleeping in the corridors lying down, sitting, standing, etc.

 You feel the train up close , all the little jerks and movements and also the big jolts. Like knowing a woman intimately for the first time when you see that little balck mole on her hip , that knowledge which makes the relationship so special, if you care to notice it. So my relationship with the railways have taken on a whole new intimate level. Be that it maybe I have gone ahead and booked my next ticket well in advance !

21 comments:

  1. oww...! i so pity you.i can actually sense and feel your discomfort..!
    really...!

    what i m baffled by is the fact that do seriously people keep so much, i mean just everytime i go out (which is rare.. mind you) the story is more or less the same everytime...!
    NO TICKETS.
    Well you sure learned a gud lesson.
    travel safe( u travel a lot..doncha) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. All part of vagabonding,i suppose :)
    Next time,try and get a decent ticket :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. That last para.. that was really good :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Pan,
    Thanks for visiting my blog & liking my adventures. After reading yours, all I can say is 'It takes one to know one.' ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Whoa! Seems like u had quite an adventure there. . . I loved ur way of narrating a helluvan experience in kinda funny manner. . And your comparison of railway journey with intimate relationship wid woman just cracked meh up. . !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not really uncomfortable Sneha. I think our thinking and preconceived notions sometimes make it more a horror story than it really is !

    ReplyDelete
  7. Raji, decent ticket ? Girl, Gandhiji travelled 3rd class and which is the ideal I aspire to :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ah Elmo I was going to be very descriptive there but did not want to put off too many of my readers ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sasha , welcome to my humble abode! I rather envy your international itinerary something i haven't got around to doing much lately !

    ReplyDelete
  10. SavvY, great to see you here. Actually the intimate thingie was quite serious. i was about to put my feelings down as a poem but the thought the better of it ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, loved the description. I am in India right now, and it pains me to see how things are done- and yet- I realize everything falls into place in the end. I think that IS the moral of the story :) . out of ashram?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice way of conveying the entire experience. Days back in India, You never know when n what you are to experience. It happens only in INdia :P

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gal, welcome to the country best described as 'where nothing should work but somehow everything works'. Everything falls into place yes but not not in the proper place ! well and truly out of ashram. chilling in Gods own country !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bedlam , welcome !!! Well said, life's never ever boring in India! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. oh Boy! indian railways are fun... but i guess u are too daring to take that stint for 3 days...

    I have travelled in 3rd class un reserved in Kerala, and guess what people actually sleep on top of luggage rack as well ! I remember i was this slightly mordern, single lady traveller getting off at the middle of the night in Aluva and TT was actually more concerned about me than I was.... He came upto my coach to make sure I departed on the right station... :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. ohh..had the same xperiences on ma last trip to home...but frankly i was proud n received quite a heroic welcome frm ma amma @ the stn!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Srividya,
    was not a dare more like a play of circumstances ! travelling unreserved in Kerala is much more dignified than up North. You seem to have bumped into a very rare breed of TTE ;)Oh, and welcome to Devilsmusings !

    ReplyDelete
  18. Vishwamitran, welcome to the blog. nothing like train travel in 3rd travel to build character ! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  19. hahaha..
    intimate with railways indeed :)
    fun read!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hmmm S... that was actually a very serious post. my intimacy with the train. You found it funny?!! guess different strokes for different folks ! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  21. I got an agent to book my tatkal ticket today. He goofed up. No ticket now :(

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to write :)