What to do when you do not have printout of eTicket?

All my bags are packed I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn…

And then I remember – Shit !!! I forgot to take print-outs of the eTicket.

Happens all the time – we book eTicket through the IRCTC website and then forget the printout. What to do? As per the IRCTC FAQs, you can get a replacement ticket on the train by paying a fine of Rs 50.

If the passenger is not able to carry the ERS but is carrying the proper Identity card as given during booking, an excess fare ticket will be issued by the TTE/ Conductor Guard against payment of Rs.50/- per ticket, provided if his name is available in the chart. If the name is not available in the Chart, he is not authorized to board the train and the case will be treated as ticketless travel.

We availed of this “facility” while returning from our vacation at Bhubaneshwar:

Replacement chalaan issued in lieu of an eTicket

Now, why is this important if it were already in an FAQ? It is important, because rules never always worked on Indian Railways. Now they do. On one leg of our trip, Mother and Jyostna were traveling together. Jyostna fell sick; The TTE got her a special tea and also got her some medication. This kind of service was not available a few years ago.

Travel by sleeper from Hyd to Blr

Its about 500 Kms from KCG to SBC, almost the distance from NYC to Buffalo. And it costed me Rs 274, little over 6 dollars to travel the distance. I had the dreadful side middle berth [1, 2, 3]. The TC later told us that side middle berths would be discontinued from July end. It was very warm as long as the train was at the Kacheguda station, but once it started moving it became much better. By about 7:50, it was very cool and beautiful. The compartment was very neat. It was unlike the AC compartments – no cell phone or laptop chargers, no hooks to hang bags. But everything was functional. However, there were loose screws here and there and some of the fittings were sharp.

Across from the side berths was  a family of four lads, 2 girls and their two gaurdians. A mom and dad were taking their kids or a trip to Mysore and the cousins also tagged along. As we settled in, the kids had become a little more noisy. There was also a family that boarded with a baby about 6-8 months of age. It was almost like my childhood, when we used to go on long train journeys; fighting for a window seat, jumping about on the upper berth, daddy scolding us to not touch the chain.

It rained pretty heavily tonight. And that made the trip even better. As we sped through drenched farms, the storm occasionally lighted up the countryside in a bright hue. The  brief glimpse of nature’s bounty with the sweet smell of rain-drenched soil was beautiful . While it sure was beautiful, the rain was heavy enough to have damaged standing crops. I later found out from Shekhar that his farm suffered about 50% damage to the beans plantation.

The train got to SBC about half an hour behind schedule. Even though it was a sleeper without the comfort of an AC, I did not fare too badly.

BTW, The Indian Railway Fan Club (IRFC) has a very interesting article on how railways evolved since independence. The trip reports also make for very interesting reading; one such report is about the incident at Nagpur’s diamond crossing junction (Photos here:[1, 2, 3] ).

Train ko saaf rakho.

I am visiting Warangal this weekend. Will spend a few days with family and return on the morning of 4th.

Public transport in India is very evolved, and is probably the most affordable mode of transport the world over. It may not have a lot of fancy bells and whistles, but it does the job. I left Bangalore by volvo at around 8:00 PM Friday and got to Hyderabad at around 9:00 AM. Jyostna and I travelled from Hyderabad to Warangal by the satavahanam. I and Jyostna boarded the train at 3:30. We had reservations; our seats were 136 (aisle) and 137 (middle). Josu sat at the aisle seat, I adjusted myself in the center, and then there was one Mr Raju, a person in his late 40s at the window.

There were these kids with their mom and an elderly person who could have been their grandfather, or someone similar. There was an entourage of 3-4 men in their early 30s to 40s accompanying this family. There was a very stylish dude in the entourage wearing a body hugging off-white tee with “57″ written in “chocolate brown color cloth”, and “USA” on the back. Tight jeans, large dark glasses that were desperately trying to go from the 70s to the 80s. He was talking about the “East Coast” like he owned the place. They bought ice-cream. The vendor asked “How many”. Stylebhai says, “enni vunnayi, ivvu boss, andariki”. Vendor obliges; stylebhai takes each cup, opens the lid, puts a spoon in it, and gives one to each family member. The last family member refuses icecream. “ido, ii ice-cream vaddu”. Vendor: “Open chesaaru kada sir”. Stylebhai uses harsh language, cribs a lot about the icecream not being good etc, but it kinda fizzles out and he pays up. The youngest kid collects the empty cups from them and throws it out of the window. The train left promptly at 4:15, the right time.

I and Jyostna contemplate over events of the past few minutes. I lean over to the kid and tell him in the most calm and nice way “child, you threw those cups out of the door. It is not the right thing to do, we should not make our trains dirty, railways has provided a dustbin; we should throw it there”. Many passengers around us heard me, the mother chideed the kid. A few minutes later Josu and I start eating an orange. We peel it into a plastic cover. This young couple in front of us order coffee. Coffee done, the dude is throwing the cup into the usual place – the train window. I catch his hand, take the cup from him, put it in our plastic cover. “That is OK, if it is not easy for you, I will throw it in the dustbin”. The dude is totally embarrased, takes the cup back from us and does the obvious. Unfortunately, I have to do the same thing again to one another individual who just finished eating his dinner, had dumped his food tray on the tracks, and was ready to throw a paper out. He has an explanation: “It is only a small piece of paper”; his age: probably 45-50.

Mr. Raju then got up, he just had a coffee. He crossed all of us, went to the dust bin, and came back. The uncle who was with the kids dropped a banana peel on the floor. He lifted it with care, and the kids used the dust bin. I do not know if they will continue to be clean in their other journeys.