Trains, India and Monsoon
After i had shipped most of my belongings, i still had two bags full of clothes and some other stuff. Because of heavy luggage and heavy airline fares, i decided to travel back home by train. When i checked the IRCTC website, i became doubtful whether i will get the tickets confirmed or not. The mistake i did was that i did not book the waiting ticket in 3AC thinking that i would get tickets in Tatkal. Well, the Tatkal story is a sad one, with more than billion people travelling everyday on trains and half of them trying for tatkal tickets, no wonder the IRCTC website is very very slow in the 8 am to 8:40 am time slot.
I was not lucky even in the tatkal scheme and got a waitlisted ticket. To hedge my risks i decided to take a tatkal sleeper ticket as well. Well, my 3AC ticket remained waitlisted however my sleeper ticket got confirmed. And i decided to travel back home in Sleeper class!!
Thinking that Bangalore's monsoon to be the representative of south indian monsoons, i was pretty relaxed. It was only when the train entered Tamil Nadu and Andra Rayelseema areas that i realized my mistake. However, the weather was not the only dampener. At Katpadi station, few people got in the train and started claiming that my and other fellow passengers seats were theirs. I did not know then that my nightmare had not even started!! With two berths in hand and four berths on claim the family sat in front of our seats. I swear i never had such a bad trip or sleeper coach experience before!!
A person in the troupe was ill and looked almost dead. After some time these people started eating some stuff and i cannot tell how disgusting it was. The old man after having his lunch felt like peeing. Since he could barely walk, he decided to pee in a bottle at his berth!! I was almost about to puke, but did not have any other option. The other four members of the family were equally disgusting and shabby. I wonder whether they had ever taken a bath!! Somehow i managed to retain my window seat in spite of multiple requests by our tormentors i did not concede to their demand.
Every time i asked the main man in the troop to speak to the TTE and get his tickets confirmed he would make some excuse and say that all the six seats were theirs and we should vacate our seats. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for me and the fellow passenger the TTE did not come till eight o clock at night. When he came i ran to him and told him the grim situation. Thankfully, he asked all but two of our tormentors to leave the seats and gave the seats to RAC passengers. Although i got back my seat, i had a tough time sleeping there. Somehow i managed to pass the night and woke up in the morning to lush forests in Orissa.
As some people had got down at Vishakapatnam, i managed to get a seat in a different place. I was relieved that my ordeal can to an end.
The good think about the journey was that i saw the power of jugaad. Most people's cell phones were discharged and only few power points were working in the sleeper coaches. Hence, there was a huge queue at the charging points. There were few students who were also going home and seeing the queue they brought in their multipoint plugs and through a combination of 4 multipoint plugs the waiting time for us reduced from an hour to thirty minutes.
Since i had activated twitter updates from my cell phone, i could send tweets through sms and kept my followers updated with my plight and experiences. It was a unique experience.
Well, I have decided that i will plan my travels as much as i can so that i can avoid travelling in Sleeper class again. Lets see how much i keep up on this resolve of mine.
I was not lucky even in the tatkal scheme and got a waitlisted ticket. To hedge my risks i decided to take a tatkal sleeper ticket as well. Well, my 3AC ticket remained waitlisted however my sleeper ticket got confirmed. And i decided to travel back home in Sleeper class!!
Thinking that Bangalore's monsoon to be the representative of south indian monsoons, i was pretty relaxed. It was only when the train entered Tamil Nadu and Andra Rayelseema areas that i realized my mistake. However, the weather was not the only dampener. At Katpadi station, few people got in the train and started claiming that my and other fellow passengers seats were theirs. I did not know then that my nightmare had not even started!! With two berths in hand and four berths on claim the family sat in front of our seats. I swear i never had such a bad trip or sleeper coach experience before!!
A person in the troupe was ill and looked almost dead. After some time these people started eating some stuff and i cannot tell how disgusting it was. The old man after having his lunch felt like peeing. Since he could barely walk, he decided to pee in a bottle at his berth!! I was almost about to puke, but did not have any other option. The other four members of the family were equally disgusting and shabby. I wonder whether they had ever taken a bath!! Somehow i managed to retain my window seat in spite of multiple requests by our tormentors i did not concede to their demand.
Every time i asked the main man in the troop to speak to the TTE and get his tickets confirmed he would make some excuse and say that all the six seats were theirs and we should vacate our seats. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for me and the fellow passenger the TTE did not come till eight o clock at night. When he came i ran to him and told him the grim situation. Thankfully, he asked all but two of our tormentors to leave the seats and gave the seats to RAC passengers. Although i got back my seat, i had a tough time sleeping there. Somehow i managed to pass the night and woke up in the morning to lush forests in Orissa.
As some people had got down at Vishakapatnam, i managed to get a seat in a different place. I was relieved that my ordeal can to an end.
The good think about the journey was that i saw the power of jugaad. Most people's cell phones were discharged and only few power points were working in the sleeper coaches. Hence, there was a huge queue at the charging points. There were few students who were also going home and seeing the queue they brought in their multipoint plugs and through a combination of 4 multipoint plugs the waiting time for us reduced from an hour to thirty minutes.
Since i had activated twitter updates from my cell phone, i could send tweets through sms and kept my followers updated with my plight and experiences. It was a unique experience.
Well, I have decided that i will plan my travels as much as i can so that i can avoid travelling in Sleeper class again. Lets see how much i keep up on this resolve of mine.
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