The Day After!!!

On reading the title u might think something colossally evil,along the lines of 9/11, occurred to me. I would pardon u for thinking in that fashion for what did happen to me is almost in that degree.

The morning after the day i had been "conned" of my money by IRCTC, i rushed to the railway station to get a good explanation from the railway authorities. I was all pumped up, partly from the agony of being pushed around by the IRCTC website, partly from the sister, for whom i had planned to book the ticket for, and mostly from my parents for being 'lazy' and not opting for the conventional option of booking tickets. With so many shareholders in causing agony, visualizing my state of mind wouldn't be that difficult and even before i had set foot in the railway station, i had a clear plan in my head and the i ran over it repeatedly so that i wouldn't goof up when it mattered the most.

My crusade started off at the reservation centre at the Central Railway Station. My eyes scanned the huge hall and instantly deviated to the a small enclosure at the side of the hall that read " Chief Reservation Officer". Just as i made my way, an officer inside the air conditioned room spotted me and beckoned me to come inside. As i explained my predicament to him uncanny smirk developed across his face which troubled me quite a bit. I stopped my blurting and waited as if expecting him to continue from where i left off. He gave me plain straightforward reply. It seems he was responsible for tickets reserved at the reservation counters only and not for internet bookings. For all other queries i could contact the Station Master.

So it was off to the Station Master's room which was embedded right in the middle of the station. A middle aged man with reasonable build was seated there and seemed to be in serious discussions with his colleagues seated across the table. My interjection was not very appreciated by the people across the table though the man himself didn't really seem to have any problems with it. [ As they the cronies usually make the most noise...:) ]

The master gave me a patient hearing and then explained in detail why he couldn't be of help to me. The railways reserves some amount of seats in each train and class for the IRCTC and the IRCTC is simply an agent for the railways. There was no way the railways could access the database of the IRCTC and extract the PNR number i had requested. However he gave me a couple of numbers to reach the IRCTC. After storing all the numbers, i left the station rather dejectedly for not being able solve the problems that eclipsed me from the day before.

The scorching sun and the crowded bus were some features of my return journey and they only made my futile attempt that much worse. I promptly called the IRCTC and say it in short... due to technical reasons the ticket did not get booked at all and the debited money would get re credited back to my account within five working days.. NOW I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY MONEY...

Indian Railways sucks to the core!!!

I tried to book tickets online( e ticket to be more exact) for a journey from Trichy to Chennai, today at around 4 in the afternoon. I used my SBI atm cum debit card to make the online payment. I clicked on the "pay" button after confirming the details that i had provided. Much to my shock a blank page loaded save the solitary sentence that read like a half URL(I tried clicking it, pasting it even modifying it but to no avail)

During the booking process, i was informed by the server that only waiting list was available. So i wasn't expecting a ticket number but rather a PNR number. But there was nothing in the screen to satiate my expectation(s).

I logged in to the SBI internet banking account and saw that the fare amount had been deducted from my account. So now i had a situation in my hand where i had paid the money but no way to make sure that it had been used for the purpose that i desired.

After several frantic attempts, i managed to get hold of a telephone number for contacting the relevant authorities. But the website, being an Indian one, lived up to its expectations by providing me with a 6 digit number. We all know that it has been eons since a 7 digit telephone number had been introduced in trichy and many other parts of Tamilnadu. Though i managed to get the line by appending a 2, it was quite appalling to find that the contact number had not been updated. You might say this is a small mistake on the part of the Indian Railways, but this callous attitude towards customer service reflects elsewhere too. If anybody tends to think or justify this blunder is actually encouraging the railways to be more insensitive towards its passengers. There are no to ways about this.

I grabbed my phone and called the number and a bloke picked by the phone..the conversation was in Tamil but i shall try to reproduce it in english as realistically as i can..

"hello is this the railways?"
"huh?"
"hello is this the railways enquiry number?"
"huh?"
hello is this the railway enquiry number?"
"so what"

i was so cross at this point that i nearly cursed him. He could have acknowledged that it was indeed the railways when i asked him initially. Even in my 3rd attempt he didnt answer my question, as u can see.

He spurted out a number, as if a some external force commanded him to and told me to call that number. Even before i could jot that down he almost hanged up the phone. My phone was back in action as i tried to call the number provided by the rather mechanical officer. And this is what i got..

"This number is busy...please try again later..."

ARGHHHH!!!