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On
Railway ticket counters, a person has to stand
on long queue for hours on enquiry window to
confirm the seat availability then he has to
line up on separate queue to purchase the
ticket. He/She has to use the word “Sir”
politely to beg the ticket and cannot do much
argument with Ticket Vendor, if he dares then
may face combined wrath of ticket staffs and
crowd behind him. “Yaar is aadami ko line se
bahar nikaalo, sabka time barbaad kar raha hai”.
If you don’t have exact “chhutta” then you may
be asked to rest on side of the row and wait for
minutes/hours for exchanges. While waiting you
my get opportunity of social service by filling
up forms for uneducated fellows and if you want
more credit then keep couple of Pens with you as
you will find many requesters for Pen and there
will be shower of “Thanks” poured on you from
unknown faces. Out of irritation, if you garner
courage and show your body language or inquire
again “Sir ji, Chhutta aa gaya kya?” then you
may receive further scolds and asked to wait
more.
Once I witnessed, a ticketing staff after an
argument with a physically handicapped person,
came out of Ticket counter and punched this
one-legged poor man, watched by hundreds of
queued up people.
If the tickets costs, Rs. 495, and you paid a
note of 500 then on few occasions you may not
receive Rs. 5 back. If you demand then you may
receive a grace of predator with red eyes.
In some stations there is quota for births and
if a station is non-computerized then it has
manual system to reserve the ticket. The Ticket
Master maintains a register with availability of
seats. To get the reserved ticket you need to
have good relationship with this “Ticket
Master”. After purchase of ticket you have to
live with the remaining amounts you get or have
to offer him “Dakshina”. Being a young man, if
you argue, then your accompanying elder brother
or father is quick to ask forgiveness as “Ise
maaf kar dijiye sir ji, abhi bachha hai,
duniyadaari ki samajh nahi hai isme”.
Subsequently, you will receive couple of
lectures from your guardians. Believe me, if you
insist on rights then next time you will get
wait-listed tickets only.
Even with computerized system, it is hard to get
reserved tickets in Peak seasons. The
reservation opens two months prior and get
booked very first day. If you assumed all the
tickets are booked by deserving passengers then
you are wrong. Suppose you have booked the
ticket one month early and still waitlisted
minutes before departure then kindly look at the
hooks standing adjacent to walls and corners of
ticket counters. They have confirmed tickets in
their hands, you can get it by paying extra
money, and off course you have to change your
name as suggested by these friends in need till
the completion of your journey.
To help passengers during emergency, Govt
introduced “Tatkaal” scheme, through which
tickets can be booked within 24 hours. I have
seen People lined up for Tatkaal 20 hours near
Ticket window during peak seasons. Some smart
fellows give money to beggars, eunuchs and ask
them to stand on Tatkaal queue on behalf of
them. Once myself queued up at 4:00 am morning
in railway station and was second on the queue.
AT 8:00 am, we saw few persons along with Police
entered the Ticket window from other gate and
our queue was allowed at 8:05, i.e. 5 minutes
late. Although being second, I was informed that
all the Tatkaal tickets are booked. The moment
was simply horrible.
Recently Govt. has extended the time limit of
“Tatkaal” to 5 days prior and identity card not
required to prove us. I do not understand, how
will it solve the purpose of needy? As the
identity card not required, the pimps or the
travel agents will enjoy new method of making
money or blackmail.
Now, let’s come to the avatar of e-ticket. You
can do detail enquiry about the seat
availability using your PC or SMS. By paying
small amount of service charge book the ticket
over the Internet, and it will be couriered to
you and with latest scheme you can print out the
ticket and enjoy the journey.
Thanks to e-ticket for providing us soothing
life, no extra payment, no travel, no sweating,
no threat of touts and fear of getting polluted
on the streets and fallen sick under the dreaded
sun.
All the above, we talked about reservation class
tickets. What about general class?
It is pathetic to realize the conditions of
general class compartments. People travel like
insects. Even animals need sufficient space to
walk on but in General class and particularly
Bihar bound trains in Peak season, the scene is
simply terrible. The queues to ticket windows
are in kilometers under dreaded sun. Passengers
lined up for 20 hours on platform to occupy the
seat. The coolies and police manipulate the
situation and reserve the seat while trains
leave the sidings. Although being line up for
several hours, the passengers have to pay extra
amount to get the foothold.
During journey, you will find kids crying out of
suffocations, women molested, child abused,
passengers fighting and robbed. The way to
toilet jammed. The anti-socials switch off the
lights and engaged in unlawful activities.
I wish the Govt. to disband the open tickets for
general class compartments and declare it
reserved chair class category. Beyond sitting
limit, extra passengers should not be allowed.
Phone booking and e-Tickets should be allowed
even for general compartments. The uneducated
passengers can seek the help of educated
neighbors or their employers to book the
e-ticket in advance to heaven their journey.
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Comments: |
Well
said. I am really surprised that
this is still true; thought things
have improved dramatically (I have
faced these 20 years ago). Of course
at that time no internet or e-ticket
but the rest was the same. -
Dilip Singh - May 9, 2006
That is really horrible. One cannot
believe by hearing this especially
the South Indians. They would have
to really see these things with
their own eyes to believe it. The
main reason behind it is the large
migratory population of Bihar going
out in search of jobs and coming
back due to their attachment to
natives. Poor fellows... Trains can
not take this burden for sure. The
corruption has to be kept in check
if not completely removed. -
Ravish Kumar, Hyderabad - May 9,
2006
Dear Ravish, The experiences
explained in this Article are not
based on Bihar entirely but on rest
of the countries such as Delhi,
Bengal, Mumbai, M.P., Orissa etc.
In fact, the non-Biharis such as
Bengalis and Marwaris perpetuated
the habits of "Tips" to Ticket Babus
(mostly Bengalis and South Indians)
on non-computerized counters.
The situation in General Compartment
Trains are similar in most parts of
the countries. Try to visit tribal
areas of country, you will find the
passenger bogies are loaded with
woods, toilets are jammed with
illegal country made alcohols etc. -
Tarakeswar Dubey -
May 10, 2006
Thanks to Dubey ji for bringing an
important part of our life to
limelight. I wish someone realized
the pain we go through, and
train-travel seems to be an
inevitable curse. The state of
affairs at stations seem pathetic.
The whole system is, and has been,
ill. I wish a station master was
sent abroad to see how railway
stations look. One incident I
remember is that seeing ugly state
of the Muzaffarpur station I went to
the station master's office and
asked for the complaint book. He was
busy in "Gup Shup" with his
colleagues, and everyone protested I
asking for the complaint book, and
in spite of my repeated requests
they refused to give me this.
I also want to quote another
incidence - on the state of general
bogies, and how the coolies' nexus
humiliates general people. I was
returning from Bangalore to
Darbhanga after getting my first job
in IT in 1999, to inform my family
and wife of this great news. I had
the reservations, but thanks to
B'lore-Guwahati Express reaching
Howrah 7 hrs late, I missed the
evening train. Next morning I went
into a general bogey of a super-fast
train, and found half the seats were
covered with red scarves used by
coolies, and were being guarded by
them. I found a vacant seat that
didn't have any mark of reservation
(red-scarf), and sat there. I was
immediately warned by one of the
coolies to either pay for it or
leave it. I felt humiliating paying
for something that is my
birth-right, and more humiliating to
leave it, hence I continued sitting.
He came and literally threw me from
the seat. Being young, I immediately
reacted by attacking him, but in no
time I was overpowered by their
group and literally thrown on the
floor. Luckily I was not seriously
hurt, and when the train moved -
they had to leave without I paying
them the ransom. I cried, but I was
glad I stood for what I felt was
right. There was I, a son, a husband
traveling 3000 Kms to tell them that
I got the job, and in the middle I
was beaten by a mafia of illiterate
coolies. On my way back, I lodged
this incident in the complain book
at Howrah station. I was happily
surprised later to see police
supervising the queue of people in
general bogie at Howrah station. -
Ranjit Kumar, Molien, IL, US -
May 10, 2006
I am really sorry to hear Mr. Ranjit
Kumar's story. You are absolutely
right in what you have written. I
have seen all these kinds of
incidents and it has made me
reluctant to travel by train.
Similar things have happened to me,
and I know of other stories from
family and friends. Such things
should not be the norm, but they
seem to be. - S. M. Khurshid
Anwar, New York, USA - May 14, 2006
Taking strong exception to what
Tarkeshwar says about Marwaris and
Bengalis tipping the Bengali and
south Indian TTE for special berths
and ticket confirmation shall yield
no result hence I merely would say
that this type of racist attitude
will never be eliminated from one's
mind however educated or civil we
may be.
I have no inkling as to what was in
his mind when he wrote that comment
but even if it was not very serious
it still shows our mental attitude
towards the people of other caste ,
race, religion and region.
I am not against what he has said
and neither would like to vehemently
oppose and start a debate but this
is what we can safely say is the age
of innocence and ignorance is bliss
etcetera , etcetera.
Our country has 1.3 billion people
and you ought to see complexities
and irregularities and that is how a
society is built of , you will find
stark differences within across
state borders so what if we have
some differences in Bihar , UP or
other places , there are something
good also something that other
states do not have and there is
something bad in many other states
which is not the same in other
states.
Therefore all states , areas ,
locales etc have their own strengths
and weaknesses and now it is left to
the educated and learned people to
brand them as they please and as per
their own convenience.
Over all I do not see anything wrong
in the people and states of India ,
it is the social and ecological
dynamics coupled with economic reach
and power which differentiates one
with the other and this is but
natural.
I hope if we look at macro level ,
we have everything in India and
that's the beauty of our country. -
Sanjay Gupta - May 16, 2006
Sanjay ji, my reference to Marwari,
Bengali, and South Indian was meant
to display the span of problem
across the society and country and
is not confined only to Bihar. My
comment nowhere points to racism. I
couldn't figure out how did this
word "Racism" strike your mind. -
Tarakeswar Dubey - May 16, 2006
Dear Tarakeshwarji,
Kindly note that I have dwelt on the
subconscious mind of an individual
and not taken anything on face
value.
I have not said that you have sent a
racist comment , but if you think
deeply and see then you will
understand that though in word or
speech we do not directly refer to
any isms, but to an outsider we do
give an impression.
For example we may fight amongst
each other but we remain united when
nationality comes into picture but
when an outsider looks at us he may
get a feeling.
In fact , it will take generations
more to get to that maturity level
and this is common.
I have not said anything disturbing
on you , I hope you will understand
and agree with it.
Thanks for your comments and no hard
feelings of any sort. - Sanjay
Gupta - May 17, 2006 |
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